Fadālah, from ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Bakrah, who said: Abū Bakrah saw people offering the midmorning prayer and said, “You are indeed offering a prayer that neither the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, nor the majority of his Companions offered.”
In Mālik’s Muwatta’ (1) (2), Ibn Shihāb narrated from ‘Urwah, from ‘Ā’ishah, who said (3): “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, never offered the voluntary midmorning prayer, yet I commend it (4). The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would refrain from a practice he wished to perform, fearing that others would adopt it (5) and that it would then be made obligatory (6) upon them.”
Abū al-Hasan ‘Alī ibn Battāl (7) said: A group of the early generations adopted ‘Ā’ishah’s hadith and did not favor the midmorning prayer. Some of them said that it was an innovation. Al-Sha‘bī narrated from Qays ibn ‘Abd (8), who said: “I used to visit Ibn Mas‘ūd regularly for an entire year, but I never saw him offer the midmorning prayer.” Shu‘bah narrated from Sa‘d ibn Ibrāhīm, from his father, that ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn
(1) Qāf and Mīm read wa-fī al-Muwatta’ Mālik (“and in al-Muwatta’, Mālik”), with “Mālik” crossed out in Mīm. Mīm-Bā’ and Nūn read al-Muwatta’ ‘an Mālik (“al-Muwatta’, from Mālik”), as do the Maymaniyyah edition and subsequent editions.
(2) No. 417. Al-Bukhārī (1128) and Muslim (718) also recorded it through him.
(3) Jīm omits qālat (“she said”).
(4) Kāf, ‘Ayn, Mīm-Bā’, and Nūn read usabbihuhā (“I offer it as a voluntary prayer”). Both wordings are transmitted from Mālik, as noted earlier.
(5) The printed text reads ya‘malu bihi al-nās (“people act upon it”), the familiar wording in al-Muwatta’ and elsewhere.
(6) Kāf and ‘Ayn read fa-yufradu (“so it is made obligatory”), as do al-Muwatta’ and other sources.
(7) In Sharh Sahīh al-Bukhārī (Commentary on Sahīh al-Bukhārī), 3/168.
(8) Sād, Qāf, Mīm, Mīm-Bā’, and Nūn read “‘Ubayd,” as does the printed text. The printed edition of Ibn Battāl’s work reads “‘Abbād.” The correct reading is “‘Abd,” which we have adopted from Jīm, Kāf, and ‘Ayn. See al-Tabarānī, al-Mu‘jam al-Kabīr (The Large Collection), no. 8877. He was al-Sha‘bī’s paternal uncle and one of Ibn Mas‘ūd’s companions.