Al-Hākim said (1): “It meets the criteria of both al-Bukhārī and Muslim, and I know of no defect in it.”
I say: ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Hātim said (2): “I asked my father about this hadith, and he said: ‘This is a rejected hadith.’” End of quotation (3). He rejected it—Allah knows best (4)—because it was narrated by al-‘Alā’ ibn Ismā‘īl al-‘Attār from Hafs ibn Ghiyāth. This al-‘Alā’ is an unknown narrator who is not mentioned in the Six Books.
These, then, are the hadiths traced back to the Prophet on both sides, as you can see.
As for the reports from the Companions, what is reliably reported from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb is that he used to place his knees before his hands. ‘Abd al-Razzāq, Ibn al-Mundhir (5), and others related this from him. The same is reported from ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd, may Allah be pleased with him. Al-Tahāwī related it (6) from Fahd, from ‘Umar ibn Hafs, from his father, from al-A‘mash, from Ibrāhīm, from the companions of