And if what al-Nawawī really meant was that exposing a part of the thigh—as opposed to the whole of it—is allowed, then he has contradicted his own stated position, for he himself says:

“If any portion of the worshipper’s ‘awrah becomes exposed, his prayer is invalid—whether the part uncovered is great or small, even the tiniest amount, and this ruling applies to both men and women …”

They further replied to the ḥadīth of Anas by claiming that the waist-wrap slipped from the Prophet’s thigh ﷺ unintentionally, as Muslim’s wording “it slipped” (inḥasara) suggests. Yet the ḥadīth still establishes permissibility from another angle: the Prophet ﷺ continued in that state of exposure, as the ḥāfiẓ has already noted; moreover, Anas’s own words, “and I could see the whiteness of his thighs,” show that gazing at the thigh was not deemed forbidden, for otherwise Anas—may Allah be pleased with him—would never have looked. Since this is the case, the thigh cannot be ‘awrah, which is precisely the point at issue.

It is therefore clear that, upon careful scrutiny, every objection they have raised against the two principal ḥadīths collapses.

Additional reports do exist in this chapter, though their evidentiary weight is less decisive than the first two. Among them is the narration of Abū al-ʿĀliyah al-Barrā’:

“ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Ṣāmit struck my thigh and said, ‘I asked Abū Dharr, and he struck my thigh just as I am striking yours and said, “I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as you have asked me, and he struck my thigh just as I am striking yours and said:

Perform the prayer at its appointed time; then, if you encounter the congregation while they are praying, join them. Do not say, ‘I have already prayed, so I will not pray.’”’”

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad, and Muslim transmitted it as well.