his "Masa'il" (84), on the authority of his father, who said: Dawud narrated to us from Abu Nadrah, from Abu Sa'id, the freed slave of Abu Usayd, who said: He married (85), and Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, Abu Dharr, Hudhayfah, and others from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, were present. The time for prayer arrived, so they stepped him forward, and he was a slave, so he led them in prayer. Then they said to him: "When you go in to your wife, pray two rak'ahs, then take hold of the head of your wife and say: 'O Allah, bless me in my wife, and bless my wife in me; provide them sustenance from me, and provide me sustenance from them.' Then attend to yourself and your wife" (86). Abu Dawud (87) narrated with his chain of transmission from 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, that he said: "When one of you marries a woman or purchases (88) a servant, let him say: 'O Allah, I ask You for her good and the good of what You have created in her nature, and I seek refuge in You from her evil and the evil of what You have created in her nature.' And if he purchases a camel, let him take hold of the top of its hump and say the like of that."
1136 - Issue: He said: (And it is not permitted for a free man to combine more than four wives.)
The scholars are in consensus regarding this, and we do not know of anyone who disagreed with it among them (1), except for something reported about (2) al-Qasim ibn Ibrahim (3), that he permitted nine; due to the saying of Allah the Exalted: {Then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four} (4).
(84) In M: "Mas'alah". (85) Meaning: Abu Sa'id, the freed slave of Abu Usayd. In A there is an addition: "Salim". It is an error. (86) Its authentication was previously provided in 3/26, 27. To it should be added: it was also recorded by Abd al-Razzaq, in: The Chapter on what a man should begin with when entering upon his wife, from the Book of Marriage. Al-Musannaf 6/192. (87) In: The Chapter in the Compilation of Marriage, from the Book of Marriage. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/498. It was also recorded by Ibn Majah, in: The Chapter of what a man says when he enters upon his wife, from the Book of Marriage, and in: The Chapter of buying slaves, from the Book of Commerce. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/617, 618, 2/757. (88) In A, B, and M: "wa-ishtara" (and he purchased). (1) Omitted from: A, M. (2) In M there is an addition: "Ibn". (3) Al-Qasim ibn Ibrahim ibn Isma'il al-Hasani al-Rassi, born in the year 169 AH, and to him are attributed the Qasimiyyah of the Zaydiyyah. Tarikh al-Turath al-'Arabi 1/3/328.
