whereas they judged him weak in what he narrated from the Ḥijāz.

Al-Bayhaqī reports from al-Bukhārī that he said, “Ismāʿīl’s ḥadith from the people of the Ḥijāz and the people of Iraq are objectionable.” Al-Ṭabarānī states in his Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr: “Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us; he said, ‘I heard Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn say: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh is reliable in what he reports from the Syrians, but as for his narrations from the Ḥijāzis, his notebook was lost, so he became confused about them.’”

Duḥaym said, “With regard to the Syrians he is of the highest standing, but he mixed up what he took from the Medinans.” ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī remarked, “When he relates from his own countrymen his reports are sound, but when he relates from the people of Medina they are worthless.”

I say: The present ḥadith comes through his narration from the people of Medina; therefore the report is weak. What is soundly preserved from Abū Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—is the tradition transmitted by Abū Dāwūd from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, as will be mentioned shortly, Allah willing.

Another report is that which Imām Aḥmad also transmitted—from Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, through Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them both—on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, identical to the report of Abū Hurayrah. The ruling on this narration is the same as the one before it; what is reliably established from Ibn ʿUmar is his denial of raising the hands during prostration, as noted a little earlier.

Yet another narration is that recorded by Ibn Mājah, transmitted by Rafdah ibn Quḍāʿah al-Ghassānī: “Al-Awzāʿī narrated to us from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, from his father, from his grandfather ʿUmayr ibn Ḥabīb—may Allah be pleased with him—who said: ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would raise his hands with every takbīr in the prescribed prayer.’” Al-Nasāʾī said, “Rafdah ibn Quḍāʿah…”