The ḥadith is also transmitted through Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both).
Imam Aḥmad recorded it, saying: “Yahya ibn Ḥammād narrated to us; Abū ʿAwānah narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿAbbās.”

The chain is sound: every transmitter is reliable and belongs to those relied on by the two Ṣaḥīḥ compilers. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar withheld further comment on it in Fatḥ al-Bārī, and al-Haythamī said in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: “It was reported by Aḥmad, al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr, and al-Bazzār, and its narrators are the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ.” Al-Bayhaqī likewise produced it through this same route.

This narration refutes Abū ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, who preferred the view that the Prophet ﷺ did not face Jerusalem while in Mecca, but only after migrating to Madinah, basing himself on the forthcoming report of al-Barāʾ. That report, however, affords no proof: it does not expressly negate the earlier orientation, and even if it did, it could not override the ḥadith of Ibn ʿAbbās, for the latter contains an additional piece of knowledge, and an accepted principle is that the reliable narrator’s addition is admissible. Moreover, knowledge is proof against ignorance, and a positive assertion outweighs a mere negation—rules unanimously agreed upon and applied in many subsidiary issues, as any diligent researcher knows.

Another report states: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ wished to be oriented toward the Kaʿbah, so Allah revealed, ‘We have certainly seen the turning of your face toward the heaven…’ (al-Baqarah 2:144). Thereupon he turned toward the Kaʿbah, and the foolish among the people—namely the Jews—said, ‘What has turned them from the qiblah to which they had been accustomed?’ Say, ‘To Allah belong the east and the west; He guides whom He wills to a straight path’ (al-Baqarah 2:142).”