I do not understand what led al-Nasāʾī to such an abridgment, which fails to deliver the benefit sought from this chapter.

Al-Tirmidhī, however, recorded the same ḥadīth in his Sunan with this identical chain from the same shaykh, and his wording is:

“While he was sitting in the mosque one day”—Rafāʿah adds, “and we were with him”—“a man who looked like a Bedouin came, performed a very brief prayer, then left and greeted the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The Prophet replied, ‘And upon you peace. Go back and pray, for you have not prayed…’ (The report continues.) At the end of the exchange the man said, ‘Show me and teach me, for I am only a human who may get it right or wrong.’ The Prophet said, ‘Indeed. When you stand for prayer, perform ablution as Allah has commanded, then pronounce the tashahhud and give the iqāma. If you know any Qur’an, recite it…’” (and so on).

Abū Dāwūd transmitted the ḥadīth through ʿAbbād ibn Mūsā al-Khuttalī—‘Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us’—with the same chain, adding after the words “and give the iqāma”: “then pronounce the takbīr.”

Al-Ṭaḥāwī and al-Ḥākim also reported it through other routes from Ismāʿīl, but neither of them supplied the actual wording.

Once you review the context and wording of the ḥadīth—even partially—you will see that al-Nasāʾī, by citing it in abridged form, was hinting that it contains the Prophet’s instruction for the solitary worshipper to give the iqāma. The reliability of that detail, however, is debatable. Were it sound, the iqāma would be obligatory for the individual praying alone, since the Prophet explicitly commanded it. Yet it cannot be deemed established, because that wording is unique to Yaḥyā ibn ʿAlī ibn Yaḥyā.