Muslim also recorded the ḥadīth, but without quoting its exact wording. In one of his versions it states: “I saw the Prophet—Allah bless him and grant him peace—leading the people in prayer,” while another version preserved by him and by Abū Dāwūd reads: “ … performing the prayer for the people.” A further report found in Abū Dāwūd specifies that the prayer was either ẓuhr (noon) or ʿaṣr (afternoon).

A similar incident is related from Abū Bakrah: “The Messenger of Allah—Allah bless him and grant him peace—was praying, and whenever he prostrated al-Ḥasan would spring onto his back and shoulders. The Messenger of Allah would then lift him off gently so that he would not fall.” He said, “He did that more than once …” (end of ḥadīth).

Al-Ṭayālisī and Aḥmad transmitted it through the chain of Mubārak ibn Faḍālah, from al-Ḥasan, who said: “Abū Bakrah informed me …” This isnād is ḥasan (sound).

The two of them also possess another route, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah with similar wording: Aḥmad and al-Ṭabarānī cite it in the entry on al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr, and al-Ḥākim records it through the chain of Kāmil ibn al-ʿAlāʾ—from Abū Ṣāliḥ—from Abū Hurayrah.

Such is their wording. Its transmitters are the narrators used by Muslim, except for this Abū Ṣāliḥ. He is not Dhakwān but rather the freedman of Dubāʿah. Ibn Ḥibbān declared him trustworthy, whereas al-Taqrīb describes his ḥadīth as “soft,” i.e., somewhat weak.