“Good, singular; we know it only through the hadith of Muhammad ibn Ishaq.”

I say: It would be as he said—after Ibn Ishaq had explicitly stated that he heard it directly—if this shaykh of his, al-Muttalib ibn ʿAbd Allah, were known for integrity and precision. But that is not the case, for no one other than Ibn Ishaq narrated from him, and no one besides Ibn Hibban (7/506) declared him trustworthy. Hence al-Dhahabi qualified Ibn Hibban’s declaration of his trustworthiness in al-Kashif by saying:

“He was declared trustworthy!”

In al-Taqrib, al-Hafiz confined himself to saying of him:

“Acceptable.”

That is, when corroborated. He was indeed corroborated by Saʿid ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbas, as mentioned above. Thus, through this supporting narration, the hadith is good, if Allah Most High wills. It is further strengthened by the scholars’ agreement upon it. Al-Hafiz Ibn ʿAsakir (1/401) cited Ibn al-Mundhir as saying:

“None of our scholars doubts that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was born in the Year of the Elephant and was sent as a prophet at the completion of forty years from the Elephant.” *

3153—“Will any woman tell people what happens with her husband when he is alone with her? Will any man tell people what he does when he is alone with his wife?” A dark-cheeked woman then rose and said, “By Allah, men indeed do it, and women indeed do it!” He said, “Then do not do so. Shall I not tell you what that is like? It is like a devil who comes upon a female devil in the road and has intercourse with her while people watch!”

Al-Kharaʾiti recorded it in Masawiʾ al-Akhlaq (39/2): Ahmad ibn Mulaʿib al-Baghdadi narrated to us; ʿUthman ibn al-Haytham the muezzin narrated to us; ʿAwf al-Aʿrabi narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: