180 - Chapter on Women Walking with Men on the Road

5272 - ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maslamah narrated to us, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz — meaning Ibn Muḥammad — narrated to us, from Abū al-Yamān, from Shaddād ibn Abī ʿAmr ibn Ḥimās, from his father, from Ḥamzah ibn Abī Usayd al-Anṣārī, from his father, that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say while he was leaving the mosque, and the men had mingled with the women on the road. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to the women: "Hold back, for it is not for you to take the middle of the road; keep to the sides of the road." He said: So the woman would stick to the wall, until her garment would catch on the wall because of how closely she pressed against it.

(1) Its chain of transmission is weak due to the unknown status of Shaddād ibn Abī ʿAmr and Abū al-Yamān — who is Kathīr al-Raḥḥāl. It was also recorded by Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān al-Fasawī in "al-Maʿrifah wa al-Tārīkh" 1/344, al-Shāshī in his "Musnad" (1515), al-Ṭabarānī 19/(580), and al-Bayhaqī in "Shuʿab al-Īmān" (7822) via the route of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad, with this chain. Ibn Maslamah is Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān.

It was also recorded by al-Ṭabarānī in "al-Awsaṭ" (13018), al-Dūlābī in "al-Kunā" 1/45, and al-Bayhaqī in "Shuʿab al-Īmān" (7821) via the route of al-Ḥārith ibn al-Ḥakam, from Abū ʿAmr ibn Ḥimās, as a mursal report, with the wording: "Women are not to take the middle of the road." In al-Ṭabarānī's version, it states that he had companionship [of the Prophet], but in its chain according to al-Ṭabarānī there is Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad al-Musayyabī, who is weak in hadith. This mursal report undermines the connected one, making this a second defect in the report.

It has a supporting witness from the hadith of Abū Hurayrah recorded by Ibn Ḥibbān (5601), Ibn ʿAdī 4/1321, and al-Bayhaqī in "Shuʿab al-Īmān" (7823), and in its chain there is Muslim ibn Khālid al-Zanjī, who is weak and prone to many errors. Ibn ʿAdī mentioned that he was alone in narrating it — meaning through this route. Such a report is not suitable for consideration. And Allah knows best.

We had previously deemed his hadith good on the basis of its supporting witness found here with the author, both in its connected and mursal forms, so this should be corrected accordingly.