Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed ablution, he would take a handful of water, place it under his chin, and run it through his beard, saying, "This is what my Lord commanded me to do."
أن رسول الله ﷺ كان إذا توضأ أخذ كفا من ماء، فأدخله تحت حنكه، فخلل به لحيته وقال: هكذا أمرني ربي.
Abu Dawud (145) narrated it from Abu Tuba, meaning Rabi bin Nafi, he said, Abu Malih related to us, from Walid bin Zuran, from Anas, and he mentioned it.Walid bin Zuran is Sulami Raqqi, from whom Abu Malih Raqqi, Jafar bin Barqan, Hajjaj bin Hajjaj Bahili, and Abu Muhammad Abdullah bin Muayya Jazari all narrated. No one has spoken against him, so he is salih al-hadith (his hadith is acceptable), except that Abu Dawud doubted whether he actually heard from Anas bin Malik. I have not been able to determine the year of his birth or death.As for the one mentioned by Ibn Hibban in Thiqat (7/550) among the followers of the followers, it appears to be a different person, for he said of him, "This is the one called Walid bin Abu Walid, who narrated from Maymun bin Mihran, and from whom Hammam bin Yahya narrated." End of quote.Hakim (1/149) also gave two other chains for this hadith from Anas, and taken together, these chains bring the hadith up to the level of hasan, except for the phrase "This is how my Lord commanded me." As for the chain given by Ibn Majah (431), it contains Yahya bin Abu Kathir Abu Nadr and his teacher Yazid Raqashi, both of whom are daif.As for the hadith of Hassan bin Bilal, who said, "I saw Ammar bin Yasir perform wudu and run his fingers through his beard, so it was said to him," or he said, "so I said to him, 'Do you run your fingers through your beard?' He said, 'What is there to stop me? I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ run his fingers through his beard,'" this is daif.It was narrated by Tirmidhi (30) and Ibn Majah (429), both of whom said, Ibn Abu Umar related to us, Sufyan bin Uyayna related to us, from Saeed bin Abu Aruba, from Qatada, from Hassan, and he mentioned the hadith. Its narrators are thiqat (reliable), except that the Hafiz found fault with it, saying that Ibn Uyayna did not hear it from Saeed, nor did Qatada hear it from Hassan. Talkhis (1/86).Abu Hatim also found fault with it on the grounds of discontinuity, saying, "No one has related this except Ibn Uyayna, from Ibn Abu Aruba," and he said, "If it were sahih, it would be found among the compiled works of Ibn Abu Aruba, and Ibn Uyayna did not mention hearing it directly in this hadith, and this is something that weakens it." Ilal (1/32).This hadith has appeared in some sources with Ibn Uyayna explicitly stating that he heard it directly, but this is an error.The hadith has another chain, narrated by Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, both of whom said, Ibn Abu Umar related to us, Sufyan bin Uyayna related to us, from Abdul-Kareem bin Abu Mukhariq Abu Umaya, from Hassan bin Bilal, and he mentioned it. This chain is daif, for it contains Abdul-Kareem bin Abu Mukhariq, who is daif. Whoever said that he is Abdul-Kareem bin Malik Jazari erred, for although the latter belongs to the same generation, he is thiqa (reliable). Moreover, Abdul-Kareem bin Abu Mukhariq did not hear the hadith about running fingers through the beard from Hassan bin Bilal, as Tirmidhi related from Ibn Uyayna. And in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, in the biography of Hassan bin Bilal, it states that Bukhari and Ibn Uyayna denied that Abdul-Kareem heard from him.On this subject there are also narrations from Umm Salama, Abu Umama, Abu Darda, Ibn Umar, Abdullah bin Ukbara, Wathila, Abdullah bin Masud, and others, which Haythami gathered in Majma al-Zawaid, and the Hafiz in Talkhis (1/85-86), but all of them are defective.Imam Ahmad said, "There is nothing sahih concerning running the fingers through the beard." And Ibn Abu Hatim reported from his father, "Nothing is established from the Prophet ﷺ concerning running the fingers through the beard." See Talkhis.I say, denying sahih status does not necessarily mean denying hasan status, and for this reason the majority of scholars have held that running the fingers through the beard is recommended. Tirmidhi said, "This is the view held by most of the scholars among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ and those who came after them, they considered running the fingers through the beard to be proper," and this was also the view of Shafii. Ahmad said, "If one forgets to run his fingers through his beard, that is permissible." And Ishaq said, "If one omits it out of forgetfulness or through a considered interpretation, it suffices him, but if he omits it deliberately, he must repeat it."