I said this despite knowing his learning, merit, and standing; yet the words of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, carry greater weight with me than those of anyone after him. So be one who judges men by the truth, rather than judging the truth by men. Allah is the One whose help is sought.

3324—“Differ from the Jews, but do not dye your hair black.”

Al-Ṭabarī recorded it in Tahdhīb al-Āthār (493/926—the lost volume): Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Lahīʿah informed me, from Khālid ibn Abī ʿImrān, from Saʿd ibn Isḥāq ibn Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah, that he heard Anas ibn Mālik relate:

“A group of Jews came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he asked about them. They said, ‘Jews, Messenger of Allah.’ They did not dye their hair, so he said: …” Then he cited the hadith.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. Its narrators are reliable and are among Muslim’s narrators, apart from Ibn Lahīʿah and Saʿd ibn Isḥāq; yet both are reliable. Ibn Lahīʿah—whose name was ʿAbd Allāh—is generally to be treated with caution only in reports not transmitted from him by the group of his students known as the ʿAbādilah, for they narrated from him before his books were burned, as has been pointed out repeatedly above. Ibn Wahb—ʿAbd Allāh the Egyptian—is one of them. This is an important benefit afforded by al-Ṭabarī’s book—may Allah have mercy on him—which is why I hastened to trace this report to its source.

Al-Ṭabarānī also recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ (1/127/142—ed. Ṭ), through Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Lahīʿah related it to me with similar wording.

I had previously attributed it to him, relying on the photographic copy, in my book Jilbāb al-Marʾah al-Muslimah (p. 191), as supporting evidence for the hadith of ʿĀʾishah regarding dyeing. Now, with Ibn Wahb’s strong corroboration of Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr, the hadith is authentic, and all praise is due to Allah.

It also has another chain from Anas, which was previously traced under no. 496, where some supporting reports are also cited.