Unfamiliar terms in the hadith:
- Al-irfāh: It says in al-Nihāyah: “It means frequent application of oil and luxurious living. It has also been said to mean being lavish in drink and food. What is meant is to abandon luxury, ease, and a soft life, for this is the way of the non-Arabs and those devoted to worldly life.”
I say: The hadith refutes that interpretation. Hence Abu al-Hasan al-Sindi said in his marginal notes on al-Nasa’i: “The Companion’s explanation renders us independent of what they have mentioned, for he knew better what was intended.”
I say: Similar to it is the explanation of Abdullah ibn Buraydah in al-Nasa’i’s narration; apparently, he received it from the Companion. And Allah knows best.
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Al-tarajjul: combing, cleaning, and improving one’s hair.
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Ghibban, with a kasrah on the letter ghayn and a doubled ba: doing something one day and leaving it the next. What is intended is the disapproval of doing it continually; the particular practice of doing it one day and leaving it the next is not intended. This was stated by al-Sindi.
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Sha‘ith al-ra’s: having dishevelled hair.
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Mush‘ān, with a dammah on the mim, an unvowelled shīn, an unpointed ‘ayn, and a final doubled nun: one whose hair is tousled and whose head is dishevelled.
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Yamuddu nāqah: watering a she-camel; that is, giving her a long draught of water.
503 — “Glad tidings for Greater Syria, for the angels of the Most Merciful spread their wings over it.”
I say: This is an authentic hadith. It was recorded by al-Tirmidhi (2/33), in the Bulaq edition, who said: “A good hadith”; some copies add: “Authentic.” It was also recorded by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (2/229) and Ahmad (5/184). Al-Hakim said: “Authentic according to the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him, and it is as they said. Al-Mundhiri said in al-Targhib (4/63): “Ibn Hibban also narrated it in