does well” (1).

This apparently indicates that he permitted each group to pray one unit with him without making up any further units. This is the view of Ibn ʿAbbās, Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Tāwūs, Mujāhid, al-Hasan, Qatāda, al-Hakam, and Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh. The author of al-Mughnī (2) said: “Ahmad’s words, taken in their general sense, imply that this is permissible, though our scholars reject it.”

Other forms of the prayer of fear have also been reported from the Prophet, all of which fall under these basic forms, though the wording of some reports may differ. Some have enumerated ten forms, while Abū Muhammad ibn Hazm (3) listed around fifteen. The correct account, however, is what we mentioned at the outset. Whenever these writers encounter differences between narrators’ accounts of a single incident, they treat them as distinct forms practised by the Prophet ﷺ, whereas they are merely differences in narration. And Allah knows best.