“In the narration of al-Bayhaqi and others, it occurs: ‘The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed me to wear mourning attire for three days.’ This makes his error clear.”
I have not found this narration in al-Bayhaqi, nor among any of the other authors of the earlier source works. Allah knows best.
However, the wording of Ahmad’s narration conveys its meaning, for he said:
“Wear mourning attire for three days, then do whatever you wish.”
The wording I have established is that of al-Tabari and Abu Nuʿaym.
Another such textual corruption is that found in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid (3/17), where it is attributed to Ahmad’s narration as: “Tasallay” (“console yourself”)!
Yet it has no existence in his printed Musnad!
More astonishing than all of this is that the esteemed brother Hamdi al-Salafi, in his valuable index Murshid al-Muḥtār (2/32), cited the hadith with its correct wording, “Tasallabī…” (“Wear mourning attire…”), attributing it to Ahmad under the reference I mentioned earlier (6/438). Yet it is not found there—even in the Maymaniyyah edition—except with the wording I mentioned above: “Wear mourning attire…”!
3227 — “O Allah, teach Muʿawiyah writing and arithmetic, and protect him from punishment.”
It has been reported from the hadiths of al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿUmayrah al-Muzanī, Maslamah ibn Mukhallad, the mursal report of Shurayḥ ibn ʿUbayd, and the mursal report of Ḥarīz ibn ʿUthmān.
- As for the hadith of al-ʿIrbāḍ: Yūnus ibn Sayf narrates it from al-Ḥārith ibn Ziyād, from Abū Ruhm al-Samʿī, from al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah al-Sulamī, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: … and he then cited it.