Weakness of Hadeeth about covering oneself during sexual intercourse
Fatwa No: 92235

Question

respected scholar, i was reading your previous fatwa (as it hepls me to know more about islam) u qouted a hadith which is written below. it was stated in the fatwa that the following hadith is not authentic can u please tell me the reason why is it not authentic and who were the authorities who classed it unauthentic "If anyone of you has sexual intercourse with his wife, let him cover himself, and not be naked the way the donkeys do".

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

The narration which you quoted is classified by a group of scholars to be weak, and it was narrated by a group of companions but with unauthentic chains of narrators. In fact, this narration is reported by An-Nasaa'ee and others and narrated by 'Abdullaah Ibn Sarjis but its chain of narrators included Sadaqah Ibn 'Abdullaah who is considered as a weak narrator. An-Nasaa'ee after quoting the narration, said: 'This narration is rejectionable and Sadaqah Ibn 'Abdullaah is a weak narrator.'

Furthermore, this narration is also reported by At-Tabaraani, Al-Bayhaqi and others and narrated by Ibn Mas'ood and it is narrated through Mandal Ibn 'Ali who is considered to be a weak narrator, because he was wrong as he reported the narration to be narrated by Al-A'mash on the authority of 'Abdullaah from the Prophet . Besides, Abu Zar'ah said that Mandal was wrong, and Al-A'mash stated that Mandal lied.

Moreover, this narration is reported by Ibn Maajah and others and narrated by 'Utbah Ibn 'Abd As-Salami and its chain of narrators included Al-Ahwas Ibn Hakeem Al-'Anasi and Al-Waleed Ibn Qaasim, but both of them are weak.

Additionally, this narration is reported by At-Tabaraani and narrated by Abu Umaamah and its chain of narrators comprised 'Ufayr Ibn Mu'daan who is also considered to be a weak narrator.

Finally, the great scholar, Al-Albaani commented on the above narration and clarified the reasons why it is weak.

Allaah Knows best.

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