in their chains of transmission, more numerous, and transmitted by more trustworthy narrators. Al-Bukhārī said, as reported from him by Abū ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī (1): The most authentic reports concerning the eclipse prayer, in my judgment, describe four bowings and four prostrations.
Al-Bayhaqī said (2): A report traced back to the Prophet is narrated from Hudhayfah: “Four bowings in each unit of prayer” (3), and its chain of transmission is weak. Another report traced back to the Prophet is narrated from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb: “Five bowings (4) in each unit of prayer (5)” (6). The compilers of the two Sahīh collections did not accept as evidence chains of transmission like that of his report (7).
He said (8): A group of hadith scholars held that the reports concerning the number of
(1) Al-‘Ilal al-Kabīr, p. 102.
(2) Ma‘rifat al-Sunan (5/152).
(3) Reported by al-Bazzār (7/325), al-Tabarānī in al-Du‘ā’ (2234), and al-Bayhaqī (3/329), who said: “Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylā cannot be relied upon as evidence.”
(4) The printed editions read “rukū‘āt” (bowings).
(5) The passage “and its chain of transmission … unit of prayer” is omitted in Kāf and supplied in ‘Ayn.
(6) Reported by Ahmad (21225), Abū Dāwūd (1182), al-Tabarānī in al-Du‘ā’ (2237) and al-Awsat (5915), al-Hākim (1/333), and al-Bayhaqī (3/329). Its chain includes Abū Ja‘far al-Rāzī, who is weak. Al-Dhahabī said in Talkhīs al-Mustadrak: “A munkar (rejected) report …”
(7) Kāf and ‘Ayn read “Hudhayfah,” as does the printed edition of Ma‘rifat al-Sunan; this is a textual corruption. The adopted reading is supported by al-Bayhaqī’s statement in al-Sunan al-Kubrā (3/329): “Five bowings in one unit of prayer were also narrated through a chain of transmission of a kind not accepted as evidence by the compilers of the two Sahīh collections. Nevertheless, Abū Dāwūd included it in al-Sunan.” He then cited the hadith of Ubayy ibn Ka‘b.
(8) Ma‘rifat al-Sunan (5/152).