As for the wording of the ḥadith itself, it is brief; its details are clarified by the other narrations. Abū Dāwūd records one version (856): “Recite the Mother of the Qur’an, and whatever Allah wills.” Abū Dāwūd left no critical remark about the report, and whatever he is silent about he considers acceptable. Ibn Ḥibbān likewise transmits—in his Ṣaḥīḥ (5/88)—the wording: “Recite the Mother of the Qur’an, and whatever you wish.”

Ibn al-Humām commented that the soundest conclusion is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said all of these directives to the man who had performed his prayer poorly.

The scholars then disagreed over the recitation of al-Fātiḥah: is it required only in the first two units, or in every unit of the prayer?

• Some held that al-Fātiḥah is obligatory solely in the first two rakʿahs and not beyond them.

• The majority maintain that it is obligatory in every rakʿah, citing the Prophet’s instruction, “Then do this throughout your entire prayer.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar added: the ḥadith of Abū Qatādah in al-Bukhārī, which states that the Prophet ﷺ would recite al-Fātiḥah in every rakʿah—and his general command, “Pray as you have seen me pray”—together constitute decisive proof of the obligation.

The jurists also differed over whether tranquility (ṭuma’nīnah) is required when rising from bowing and when sitting between the two prostrations.

• The Ḥanafīs hold that tranquility in these two positions is not obligatory.

• The majority of scholars from the four schools judge it obligatory to stand fully erect after bowing and to sit calmly after prostration, just as tranquility is unanimously required for the other pillars of the prayer. Their evidence is found in certain narrations of this very ḥadith that explicitly command tranquility in those moments, as well as in the report recorded by al-Bukhārī (759) and Muslim (471) from the ḥadith of al-Barāʾ ibn