Al-Bukhārī—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “The report of Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah is not corroborated; it contains Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan, and I do not know whether he actually heard anything from Abū al-Zinād or not.”

Al-Khaṭṭābī observed: “The ḥadīth of Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr is more firmly established than this one,” referring to the narration transmitted by al-Dārāwardī from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan, from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah. Al-Tirmidhī added: “Most scholars base their practice on that ḥadīth of Wāʾil: they hold that a man should place his knees on the ground before his hands, and when he rises he should raise his hands before his knees.”

Imām Aḥmad, in the Book of Prayer, said: “A habit has become widespread among the people in their prayer—indeed, even among their youth and those possessed of strength and endurance. One of them drops from standing into prostration and puts his hands on the ground before his knees; and when he rises from prostration, or after he has finished the tashahhud, he lifts his knees off the ground before his hands. This is a mistake and contrary to the position of the jurists. Rather, when he descends from standing to prostration he should set his knees on the ground first, then his hands, and then his forehead. This is what the Prophet ﷺ instructed, so command the people to do that and forbid anyone whom you see doing otherwise.” End quote.

A version of the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah has also come down with a straightforward wording that agrees with the narrations of Wāʾil and Anas, though its chain is weak. Al-Bayhaqī narrated—through Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā, from Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd, from his grandfather, from Abū Hurayrah—that the Prophet ﷺ said: “When any of you prostrates, let him begin with his knees before—”