for the prayer, and a man came up to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He kept him standing until some of the people began to nod off; then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came and led them in prayer.

Ibn Ḥibbān also related the ḥadīth through the route of Hushaym from him.

Aḥmad’s isnād is sound and contains only three transmitters. Earlier we noted that al-Bukhārī recorded it on the authority of Ḥumayd, from Thābit, from Anas—and that version is transmitted by ʿAbd al-Aʿlā from Ḥumayd. Here, however, Aḥmad cites it from Anas directly, without the intermediary. Al-Ḥāfiẓ comments:

“I have not found, in any of its chains, an explicit statement that Ḥumayd heard it from Anas, and he practiced tadlīs; thus, the connected chain is apparently the one transmitted by ʿAbd al-Aʿlā.”

He goes on to say:

“This ḥadīth permits inserting a pause between the iqāma and the opening takbīr when there is a need; if there is no need, it is disliked. It is also used to refute the sweeping assertion made by some Ḥanafīs that once the muʾadhdhin says: ‘The prayer has been established,’ the imām must pronounce the takbīr immediately.”

Al-Nawawī writes in al-Majmūʿ:

“Our school and that of the majority—the scholars of the Ḥijāz and others—allow speech after the iqāma but before the opening takbīr, although refraining from it is preferable unless there is a need. Abū Ḥanīfa and other Kūfans regarded it as disliked, whether the speech is long or short. The iqāma is not repeated on that account, and our proof is these authentic ḥadīths.”

Ibn Ḥazm adopts the same position in al-Muḥallā, adding:

“There is absolutely no evidence that the iqāma must be repeated, and none of the recognized imams disagreed on …”