altogether. Ibn Jawsa was an imam and ḥāfiẓ—a hadith master—who, like others, occasionally erred in the chain of transmission but not in the wording itself, and only a captious critic would weaken him for that.

A group of scholars related: “Ibn Jawsa narrated to us, ‘Abu al-Taqi narrated to us, “Baqiyyah narrated to us, ‘Waraqāʾ and Ibn Thawban narrated to us, from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Abu Hurayrah in a report traced back to the Prophet (ﷺ), who said:
“When the congregational prayer is called to begin, no prayer is valid except the obligatory one.”’ (2)”’”

Some objected to Ibn Jawsa’s inclusion of Ibn Thawban in the chain, but the point is minor; even were it a lapse, it would do no harm, and it may well be that he preserved it accurately.

Al-Ṭabarānī said: “Ibn Jawsa alone transmitted it, and he was among the most trustworthy and eminent of the Muslims.” (3)

I say: The hadith was also reported by Abū Bakr ibn al-Muqriʾ, who said: “Al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Taqi ibn Abī al-Taqi al-Yazanī narrated to us; my grandfather narrated to us,” and he cited it as corroboration of Ibn Jawsa.

Two reliable transmitters likewise narrated it from Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAnbasah al-Ḥimṣī, from Abu al-Taqi, with the same wording, thereby vindicating the ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Ḥasan.

Abu al-Taqi himself is trustworthy and a sound authority. As for Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAnbasah, he said: “This hadith was in two places in Abu al-Taqi’s collection, and in one of them…” (1)