and he would lead them in two units and pronounce the salām with them (1). Thus, he would have led each group in a complete prayer (2).
At other times, he would pray one unit with one of the two groups, who would then leave without completing any further units. The other group would come, and he would lead them in one unit, without their completing any further units. Thus, he would have prayed two units, while each group would have prayed one (3).
All these forms of prayer are permissible.
Imam Ahmad said (4): “Every hadith transmitted in the chapters on the prayer of fear may be acted upon.” He also said: “Six or seven forms are reported for it, and all are permissible.”
Al-Athram said (5): I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh, “Do you accept all the hadiths, applying each in its proper circumstances, or do you choose one of them?” He replied: “I say: Whoever follows all of them
(1) The phrase “and the other group would come … with them” is omitted from J because the copyist’s eye skipped ahead.
(2) Recorded by al-Shāfiʿī in al-Umm (2/348), Ibn Abī Shayba (8372), Ibn al-Mundhir in al-Awsat (5/11), al-Nasāʾī in al-Mujtabā (1552) and al-Kubrā (1953), al-Dāraqutnī (1782), and al-Bayhaqī (3/259), from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh. Its chain contains al-Hasan’s ʿanʿana (transmission using “from”), although he did not hear from Jābir. In Ibn Abī Shayba’s version, he explicitly states: “I was informed on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh.”
(3) Cited by al-Bukhārī (4125) with a suspended chain and affirmative wording, and recorded with a connected chain by ʿAbd al-Razzāq (4251), Ibn Abī Shayba (8357, 38158), Ahmad (2063, 3364), al-Nasāʾī in al-Mujtabā (1533, 1534) and al-Kubrā (520, 1934, 1935), and al-Bayhaqī (3/262), from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās. Classified as authentic by Ibn Khuzayma (1344), Ibn Hibbān (2871), and al-Hākim (1/335).
(4) See al-Mughnī (3/311).
(5) All witnesses except Q, Mb, and N read qāla (“he said”). The reading in those three has been adopted because it agrees with the source of the quotation, al-Mughnī.