Al-Nawawi said in his Commentary on Muslim:

“The scholars said: The previously married woman was singled out for mention because she is the one whom men generally enter upon. As for the virgin, she is customarily protected and protective of herself, and keeps still farther away from men; thus, there was no need to mention her. It is also a case of drawing attention: if entering upon a previously married woman—whom people are customarily lax about entering upon—is forbidden, then a virgin is even more so.”

I say: This means that it is an argument a fortiori, like the saying of Allah, Most High, in teaching a child proper conduct toward his parents: “Do not say even ‘uff’ to them” [Quran 17:23]. Then, all the more so, he may not strike them with his hand.

Second: Among al-Suyuti’s errors—or instances of laxity—is that he cited the hadith in his Supplement to al-Jami al-Saghir with the previously mentioned wording of Abu Ya‘la, “in a house,” and attributed it only to Muslim. The same occurred in al-Fath al-Kabir, following its source, and likewise in Sahih al-Jami al-Saghir. It should therefore be corrected.

Third: Some who occupy themselves with this noble discipline do not candidly disclose to their readers the hidden defect in the chain of transmission, thereby fulfilling the scholarly trust. For example, the annotator of al-Ihsan, in the al-Risalah Foundation edition, says in his note on the hadith in its first location (12/400):

“Its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of the two Shaykhs, except Abu al-Zubayr, who is among Muslim’s narrators.”

He then attributed it to Muslim. But when it came time to comment on it in its other location (12/403), he added to the statement quoted above:

“He practised tadlis and narrated it using an ambiguous ‘from’ formula.”