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Please accept my apologies; my intention with this post is not to offend or inflame anyone but to have a sobering discussion. Although I have heard my fair share of absurd ahadis, both shia and sunni, over the years; this one moved me to the point that I had to write about it. The hadis in question is stated as follows: Making love bare (without a covering) It is narrated that Muĥammad bin al-Ais asked Imām as-Ŝādiq (as): “Is it permissible to go near my wife naked (i.e. make love naked)?” Imām replied: “No, don’t do such a thing…” This hadis appears on the well-known shia website: http://www.al-islam.org. On this web site, there is a book titled "From Marriage to Parenthood The Heavenly Path". This hadis is stated in the second chapter titled "Sexual Etiquette". Here is the link the relevant section: http://www.al-islam.org/from-marriage-to-parenthood-heavenly-path-abbas-and-shaheen-merali/chapter-2-sexual-etiquette#makr%C5%ABh-discouraged-acts The question here is not about the authenticity of the hadis; I think that any rational person can see the irrationality of making love without getting naked. The disturbing thing here is that this hiadis appears on http://www.al-islam.org, which is supposed to be a mainstream shia website, providing authentic knowledge. Is there no refuge from these absurd ahadis? When truth is mixed with untruth and authentic is mixed with unauthentic in hadis books, then is there anything to be gained by studying or learning about hadis?