1380 - Abu al-Ash'ath informed us, from Yazid ibn Zuray' who said: Shu'bah narrated to us, from Qatadah, from al-Hasan, from Samurah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Whoever performs ablution on Friday, that is good and excellent, and whoever bathes, then bathing is superior."(1)

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It was also recorded with similar wording — in both extended and abridged forms — by Ahmad (24339), al-Bukhari (903), Muslim (847), Abu Dawud (352), and Ibn Hibban (1236) via the route of 'Amrah bint 'Abd al-Rahman; and by al-Bukhari (902) and (2071), Muslim (847), Abu Dawud (1055), the compiler in "al-Kubra" (1694), and Ibn Hibban (1237) via the route of 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr — both of them from 'A'ishah, with it.

Al-Sindi said: His statement: "they dwell in al-'Aliyah": these are places outside Medina.

And he said: "al-rawh" with fathah: the breeze of the wind. "Arwahuhum" is the plural of rih (wind), because its root letter is waw, and it is occasionally pluralized as "aryah" and frequently as "riyah." That is, when the breeze passed over them, it became imbued with their spirits/odors and carried them to the people. The gist is that they would sweat due to walking from a distant place, and when sweat combines with dirt and woolen clothing, it produces an unpleasant odor. When the wind carries it to people, they are harmed by it. So the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, urged them to bathe — to repel harm, not because it is obligatory in itself.

(1) Hasan li-ghayrihi (good due to corroborating evidence). This chain's narrators are trustworthy, except that al-Hasan — namely al-Basri — is a mudallis (one who conceals deficiencies in transmission), and he did not explicitly state that he heard it from Samurah. He only heard from Samurah the hadith of the 'aqiqah, as the compiler stated after the hadith. Abu al-Ash'ath: he is Ahmad ibn al-Miqdam, and it appears in "al-Sunan al-Kubra" as number (1696).

It was also recorded by Ahmad (20120) via 'Ali ibn 'Abdullah ibn al-Madini, and by al-Tirmidhi (497) via the route of Sa'id ibn Sufyan al-Jahdari — both from Yazid ibn Zuray', with this chain. Al-Tirmidhi said: A hasan hadith... And some narrated it from Qatadah, from al-Hasan, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, as mursal (with the Companion omitted).

It was also recorded by Ahmad (20089), (20174), (20177), and (20259), and Abu Dawud (354) via the route of Hammam ibn Yahya al-'Udhi, from Qatadah, with it.

And it was recorded with Ma'mar — as 'Abd al-Razzaq recorded (5311) — and Aban ibn Yazid — as Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned in "al-'Ilal" (575) — both from Qatadah, from al-Hasan, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

Ibn Abi Hatim asked his father about the hadith of Hammam and the hadith of Aban: which of the two is more authentic? He said: Both are authentic. Hammam is trustworthy and connected it (to Samurah), while Aban did not connect it. =