leading imams such as Imam Ahmad, al-Bukhārī, and al-Shāfiʿī do not consider these reports authentic and regard them as mistaken.

Al-Shāfiʿī related that a questioner said to him: “Some of you have narrated that the Prophet ﷺ performed three bowings in each unit of prayer.” Al-Shāfiʿī said: “I asked him, ‘Do you yourself accept this view?’ He replied, ‘No, but why do you not accept it, when it adds to your report?’”—meaning the report of two bowings in each unit of prayer. He continued: “I replied, ‘It comes through a disconnected chain, and we do not accept a disconnected report on its own, and through another chain which we consider—and Allah knows best—to be mistaken’” (1).

Al-Bayhaqī said (2): “By the disconnected report, he meant the statement of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr: ‘Someone whom I trust told me.’ ʿAtāʾ said: ‘I thought he meant ʿĀʾishah’”—and the rest of the hadith. It states: “He performed three bowings in each unit of prayer and four prostrations.” Qatādah narrated from ʿAtāʾ, from ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, from her: “Six bowings with four prostrations.” Thus, ʿAtāʾ attributed it to ʿĀʾishah only on the basis of supposition and conjecture, not certainty. How could this be accurately preserved from ʿĀʾishah when the contrary has been authentically reported from her through ʿUrwah and ʿAmrah, who were closer to her and spent more time in her company than ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr? Moreover, they were two narrators, so their account is more likely to be the accurately preserved version.

He said (3): “As for the report al-Shāfiʿī considers mistaken, I believe he means the hadith narrated by ʿAtāʾ from Jābir: