- “O company of women! Give in charity, for I have never seen any who, despite being deficient in intellect and religion, are more capable of overpowering the hearts of men of understanding than you. I have seen that you will constitute the majority of the inhabitants of the Fire on the Day of Resurrection. So draw near to Allah by whatever means you can.”
Among the women was the wife of Ibn Mas‘ud … and he related the hadith. She said, “In what respect are our religion and intellect deficient, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied:
“As for the deficiency in your religion that I mentioned: when menstruation befalls one of you, she remains without praying for as long as Allah wills her to remain. As for the deficiency in your intellect that I mentioned: a woman’s testimony is half that of a man.”
Recorded by Muslim (1/61), al-Nasa’i in al-Kubra (5/400/9271), Ibn Khuzaymah in his Sahih (4/106–107)—in part—al-Tahawi in Sharh al-Ma‘ani (1/309), Ahmad in al-Musnad (2/373–374), Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (11/462–464), and Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in al-Tamhid (3/323–324)—whose wording is cited here—all through Isma‘il ibn Ja‘far, from ‘Amr ibn Abi ‘Amr, from Abu Sa‘id al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayrah:
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, departed after the dawn prayer and came to the women in the mosque. He stood before them and said: … Then he mentioned it. The wording is that of Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr. Muslim did not cite its wording, but instead referred to the wording of Ibn ‘Umar’s hadith, which he had cited before it, saying:
“Having the same meaning as Ibn ‘Umar’s hadith from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” (1)
For this reason, Ibn Kathir considered it permissible in his exegesis (1/335) to attribute it to Muslim, saying: