—from Ibn ʿUmar in this very report: “Bilal came toward me, so I asked him, ‘What did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ do here?’ He replied only by signaling with his hand—his index and middle fingers together—meaning that the Prophet had prayed two rakʿahs.”

On this reading, Ibn ʿUmar’s statement, “I forgot to ask him how many units he prayed,” can be taken to mean that he never posed the question verbally, nor did Bilal answer him verbally; rather, he learned of the two-rakʿah prayer from Bilal’s gesture, not from spoken words.

I say: This explanation is closer to the truth than the first reconciliation.

Al-Hafiz also ranged too far afield when he attributed the report of Ibn Abī Rawād to Ibn Shabbah, for it appears in the Musnad with exactly the wording he cited.

Ibn ʿUmar’s hadith, moreover, is transmitted through other abridged chains in the works of al-Ṭayālisī, Ahmad, al-Bayhaqī, and al-Ṭaḥāwī with the words: “He prayed inside the House.” One version adds, “A time will come when someone will forbid you to do so, and you will heed him.” The narrator—meaning Ibn ʿAbbas—said this. Ahmad’s wording further states, “Ibn ʿAbbas was sitting nearby.”

The isnād is sound according to Muslim’s criteria; it runs from Shuʿbah through Simāk al-Ḥanafī, who said, “I heard it from Ibn ʿUmar.”

Saʿd also narrates it from Simāk, who said: “I heard Ibn ʿAbbas say, ‘Do not leave any part of the House behind you; face it in its entirety when you pray.’ And I heard Ibn ʿUmar say, ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed inside it.’”