Second: al-Ḥākim’s version of the report does not contain the wording, “he pronounced the takbīr,” which is the very clause under discussion. He relates it only through ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-ʿUmari—the younger—who is reliable, unlike his brother ʿAbd Allāh, the elder, who is weak, as noted above. The same narration is found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere through ʿUbayd Allāh the younger, not the elder, and this fact itself is evidence of the latter’s weakness; see al-Irwāʾ, nos. 471–472.

He further states, “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said: ‘When you recite a verse that requires prostration, pronounce the takbīr and prostrate, and when you raise your head, pronounce the takbīr again.’” He mentions this without sourcing it, and I have not found anyone who attributes it to Ibn Masʿūd. Al-Bayhaqī merely suspends it (2/325) from someone else, saying: “It is reported from al-Rabīʿ ibn Ṣubayḥ, from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, that he said…” and then he quotes the statement.

Regarding al-Rabīʿ, al-Ḥāfiẓ says: “He is trustworthy but has a poor memory.”

I have, however, found a basis for the practice ascribed to Ibn Masʿūd. Ibn Abī Shaybah records in his Muṣannaf (2/2) through ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib: “We used to recite to Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī while walking; whenever he passed a verse of prostration he would pronounce the takbīr, gesture (for prostration), and give salām, claiming that Ibn Masʿūd used to do likewise.” Yet ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib’s memory became confused in his later years.

It is also related from Abū al-Ashhab and al-Ḥasan that they said: “When a man recites a verse of prostration, let him pronounce the takbīr both when he lowers himself and when he rises.” The transmitters are trustworthy, but the chain contains Hushaym reporting from Mughīra, and both men practiced tadlīs.