When he related the hadith...

When he related the hadith, "Whenever anyone of you gets up of bed, he should wash his hands before placing them in the pot, as none among you knows where has his hand passed the night," A'ishah never approved it saying: What to do with the mortar? 379 And when al-Zubayr heard his traditions he said: He said the truth, he lied.

380 Abu Hassan al-A'raj is reported to have said: Two men entered upon A'ishah (may God be pleased with her) saying: Abu Hurayrah relates from the Messenger of Allah (S) that he said: "Evil omen verily lies in the woman, mount and house," she felt pity and said: By Him Who sent down the Qur'an upon Abu al-Qasim, whoever relating such a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (upon whom be God's peace and benediction) has verily told a lie.

What the Messenger of Allah said being: The pre-Islamic people used to say: Evil omen is verily in the mount, woman and house. Then she cited: "Naught of disaster befalleth in the earth or in yourselves but it is in a Book before We bring it into being... 381 Ibn Mas'ud disapproved his saying: "Whoever washes or carries a dead (corpus), he should perform the rite of ablution," using harsh words against him, saying then: O people, do not be contaminated (najis) of your dead.

382 Muhammad ibn al-Hasan reported from Abu Hanifah to have said: "I imitate the mufti judges among the like Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and the three Abds, and I never allow to contradict them with my opinion except three persons — in another narration" I imitate all the Sahabah and never permit contradicting them with my opinion except only three persons (Anas ibn Malik and Abu Hurayrah and Samurah ibn Jundab).

When being disputed in this regard he said: In regard of Anas, he became disordered in mind at the end of his life, and he used to issue verdicts from his intellect, and I never imitate his intellect.

Concerning Abu Hurayrah, he used to narrate whatever reaching his ears without meditating the meaning and without discerning between the abrogating (nasikh) and abrogated (mansukh)." 383 Abu Yusuf is reported to have said: I said to Abu Hanifah: Every report reaching me from the Messenger of Allah contradicts our analogy (qiyas), how should we deal with it? He replied: If it is reported by the trustworthy narrators we verily act according to it and abandon opinion.

I said: What is your opinion about narration of Abu Bakr and Umar? He said: How great are they. I said: What about Ali and Uthman? He said: The same is true.