correct, and that Ziyād established that practice when others had abandoned it. It was narrated from al-Aswad ibn Yazīd, from Abū Mūsā al-Asharī, who said: “Alī reminded us of a prayer that we used to perform with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We had either forgotten it or deliberately abandoned it. He would pronounce the takbīr whenever he rose, whenever he lowered himself, and whenever he prostrated.”

It is well known that the governors in Iraq observed the practice followed by the local governors, who also served as prayer leaders. No report to the contrary from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had reached them, and they saw that the learned and devout people whom they encountered knew no other practice. They therefore assumed that this formed part of the original Sunnah. Consequently, deficiencies arose in both the timing and manner of prayer: they came to believe that delaying the prayer was preferable to offering it earlier, just as the prayer leaders had been doing. The same occurred with failing to complete the takbīr and with other practices that fell short of the practice of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Ibn Masūd even understood some of the governors of his time to be among the successors of whom Allah Most High said:

“But there came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires; so they are going to meet evil.” [Maryam: 59]

He would say: “What will become of you when a tribulation envelops you, in which the young grow up and the old grow old—such that whenever any part of it is abandoned, people say, ‘The Sunnah has been abandoned’?” He was asked, “When will that be, O Abū Abd al-Rahmān?” He replied, “It will be when your scholars have passed away, your jurists have become few, worldly gain is sought through deeds intended for the Hereafter, and religious knowledge is pursued for something other than religion.”

Abd Allah ibn Masūd would also say: “I fear for you things other than the Antichrist more than I fear the Antichrist itself—things that will arise from your leaders. Any man or woman who