I say: Once you know this chain of transmission to be reliable and authentic, and free of any apparent hidden defect that could impugn it, it is very difficult for anyone well versed in and knowledgeable of the principles of hadith scholarship to accept its weakening merely on the claim that its attribution to the Prophet was erroneous. This contradicts the agreed-upon principle that an additional detail must be accepted when conveyed by a trustworthy narrator—as is the case here—even if another narrator of equal reliability had narrated it as a statement of a Companion, had such a report been found. So how could this be so when no such report exists?! This is especially so since the majority of scholars have interpreted the verse in accordance with what occurs in this authentic hadith, which further confirms its authenticity.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said in al-Fatāwā (3/386, al-Kurdī edition), after mentioning the verse:

“That is, do not act unjustly in the division of time among wives. This is what the early generations and the majority of scholars said. A group of scholars thought that what was meant was: that your dependents should not become too numerous. They said that this indicates the obligation of providing maintenance for one’s wife. Most scholars deemed those who said this mistaken, both linguistically and in meaning.

“As for the wording, the verb ʿāla, yaʿūlu is used when someone acts unjustly; ʿāla, yaʿīlu when he becomes poor; and aʿāla, yuʿīlu when his dependents become numerous. Yet He, glorified be He, says taʿūlū, not tuʿīlū.

“As for the meaning, an increase in expenses and dependents results from keeping concubines just as it results from taking wives. Nevertheless, He has permitted a man whatever number of female slaves he wishes, because slave-women are not owed an allotted share of his time, nor are they entitled to intercourse from him ...”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr conveyed the substance of this and said:

“The correct view is that of the majority.” *

3223—“No; rather, be dutiful to your father and keep him good company.”

It was transmitted by Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ (2029), through Shabīb ibn Saʿīd, and by al-Bazzār (3/260/2708), through ʿAmr ibn Khalīfah, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: