from Bashīr, from Khuṣayf, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān. ʿItāb said: Then I met Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān, and he narrated it to me from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah in a marfūʿ form. I said: This is a good chain of transmission for supporting evidence. Khuṣayf, who is Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jazarī, was deemed weak by Aḥmad and others, while ʿItāb ibn Bashīr and Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān are trustworthy, though their memory is weak. Their ḥadīth does not fall below the rank of ḥasan, if Allāh wills. He was corroborated, as Aḥmad said (2/245): Sufyān narrated to us from Abū al-Zinād with it. This is an authentic isnād according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs. Mālik also corroborated it in "al-Muwaṭṭaʾ" (3/105) from Abū al-Zinād with it. Ibn Ḥibbān also reported it through his route (5431 - al-Iḥsān), as did al-Bukhārī and Muslim (6/153), and there are other routes from Abū Hurayrah similar to it, one of which was mentioned earlier under number (1117). Know that what is in this ḥadīth regarding the etiquette of wearing shoes, and the distinction between starting with them and removing them, is something that most Muslims in this time have neglected due to the prevalence of ignorance of the sunnah and the lack of educators guiding people to it. Among them are some who claim to be callers to Islam, and even among them are those who say about this etiquette that it is superficial and trivial! So do not be deceived by them, O Muslim, for they are, by Allāh, ignorant of Islam, and they are enemies to it, whether they realize it or not. It has long been said: Whoever is ignorant of something becomes its enemy. Among the strange matters concerning them is that they make a fuss in their sermons and lectures about the necessity of adopting Islam as a whole without division, yet they are the first to disbelieve in what they call to. This is evident in their actions and appearances, for you see them, or most of them, not concerned with dressing in the attire of their Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam), but rather imitating Ḥasan al-Bannā and his likes: short beards and ties (neckties), and some of them have beards that are almost in the manner of the common people in some countries: "The best beards are those that are mere signs"! While dressing in the attire of the people of knowledge, the turban and the robe, which may be like a saddlebag, and with a long tail like women's clothing! So we belong to Allāh and to Him we shall return.