those who had with them only one or two followers! The one being called upon should not feel alienated by the few who respond to the caller, nor should he use this as a reason to doubt the true call and abandon belief in it, let alone use it as evidence of the invalidity of his call on the pretext that no one followed him, or only a few did! If his call were true, the masses would have followed him! And Allāh says, "And most of the people, although you strive [for it], are not believers." (Yūsuf, 12:103)

- "Consult women regarding their own marriage. It was said: What if the virgin is too shy to speak? He said: Her silence is her consent." Narrated by al-Nasāʾī (2/78) and Aḥmad (6/45, 203) from Ibn Jurayj who said: I heard Ibn Abī Mulaykah narrating from Dhakwān Abū ʿAmr, the freed slave of ʿĀʾishah, from ʿĀʾishah as a marfūʿ ḥadīth. This isnād is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, and it was also recorded by al-Bukhārī (8/57), Muslim (4/141), and Aḥmad (6/165) from this chain with the same meaning. In another narration, "The virgin is asked for her permission."

- "He forbade drinking directly from the mouth of the water skin." Narrated by Aḥmad (2/230, 487): Ismāʿīl told us, saying Ayūb informed us from ʿIkrimah from Abū Hurayrah as a marfūʿ ḥadīth. Ayūb said: I was informed that a man drank from the mouth of the water skin and a snake came out. This isnād is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhārī, and it was also recorded by al-Ḥākim (4/140) from this chain, who said: "Authentic according to the criteria of (B)