Muslim likewise relates in his Ṣaḥīḥ, through Shuʿbah (1) from al-Ḥakam (2), who said:
“A man—he mentioned his name—took control of Kūfah during the time of Ibn al-Ashʿath (3). He ordered Abū ʿUbaydah ibn ʿAbd Allāh (4) to lead the people in prayer. When he prayed, then raised his head from bowing, he would remain standing for as long as it took me to say:
‘O Allah, our Lord, to You belongs all praise—filling the heavens, filling the earth, and filling whatever else You will thereafter—You are worthy of all praise and glory. None can withhold what You give, none can give what You withhold, and the fortune of the fortunate avails nothing against You.’”
Al-Ḥakam added:
“I mentioned this to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, and he said, ‘I heard al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib say: The prayer of the Messenger of Allah —may Allah bless him and grant him peace—his bowing, and when he raised his head from …’”}
(1) He is Shuʿba ibn al-Hajjaj ibn al-Ward al-ʿAtaki, their mawla, originally from Wasit and later Basra, kunya Abu Bistam. A foremost, scrupulous hadith master, he was praised by Ibn Hajar who quotes Sufyan al-Thawri as saying, “He is the Commander of the Faithful in hadith.” Shuʿba was the first in Iraq to investigate narrators and to defend the Sunna, and he was known for his piety. He belongs to the seventh generation and died in 160 AH. See Ibn Hajar, Taqrib al-Tahdhib 1:351, no. 67.
(2) He is al-Hakam ibn ʿUtayba al-Kindi al-Kufi, kunya Abu Muhammad. Ibn Hajar writes in Taqrib: “Reliable, firmly grounded, and a jurist, though he sometimes practiced tadlis; of the fifth generation.” He died in 113 AH at a little over sixty years of age. See Ibn Hajar, Taqrib al-Tahdhib 1:192, no. 494.
(3) He is ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ashʿath ibn Qays al-Kindi, who rebelled against al-Hajjaj. After a series of protracted engagements, he seized Sijistan, Kirman, Fars, and Basra, until the Battle of Dayr al-Jamajim—which lasted more than one hundred days—ended in his defeat. He fled to Ratbil, king of the Turks, but under al-Hajjaj’s threats Ratbil sent Ibn al-Ashʿath’s head to him in 85 AH. See Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya 9:35–37, 39–42; al-Zirikli, al-Aʿlam 3:323–24.
(4) He is Abu ʿUbayda ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud, a distinguished Successor of the third generation from Kufa, judged trustworthy; he died sometime after 80 AH. See Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 2:448, “al-Kuna,” no. 86.