I said: Abu Dawud, al-Tayalisi, Salam ibn Qutaybah, and ʿUmar ibn Sinan all transmitted from him.

I further note that by citing these reliable narrators he wished to show that the man is known through their reports, although I have been unable to locate a biographical entry for ʿUmar ibn Sinan.

Al-Shawkani, after discussing this ḥadith and the preceding report from Anas, remarked:

“Supporting it is what al-Hakim recorded—and declared authentic—on the authority of Anas with the wording: ‘We were forbidden to pray between the pillars and were driven away from them. He said: Do not pray between the columns; complete the rows.’”

I say: This wording is singular; I did not find it in al-Mustadrak. Al-Hakim does cite the narration from Anas in two places, as previously indicated, but with a different wording. Moreover, al-Shawkani’s phrasing suggests that this is a separate ḥadith, distinct from the one from Anas that he had just examined. Allah knows best.

Al-Shawkani then said:

“The two ḥadiths mentioned in this chapter indicate that praying between the pillars is disliked. Indeed, the apparent sense of the report of Muʿawiyah ibn Qurrah from his father, as well as the narration of Anas cited by al-Hakim, points to its being forbidden outright. The reason for the censure, as Abu Bakr ibn al-ʿArabi explained, is either that it breaks the continuity of the row or that it is the spot where sandals are gathered. Ibn Sayyid al-Nas commented that the first rationale is more plausible, for the second is a later innovation. Al-Qurtubi added that it has been related that the objection stems from the fact that this area is the prayer-place of the believing jinn. A number of scholars have therefore regarded prayer between the pillars as reprehensible…"