The seventh is the swaying gait (1), which is said to involve affected suppleness and effeminacy.
The eighth is the backward gait: walking backwards.
The ninth is the bounding gait, in which the walker moves in leaps.
The tenth (2) is swaggering—the gait of the conceited and arrogant. This was the gait of the man whom Allah, glorified be He, caused the earth to swallow when he looked himself over from side to side and admired himself. He will continue tumbling within the earth until the Day of Resurrection (3).
The most balanced of these gaits is walking with tranquillity and a forward inclination (4).
As for his walking with his Companions, they would walk ahead of him while he followed behind, saying: “Leave the space behind me for the angels” (5). Hence the statement in the hadith: “He used to walk behind his Companions” (6).
(1) After this, مب and ن add: “wa-hiya mishya (and it is a gait).”
(2) ص and ج read: “The tenth is a swaying gait, like that of women. This is one interpretation of the Prophet’s statement concerning women: ‘Clothed yet naked, swaying their bodies.’ When a man walks this way, he is swaggering.” The adopted reading is from ك and ع and also appears in the printed edition. Perhaps the author substituted it for the reading in ص and ج because the tenth gait repeated the seventh, both being swaying gaits.
(3) As reported in the hadith of Abū Hurayra in Sahīh al-Bukhārī (5789) and Muslim (2088).
(4) This is the wording in the manuscripts; it has already appeared shortly above.
(5) Reported by Ahmad (15281) and al-Dārimī (46) from Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh, with an authentic chain of transmission. Al-Hākim also graded it authentic (2:411; 4:281). It is corroborated by another report from Jābir describing the Companions’ practice, transmitted by Ahmad (14236) and Ibn Mājah (246), and graded authentic by Ibn Hibbān (6312).
(6) As in Jābir’s hadith, whose source references will be given below.