319 – ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) entered my house and performed eight units (rakʿahs) of the forenoon prayer.” Narrated by Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ (1).

Hadith grading:
The editor of Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān stated: “Its chain meets Muslim’s criteria, except that it contains al-Muṭlab ibn ʿAbd-Allah ibn Ḥanṭab. Abū Zurʿah and al-Dāraqutnī declared him reliable, but scholars disagree over whether he actually heard from ʿĀʾishah.”

Points derived from Hadiths 318 and 319:
1 – Hadith 318 indicates that the forenoon prayer may be offered as twelve rakʿahs. This does not conflict with other narrations, for the prayer’s minimum is two units and its maximum twelve. The well-known view in the school of Imām Aḥmad, however, sets the maximum at eight, based on the report in al-Bukhārī (1176) and Muslim (336) from Umm Hānīʾ: “On the day of the Conquest the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed eight rakʿahs as the forenoon prayer.”
2 – Hadith 319 shows that the forenoon prayer consists of eight rakʿahs.

The editor comments: I see no contradiction among the narrations regarding the number of units for the forenoon prayer. Reconciling them is straightforward, as Ibn Jarīr mentioned earlier: each Companion related what he personally witnessed. Sometimes the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed two rakʿahs, at other times four, six, eight, and on other occasions twelve. There is therefore no inconsistency or conflict. Allah knows best.