that he saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, performing the midmorning prayer (1).
Al-Hākim said: Reports on this subject are narrated from Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī, Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī, Zayd ibn Arqam, Abū Hurayrah, Buraydah al-Aslamī, Abū al-Dardā’, ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā, ‘Itbān ibn Mālik, Anas ibn Mālik, ‘Utbah ibn ‘Abd (2) al-Sulamī, Nu‘aym ibn Hammār al-Ghatafānī (3), and Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī; and, among the women, ‘Ā’ishah bint Abī Bakr, Umm Hāni’, and Umm Salamah—all of whom testified that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to perform it (4).
Al-Tabarī (5) cited reports from ‘Alī, Anas, ‘Ā’ishah, and Jābir stating that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to perform six rak‘ahs of the midmorning prayer.
People differed in their approaches to these hadiths:
Some gave precedence to the report that he performed it over the report that he did not, on the grounds that the former affirms its performance and conveys additional knowledge
(1) This was discussed three hadiths earlier.
(2) Mb reads “‘Abd Allāh,” as do the Maymaniyyah edition and subsequent editions.
(3) In K and ‘A, this is corrupted to “al-Tufāwī.”
(4) Al-Hāfiz states in Fath al-Bārī (3/55): “Al-Hākim collected the hadiths concerning the midmorning prayer in a separate treatise and cited supporting evidence for most of these positions. The Companions who narrated hadiths affirming this prayer numbered approximately twenty.” For the hadiths of some of these Companions, see Nuzhat al-Albāb by al-Wā’ilī (2/936–955).
(5) The Indian edition—and, following it, all other editions—reads “al-Tabarānī.” Its margin notes that one manuscript reads “al-Tabarī,” which is correct. In Sharh Sahīh al-Bukhārī (3/166), Ibn Battāl cites, on al-Tabarī’s authority, the hadiths of Anas, Jābir, and ‘Ā’ishah, but does not mention ‘Alī’s hadith stating that the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed six rak‘ahs. The author draws on Ibn Battāl’s book and will explicitly state that he is quoting from it.