and by his action … and so on.

The wording of the “kneading” report was cited a little earlier, and, God willing, we shall examine it in due course. What matters here is that he leads the readers to think that nothing authentically traced back to Ibn ʿUmar supports the first possibility, whereas the reality is otherwise—and he knows it. Still, he merely hints at it on p. 38, far from the place where it properly belongs. Here he does not quote the text at all; rather, he gives the impression that it is only a companion’s statement, for he mentions Ibn ʿUmar’s leaning on his two hands through the narration of al-ʿUmari, who is weak, and then says:

“And in al-Bayhaqi (2/135) there is his leaning on the ground with his hands. Al-Albani said: Its chain is good and its transmitters are trustworthy, as in al-Daʿifah 2/392.”

Yet he does not cite the wording here either; instead, he tucks it away on p. 85, scattering a text whose clear import supports the hadith of Malik ibn al-Huwayrith! Its wording, through the narration of al-Azraq ibn Qays, runs as follows:

“I saw Ibn ʿUmar, when he rose after the two rakʿahs, support himself on the ground with his hands. I said to his son and to those sitting with him, ‘Perhaps he does this because of old age?’ They replied, ‘No; this is how it ought to be.’”

The aforementioned writer then quoted my words after it:

“I said: This chain is good; all its transmitters are trustworthy. His statement, ‘This is how it ought to be,’ is plain evidence that Ibn ʿUmar did so in following the sunnah of the prayer, not out of senility or weakness.”

He cited this remark of mine under his discussion of the kneading hadith and answered it by saying:

“This only establishes the fact of leaning for support, and that is already conveyed by the hadith of Malik ibn al-Huwayrith in his description of the Prophet’s prayer. The issue is not the legitimacy of leaning on the ground but its form, the manner of kneading.”

I reply: On the contrary, there are indeed two issues: the permissibility of supporting oneself on the ground with the hands