Related by Muslim (2/120); Abū Dāwūd (70–71); al-Tirmidhī (1/232); Ibn Mājah (279); al-Ṭaḥāwī (1/263); al-Ṭayālisī (60); and Aḥmad (5/149, 163, 169) through several lines of transmission from Abū ʿImrān al-Jawnī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāmit, from Abū Dharr—the wording above being that of Muslim.

Abū Dāwūd alone, unlike the other compilers, includes the phrase “or they let the prayer die,” a wording that is due to uncertainty on the part of one of the narrators. The most likely source of that doubt is Ḥammād ibn Zayd, for every transmitter who relates the report from Abū ʿImrān states categorically, “they delay the prayer.”

Aḥmad, in one of his chains that passes through Ṣāliḥ ibn Rustum, adds after the Prophet’s words “Pray the prayer at its time” the further clause: “and he may have said: ‘in your quarters.’” Ṣāliḥ is counted among Muslim’s transmitters, though some critics have spoken about him; al-Taqrīb labels him “reliable but prone to many mistakes.” I have, moreover, located corroboration for this addition in a report from Ibn Masʿūd that will be cited later.

The ḥadīth also reaches us through other routes from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāmit. Muslim and al-Nasāʾī (138), together with Ibn Mājah, al-Ṭaḥāwī, al-Ṭayālisī (61), and Aḥmad (5/168), transmit it via Shuʿbah from Badīl, who said: “I heard Abū al-ʿĀliyah relate from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṣāmit, from Abū Dharr, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—striking my thigh—said, ‘How will you fare when you remain among people who delay the prayer beyond its time?’ I asked, ‘What do you command?’ He replied, ‘Pray the prayer at its time, then go about your business; if the prayer is established while you are still in the mosque, then pray.’”

Al-Bukhārī also records the narration in al-Adab al-Mufrad (138–139), as do Muslim and Aḥmad (147, 160, 168), through the chain of Ayyūb from Abū al-ʿĀliyah, in wording to the same effect: “If you catch …”