until his abdomen touched the wall, and it passed behind him (1). Yudāri’uhā (“warding it off”) is a form-III verb derived from mudāra’a, meaning to repel.
While he was praying, two girls from Banī ‘Abd al-Muttalib came fighting with one another. He took hold of them with his hands and pulled them apart while still praying (2). Ahmad’s wording (3) is: “They grasped the Prophet’s ﷺ knees, and he kept them apart (4)—or separated them—without breaking off his prayer.”
While he was praying, a boy passed in front of him. He gestured with his hand like this, and the boy turned back. Then a girl passed in front of him. He gestured with his hand like this, but she continued on her way. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had finished praying, he said: “They are harder to stop.” Imam Ahmad recorded this (5).
He would blow during prayer. Imam Ahmad recorded this, and it is also found in the Sunan collections (6). As for
(1) Reported by Ahmad (6852) and Abū Dāwūd (708), through ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb, from his father, from his grandfather. Al-Nawawī graded its chain as authentic in Khulāsat al-Ahkām (1:523). It is indeed authentic up to ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb; thus, the hadith is hasan (fair), and praise be to Allah.
(2) Reported by Ahmad (2095, 3167), Abū Dāwūd (716, 717), and al-Nasā’ī (754), from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abbās. Ibn Khuzayma (882) and Ibn Hibbān (2356) graded it authentic. See the editors’ commentary on al-Musnad (3167).
(3) No. (3167).
(4) That is, he kept the two apart and separated them. The other copies read “naza‘a (pulled apart),” a scribal error.
(5) Reported by Ahmad (26523) and Ibn Mājah (948), from Umm Salama. Also reported by Ibn Abī Shayba (2935) and al-Tabarānī (23:362). Its chain has some weakness because the mother or father of Muhammad ibn Qays—according to the two versions—is an unknown narrator. The boy mentioned is ‘Abd Allāh or ‘Umar ibn Abī Salama, and the girl is Zaynab bint Umm Salama.
(6) Reported by Ahmad (6483, 6763, 6868), Abū Dāwūd in an abridged version (1194), and al-Nasā’ī in al-Mujtabā (1482, 1496) and al-Kubrā (1880, 1896). Also reported by Ibn Khuzayma (1392) and al-Bayhaqī (2:252), from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr. All transmit it through various routes from ‘Atā’ ibn al-Sā’ib, from his father, from Ibn ‘Amr. ‘Atā’ experienced deterioration in his memory, but in some of these routes Hammād, Shu‘ba, and al-Thawrī narrated from him; they were among those who heard him before this deterioration. Thus, the hadith is hasan, Allah willing. Accordingly, al-Bukhārī cited it in mu‘allaq form (with an incomplete chain), without a formula asserting certainty, under “Chapter on Permissible Spitting and Blowing during Prayer,” before (1213). See Taghlīq al-Ta‘līq (2:446–447).