Ibn Majah

Benefits and Issues:
Firstly: Difa’ bin Daghlaf is “weak.”
Secondly: The narrator Abdul Hamid bin Saifi is actually Abdul Hamid bin Ziyad bin Saifi. He is “lenient in hadith.” The biographies of both are mentioned in Taqrib.
Thirdly: Regarding the narrator Umar bin Khattab al-Rasibi, it is written in Taqrib: «مقبول» and in the introduction to Taqrib:
◈ Hafiz Ibn Hajar writes:
«السادسة : من ليس له من الحديث الا القليل و ثم يثبت فيه ما يترك حديثه من اجله واليه الاشارة بلفظ مقبول حيث يتابع والافلين الحديث»
That is, the sixth category is of those narrators whose narrations are very few, but there is no established critical objection against them. So, where another narrator follows him, he is acceptable; otherwise, he is “lenient in hadith,” meaning a weak narrator. Since there is no corroboration here, he is also “lenient in hadith” in this case.
Fourthly: Abdul Hamid’s father, Saifi bin Suhaib, is also called “acceptable” in Taqrib. Since there is no corroboration here, he is also “lenient in hadith” in this case. Thus, in this chain, there are consecutively four weak narrators.
Fifthly: There is also suspicion of “disconnection” (inqita’) in the chain. Thus:
◈ Hafiz Dhahabi rahimahullah states in [ميزان لاعتدال ص 2/ 14]:
«عبدالحميد بن زياد بن صيفي بن صهيب عن ابيه عن جده قال البخاري لايعرف سماع بعضهم من بعض»
That is, in this chain, Abdul Hamid bin Ziyad bin Saifi bin Suhaib, he from his father, he from his grandfather—whether each heard from the other is not known. Therefore, this narration is weak and is contrary to the authentic hadith in Sahih Muslim and the other aforementioned ahadith. Thus, it is invalid and rejected.
◈ In the footnote of Ibn Majah, regarding this very hadith, it is transmitted from Injah al-Hajah, authored by Shaykh Abdul Ghani al-Dehlawi al-Madani:
«قوله ان احسن ما اختضبتوبه لهذا السواد هذا مخالف لرواية جابر السابقة وهو صحيح اخرجه مسلم وفي رواية ابي داود والنسائي عن ابن عباس عن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم قال يكون فى آخر الزمان يخضبون بهذا السواد كحواصل الحمام لا يجذون رائحة الجنة۔ وهذا الحديث يعني حديث ابن ماجة عن صهيب ضعيف لان دفاع السدوسي ضعيف كما فى القريب وعبدالحميد بن صيفي لين الحديث ومذهب الجمهور المنع»
That is, this narration of Ibn Majah is, firstly, contrary to the authentic hadith of Muslim. Secondly, it is also contrary to the narration of Abu Dawud and Nasa’i, in which there is a warning that those who use black dye will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise. And then, it is itself weak because its narrator Difa’ al-Sudusi is weak. The second narrator, Abdul Hamid bin Saifi, is weak. And according to the majority’s school, black dye is prohibited.
May Allah Ta’ala grant all of us the ability to act upon the Qur’an and Hadith. «هذا ما عندنا والله اعلم بالصواب»