(1) The two existing copies both read this way; al-Dhahabi’s autograph of his Tarikh al-Islam likewise has “Aqush,” as does his large Muʿjam of teachers. Such a spelling is admissible, for it seems they simply replaced the letter waw with the ḍamma vowel. Al-Dhahabi writes in the Muʿjam: “Aqush ibn ʿAbd Allah Abū al-Hamd al-Karaji al-Iftikhari, an intelligent shaykh with beautiful handwriting who copied many manuscripts and supervised the Kamiliyya shrine. He was born around 630 H/1233 CE and died in Dhu al-Qaʿda 699 H/1300 CE” (MS Majmūʿah 1, fol. 37). In the obituaries for 699 H in Tarikh al-Islam, also in his own hand, he records: “Aqush the eminent, Husam al-Din Abū al-Hamd al-Iftikhari al-Shibli… He heard in Dumyat the book al-Nasikh wa-l-mansukh by al-Hazimi from al-Jalal al-Dumyati, and I read that work to him” (fol. 288, Aya Sofya 3014). (2) The base manuscript reads “al-Iftijari,” while copy B has the form without diacritical dots. The spelling we have adopted is the correct one, as the previous marginal note makes clear. (3) Shuʿayb says: Darqutni (1/316) transmitted the report through Abū Bakr Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm al-Bazzaz and judged its chain sound. Shams al-Haqq adds that Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ghani al-Zubaidi, in some of his notes, pointed out that the hadith was related from Abū Maslama by Shuʿba, Hammad ibn Zayd, Bishr ibn al-Mufaddal, Yazid ibn Zurayʿ, ʿUbad ibn al-ʿAwwam and ʿUbad ibn ʿUbad—none of whom mention the basmala, but only the prayer while wearing sandals. Ghassan alone was followed on this point by Ibn ʿUlayya in Ahmad’s Musnad; perhaps Anas later forgot, and it seems the reliable pupils of Abū Maslama omitted the opening sentence because of its oddity. It is improbable that Anas, the Prophet’s servant, would forget how the Prophet ﷺ began his prayer, especially since the memoriser Qatadah narrates from him a wording that definitely contradicts it. Ahmad (3/166) also recorded the narration via Ghassan ibn Mudar.