fifteen nights after her husband’s death. Abu al-Sanabil visited her and said, “You seem to be contemplating marriage. You may not do so until the longer of the two waiting periods has elapsed.” She then went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him of what Abu al-Sanabil had said. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Abu al-Sanabil has lied. If someone whom you find acceptable comes to you, bring him to me”—or, he said, “inform me of him.” Thus, he told her that her waiting period had ended.

Ahmad also transmitted it, and its chain of transmission is authentic. Al-Haythami said (5/3): “Its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.”

Note: A number of commentators have attributed the hadith under this heading to the two Shaykhs, but this is either a grave error or reprehensible carelessness, since it gives the impression that they narrated it in this wording: “Abu al-Sanabil has lied!” This is not so. They include Shaykh al-Aʿzami in his annotations to Sunan Saʿid, Shaykh Shuʿayb in his annotations to Sharh al-Sunnah, and the annotators of Tafsir al-Baghawi! *

3275 — “He prohibited the earnings of the flute-player.”

Abu Bakr al-Khallal transmitted it in al-Amr bi-l-Maʿruf (p. 33, Qasim Presses) from two trustworthy shaykhs of his. Each of them said: Rawh narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us; I heard Muhammad ibn Juhadah say: I heard Abu Jaʿfar say: I heard Abu Hurayrah say: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibit … the hadith.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, except for this Abu Jaʿfar, who is al-Ashjaʿi. Al-Bukhari mentioned him in al-Kuna, and Ibn Abi Hatim (4/2/352), through the narration of