that a woman from Khathʿam sought a ruling from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the Farewell Pilgrimage, on the Day of Sacrifice, while al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās was riding behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. (Al-Faḍl was a handsome young man… and the Prophet ﷺ had stopped to give verdicts to the people.) The ḥadith continues:

“Al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās began turning toward her, for she was a beautiful woman”—another wording says “comely”—“and in yet another wording: al-Faḍl kept looking at her, impressed by her beauty, while she was looking at him. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then took hold of al-Faḍl’s chin and turned his face to the other side.”

In a version recorded by Aḥmad (1/211) from al-Faḍl himself he says:

“I was looking at her, and the Prophet ﷺ looked at me and turned my face away from her. I repeated the glance and he turned my face away again, until he did that three times and I still would not desist.”

All its transmitters are trustworthy, but the chain is interrupted if al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtaybah did not hear it from Ibn ʿAbbās.

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—may Allah honor him—also related this incident, stating that the enquiry took place at the slaughter-site after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had cast the pebbles, and he added:

“Al-ʿAbbās said to him, ‘O Messenger of Allah, why did you twist the neck of your cousin?’ He replied, ‘I saw a young man and a young woman, and I could not trust Satan with them.’”