The Sufficient (Vol 5) · Hadith 1280 (#Ḥadīth #4)

4- عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللهِ عَنْ بَعْضِ أَصْحَابِنَا رَفَعَ الْحَدِيثَ قَالَ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ إِذَا أَرَادَ تَزْوِيجَ امْرَأَةٍ بَعَثَ مَنْ يَنْظُرُ إِلَيْهَا وَيَقُولُ لِلْمَبْعُوثَةِ شَمِّي لِيتَهَا فَإِنْ طَابَ لِيتُهَا طَابَ عَرْفُهَا وَانْظُرِي كَعْبَهَا فَإِنْ دَرِمَ كَعْبُهَا عَظُمَ كَعْثَبُهَا.

4. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn abu ‘Abd Allah from certain persons of our people in a marfu’ manner has said the following: “When the Holy Prophet, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, wanted to marry a woman he would send a woman to examine her with the instruction, ‘Smell her neck; if it smells fine her scent smells fine, and if her soles are full, her knees are large.’”

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).