…whether in a small town, a small village, or a confined spot, or, conversely, far from the centre, as in a large city, a large village, or a spacious place. Anyone who claims that Arabic usage forbids such an application simply does not know the language, does not understand its idiom, and is unaware of how it is employed in speech. (1) On this point I add: One of the strangest flimsy reports and misleading fantasies we have encountered is what the scholar Ibn Abidin cites in his marginal commentary (1/41) from the book Akhbar al-Duwal, with an isnad going back to Sufyan al-Thawri: “The prayer in the mosque of Damascus is worth thirty thousand prayers.” I say: This statement is groundless—neither from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) nor from Sufyan al-Thawri. Abu al-Hasan al-Rubaʿi recorded it in Fada’il al-Sham wa-Dimashq (pp. 35–37) and Ibn ʿAsakir in Tarikh Dimashq (2/12), on the authority of Ahmad ibn Anas ibn Malik, who reported from Habib the mu’adhdhin, who in turn reported from Abu Ziyad al-Shuʿbani and Abu Umayya al-Shuʿbani. They said: “We were in Mecca when we noticed a man sitting in the shade of the Kaʿba; it was Sufyan al-Thawri. Someone asked, ‘Abu ʿAbd Allah, what do you say about the prayer in this city?’ He replied, ‘It equals one hundred thousand prayers.’ He said, ‘And in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)?’ He replied, ‘Fifty thousand.’ He said, ‘And in Bayt al-Maqdis?’ He replied, …”