Is the hadīth authentic: That a needle of iron be driven into a man’s head is better for him than that he touch a woman who is not lawful to him

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

لأن يُطعَنَ فِي رَأس أحَدِكُمْ بِمخْيَطٍ مِنْ حَدِيدٍ خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنْ أَنْ يَمَسَّ امْرَأَةً لَا تَحِلُّ لَهُ شيخ ربيع

“That a needle of iron be driven into a man’s head is better for him than that he touch a woman who is not lawful to him.”

Authenticated by:

– al-Mundhirī in Targhīb 3/39.
– al-Haythamī in Majma’ al-Zawāid 7788.
– al-Manāwī in Taysīr 2/288.
– Diyā al-Maqdisī in Ittiba’ al-Sunnan pg. 41.
– al-Saffārīnī in Sharh Thulāthiyāt 2/673.
– al-‘Azīzī in Sirāj al-Munīr 4/119.
– ‘Abdul-Qādir al-Arnā’ūt in Sharh Thulāthiyāt 2/673.
– al-Albānī in al-Sahīhah 226
– ‘Abd al-Muhsin al-‘Abbād in Sharh Sunan Abī Dawūd – who used this hadīth as proof that touching a foreign/non-lawful woman is from the major sins.
– Muhammad Amīn Hararī in Kitāb Tafsīr 23/138.
– Rabī’ ibn Hādī via his official website.

Shaykh Al-Albānī said in al-Sahīhah:

“[The hadīth was] transmitted by al-Rūyānī in his Musnad (2/227): Nasr ibn ʿAlī narrated to us; my father narrated to us; Shaddād ibn Saʿīd from Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, who said: Maʿqil ibn Yasār narrated to me — [transmitted] as marfūʿ.

I say: this is a jayyid [good] isnād; all its men are trustworthy [thiqāt] and among the men of the two Shaykhs [al-Bukhārī and Muslim] — except for Shaddād ibn Saʿīd, who is among the men of Muslim alone.

There is some minor criticism of him, though it does not lower his hadīth below the rank of hasan; for this reason Muslim only transmitted from him in the shawāhid [corroborating narrations].

Al-Dhahabī said in al-Mīzān: “He is sālih in hadith [i.e. hadīth recorded and examined].” Al-Hāfidh [ibn Hajr] said in al-Taqrīb: “truthful, makes mistakes.” (End quote of Al-Albānī)

In Tahrīr al-Taqrīb – authored by Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arnāūt and Dr. Bashār – regarding Shaddād:

“Rather: he is sadūq [truthful], of hasan [level in] hadīth; and he was only lowered from the rank of unrestricted tawthīq [full attestation of reliability] on account of [some] errors he fell into, despite the small volume of his hadīths.

Ahmad, Ibn Maʿīn, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Shāhīn, and al-Bazzār all declared him trustworthy & reliable [thiqah]; Ibn Hibbān mentioned him in al-Thiqāt; Muslim transmitted one hadīth from him in the shawāhid [corroborating narrations]; Ibn ʿAdī said: “there is no objection to him”.

al-Dhahabī said: “sālih in hadīth.”
ʿAbd al-Samad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith weakened him; al-ʿUqaylī said: “there is something [to be said] regarding his memory [hifdh]”; al-Dāraqutnī said: “he is to be considered”; and Abū Ahmad al-Hākim said: “he is not strong in their view.” (pg. 336)