and it was classed as sound-hasan by al-Ṭaḥāwī, al-Ḥākim, al-Ṭayālisī, and by Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq in the version preserved by Abū Dāwūd—who was in turn followed by al-Bayhaqī and al-Ḥākim. All of them transmit the report through ʿAlī ibn Yaḥyā, from his father, from his uncle Rifāʿah. The last three transmissions, however, omit the clause about facing the qiblah. That omission is of no consequence, now that the requirement is firmly established through the earlier chains—as well as through the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah.

The ḥadīth of Rifāʿah displays a large amount of variation—additions and omissions alike—among the narrators. It is therefore necessary to trace these variants and to retain any extra wording that appears in a reliable chain. We shall signal such additions whenever the occasion permits, and, if possible, gather them all in one place so that we may refer back to that collection when the need arises. Allah is the One who grants success.

[At the end of the report he said: “When you have done this, your prayer is complete; whatever you leave out of it, you have left out of your prayer.”]

This additional phrase is unique to Abū Dāwūd in one of his narrations from Abū Hurayrah; its chain is sound according to al-Bukhārī’s criteria, and the same wording is also firmly established in the ḥadīth of Rifāʿah ibn Rāfiʿ.

This ḥadīth—like the Qur’anic verse—proves that facing the qiblah in prayer is obligatory. Al-Shawkānī and others have transmitted the consensus of the Muslims on this point, with the exception of two cases that will be mentioned later. Al-Shawkānī said:

“The Hadawiyyah held that facing the qiblah is one of the conditions for the validity of the prayer, yet we have already explained that commands, by themselves, are not sufficient proof for establishing conditionality….”