“By Allah, were it not for the supplication of our brother Solomon, he would now be trussed up, a plaything for the people of Madinah.”

This story is recorded by Muslim 2/73, ʿAbd al-Razzāq 2/24/2338, Aḥmad 1/413, 3/82, 5/104–105, and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr 2/224, 227, 251, on the authority of several Companions with closely similar wording. See Ṣifat al-Ṣalāh, p. 74.

Second: The ḥadith of Ibn ʿAbbās on which he relied is not sound, for its chain includes al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah, who is weak, prone to tadlīs, and has narrated it using an ʿanʿana. I have listed it in al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfah, 5814, together with other reports conveying the same idea.

Third: He attributed it to Abū Dāwūd, and that is a mistake; it is not found in Abū Dāwūd. A similar narration comes through al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās, which will be discussed shortly.

Fourth: He said, “Al-Bayhaqī stated: It has a corroborating chain, more authentic than this, from al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās.” I reply: This reflects al-Bayhaqī’s leniency—may Allah have mercy on him—for the report is transmitted by ʿAbbās ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās from al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Tahdhīb: “Ibn Ḥazm judged it defective because of a break in the chain; he wrote (4/13): ʿAbbās never met his uncle al-Faḍl—and that is correct. Ibn al-Qaṭṭān added: His status is unknown.” Al-Shawkānī overlooked this break in Nayl al-Awṭār 3/8, and the annotator of Sharḥ al-Sunnah 2/461 followed him in that oversight.