and others—hold that a prayer bearing a single name may have its parts separated by deliberately giving the salām, as with witr, the forenoon prayer, the Ramadan night prayers, and the four rakʿahs before the noon prayer. Their preference in all prayers is that they be offered two rakʿahs at a time, except for the forms Ahmad exempts in which separation is established from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, such as witr offered as five, seven, or nine rakʿahs. In these cases, he prefers the practice established from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. They say that the minimum witr is three rakʿahs offered with a separation. It is established in the authentic collections, through several routes from ʿĀʾishah:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would offer eleven rakʿahs of witr at night, separating each pair of rakʿahs.”

She thus called the entire prayer witr despite the separations. The followers of Abū Hanīfah may dispute this with them, since they consider the prescribed Sunnah practice for the four rakʿahs before the noon prayer to be uninterrupted prayer, as they do for three rakʿahs of witr. Likewise, whenever a prayer of four or eight rakʿahs is mentioned, they understand it to be concluded with a single salām.

Second: If someone speaks after inadvertently giving the salām during prayer, as in the hadith of Dhū al-Yadayn, the legal implications of that report are well known. Those who disagree maintain that it has been abrogated. This is the position of the followers of Abū Hanīfah and a group among Ahmad’s followers, such as al-Qādī Abū Yaʿlā. They hold that speaking invalidates the prayer without exception, even when it occurs after an inadvertent salām, on the grounds that the person is still in prayer. The majority, however, hold that the report remains in force. This is the correct view, and it is Ahmad’s explicitly stated position in