so I seized him and intended to tie him to one of the pillars of the mosque,” to the end of the hadith. He thus stated that Satan had sought to interrupt his prayer. This likewise indicates that Satan’s passage invalidates the prayer. Ahmad therefore adopted this ruling concerning the black dog, though his position varied regarding the woman and the donkey. This was because the hadith was opposed by the hadith of Aisha, in which the Prophet—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—prayed while she was in front of him, and by the hadith of Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with him and his father—in which he rode his she-ass past part of the row while the Prophet—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—was leading his Companions in prayer at Minā. Nevertheless, the better-supported view is that all three invalidate the prayer, and that a distinction must be made between one who passes in front and one who remains there. A similar distinction is made in the case of a man: his passing in front is disliked, whereas his remaining there is not, when the worshipper has positioned himself behind him and the man is not conversing. Likewise, it is his passage, not his remaining there, that diminishes the reward of the prayer.

The early scholars among Ahmad’s followers differed concerning a devil from among the jinn whose passage is known: does it invalidate the prayer? The more tenable view is that it does, on account of the rationale given by the Messenger of Allah—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—and the apparent meaning of his statement, “interrupt my prayer.” This is because the rulings established by the Sunnah concerning evil spirits among the jinn and devils among animals—in matters of purification and prayer, the places they inhabit, the paths they traverse, and similar matters—are firmly supported by both explicit texts and analogy. The jurists of hadith therefore adopted them. Knowledge of these rulings through transmitted reports is the province of hadith scholars, while grasping their analogical basis requires insight into both the inward and outward dimensions of the Sharia, rather than jurisprudential understanding confined solely to its outward dimension.

Had there been no imam who put these authentic and beneficial teachings of the Sunnah into practice,