“Once we were in al-Madinah. Zurarah insisted about plucking out or shaving the hairs of underarms. I said shaving is better and he said, plucking out is better. We asked permission to see abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.). Permission was granted and he was in the shower applying the paste (to remove hairs). He (the Imam) had applied it to his underarms. I said to Zurarah that it is sufficient. He said, ‘Perhaps he (the Imam) did what was not permissible for me to do.’ He (the Imam) asked, ‘What is the issue between you two people?’ I replied, ‘Zurarah insists about plucking out or shaving.’ I said to him that shaving is better and Zurarah says that plucking out is better. He (the Imam) said, ‘You have found the Sunnah and Zurarah has missed it. Shaving is better than plucking it out, and using paste is better than shaving.’ He (the Imam) then said apply paste. We said, ‘It is three days that we have applied it. He (the Imam) said, ‘Apply again; applying paste is cleansing.’”