Their mourning, and I have not wailed since in their mourning or in any other until this very hour, and there remained no woman among them but had wailed except me.

This is a good and rare hadith.

(1) A hadith that is good due to corroborating evidence, though this chain is weak due to the weakness of Shahr ibn Hawshab. It has a supporting witness from the hadith of Umm 'Atiyyah, recorded by Muslim (937), on the authority of Umm 'Atiyyah, who said: When this verse was revealed: {They pledge to you that they will not associate anything with Allah... and will not disobey you in what is right}, she said: Wailing was among that. She said: I said, "O Messenger of Allah, except the family of so-and-so, for they helped me in the days of ignorance, and I must repay them." The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Except the family of so-and-so."

Imam al-Nawawi said in his "Sharh Muslim" 6/238, may Allah have mercy on him: This is understood as a concession for Umm 'Atiyyah regarding the family of so-and-so specifically, as is apparent, and wailing is not permissible for anyone else, nor for her regarding anyone other than the family of so-and-so, as is explicit in the hadith. The Lawgiver may specify from a general ruling whatever He wills, and this is the correct ruling regarding this hadith.

Al-'Ayni said in his "'Umdah" 19/232: The correct view is that wailing is absolutely forbidden, and this is the position of the scholars. The best and most fitting answer to the hadith of Umm 'Atiyyah is to say that the prohibition was first issued as a discouragement, then when the women's pledge was completed, the prohibition became absolute, so the permission given to Umm 'Atiyyah occurred in the first state, and then the prohibition came. Severe threats were reported in many hadiths.

Some held that his saying, peace and blessings be upon him, "except the family of so-and-so," does not explicitly state that she would help them by wailing, so it is possible that she helped them by meeting and weeping without wailing.

It has been authentically established from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, the explicit prohibition of helping in mourning from the hadith of Anas, recorded by Ahmad in his "Musnad" (12658).

The hadith of this chapter was also recorded in abbreviated form by Ibn Majah (1579). It is in the "Musnad" (26720).

(2) The word "rare" is not found in (S).