it is authentically reported that he said: "The ears are part of the head." This was recorded by al-Dāraqutnī (1/98/5), as well as ʿAbd al-Razzāq (1/11). Fourthly, most scholars have agreed with this, as mentioned in "al-Majmūʿ" by al-Nawawī (1/413), and this is one of the factors that strengthens a weak ḥadīth according to Imām al-Shāfiʿī and others. See "Jilbāb al-Marʾah al-Muslimah" (pp. 13, 59-60). Fifthly, it is authentically reported that the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) acted upon it from the ḥadīth of al-Miqdām ibn Maʿd Yakrib and Ibn ʿAbbās, that he wiped his head and his ears, both the outer and inner parts. These were narrated by Abū Dāwūd and others, and they are included in "Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd" (112-114 and 126), and he did not take new water for them. As for the ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd al-Māzinī, that the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) took water for his ears separate from the water he took for his head, it is an anomalous ḥadīth and not authentic. The preserved version, as the ḥāfiẓ said, is with the wording: "He wiped his head with water other than the remainder on his hands." This was narrated by Muslim and others, and it is included in "Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd" under number (111). I have detailed the discussion on the mentioned anomaly in the second volume of "al-Ḍaʿīfah" under ḥadīth (995). I say: some of these aspects, if they were present in a mursal ḥadīth, would be sufficient to strengthen it and elevate it to the level of being used as evidence, so how about when they are combined? This is the view of al-Ṣanʿānī. There is another aspect by which it can be strengthened through reasoning, as indicated by Imām Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī in "Sharḥ al-Maʿānī" (1/20), which is: they unanimously agreed that a woman in the state of iḥrām is not required to cover her face, but she must cover her head and her ears, both the outer and inner parts. This indicates that their ruling is the same as the head in wiping, not the face, and Allāh knows best. After writing what has been mentioned, I saw that ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in "al-Nukat ʿalá Kitāb Ibn..