from him through any authentic chain of transmission. The best report on this is the hadith of ‘Ā’ishah, according to which he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would give a single salutation, “Peace be upon you,” raising his voice loud enough to wake us. This hadith is affected by a defect (1). It appears in al-Sunan (2), but concerns his night prayer. Those who reported his two salutations related what they had witnessed in both obligatory and voluntary prayers. Moreover, ‘Ā’ishah’s hadith does not explicitly state that he confined himself to a single salutation. Rather, she reported that he would give a salutation (3) that woke them. She did not deny the other salutation; she simply did not mention it. Her silence concerning it cannot take precedence over the reports of those who remembered it and accurately recorded it. They are more numerous, and their hadiths are more reliable: many of their hadiths are authentic, and the remainder are good.
Abū ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said (4): It has been reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would give a single salutation, in hadiths narrated by Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās, ‘Ā’ishah, and Anas. These reports, however, are affected by defects, and hadith scholars do not judge them authentic (5). He then explained the defect in Sa‘d’s hadith stating that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would give a single salutation in prayer (6), and said: “This