“A man from among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was serving as an official in Egypt. One of his companions came to him and found his hair dishevelled and un-oiled. He said, ‘Why do I see you so unkempt when you are a governor?’ He then related the hadith.”

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. Its narrators are all among the narrators of the Sahih collections, apart from Isma‘il ibn Mas‘ud—Abu Mas‘ud al-Jahdari—who was trustworthy.

It has another route, narrated by al-Jurayri from ‘Abd Allah ibn Buraydah: A man from among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) travelled to Fudalah ibn ‘Ubayd while he was in Egypt. He came to him while he was attending to one of his camels, and said: “I have not come to visit you; rather, I have come because a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) reached me, and I hoped that you might have knowledge of it.” He found him dishevelled and said, “Why do I see you dishevelled when you are the governor of the land?” He replied, “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to forbid us excessive indulgence.” He then saw him barefoot and said, “Why do I see you barefoot?” He replied, “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed us to go barefoot occasionally.”

Ahmad recorded it (6/22): Yazid ibn Harun narrated to us; al-Jurayri informed me of it. Abu Dawud (4160) and al-Nasa’i (2/292–293) also recorded it.

I say: This chain of transmission is also authentic, according to the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Al-Nasa’i’s version does not include the instruction to go barefoot, and adds: “Ibn Buraydah was asked about excessive indulgence. He replied, ‘Grooming one’s hair.’”