the Prophet’s directive, “When you hear the muʿadhdhin, repeat what he says….” To restrict the ruling by means of a ḥadīth such as this is impermissible, for the report itself is feeble; al-Nawawī, Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī and others have all graded it weak. One should not be misled by the author of al-Tāj al-Jāmiʿ li-l-Uṣūl who declared, “Its chain is sound,” for he was taken in by Abū Dāwūd’s silence regarding it. In the Introduction I have already explained the real value of Abū Dāwūd’s silence; see it there. I also exposed the defects in its chain in Ḍaʿīf Abī Dāwūd, 83, and again in Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl, 241.

On this occasion I would add that the book al-Tāj is positively rife with scholarly errors. I critiqued its first volume more than ten years ago—at the very time I was writing the present work—and the draft of that critique is still in my possession. Were I able to publish it, I would certainly do so as sincere advice to the Muslim community.

His statement concerning what is recommended for the muʿadhdhin: “4 – that he turn his head, neck, and chest to the right….”

I say: Turning the chest has absolutely no basis in the Sunnah; none of the aḥādīth that mention turning the neck say anything about turning the chest. It is probably a slip of the author’s pen, although it has remained in every edition of the book. This probability is strengthened by his next words: “Al-Nawawī said regarding this manner: it is the soundest of the ways. Abū Juhayfah said….”

Al-Nawawī in al-Majmūʿ, 3/104, after citing the ḥadīth of Abū Juhayfah reported by the Two Shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) that the author himself mentioned, states: “I watched his mouth as it moved here and there, to the right and to the left.” In the wording recorded by Abū Dāwūd: “When he reached ḥayya ʿalaṣ-ṣalāh, ḥayya ʿalal-falāḥ, he turned his neck to the right and to the left without turning his body,” and its chain is authentic.