I say: This unqualified statement is open to question, for Ahmad and others recorded it through Ibn Ajlan, from Sa‘id, from Ka‘b, attributed to the Prophet, in varying wordings. One version reads: “When you perform ablution and perform it well, then deliberately set out for the mosque, do not interlace your fingers—for, I believe he said, you are in prayer.” As you can see, this does not differ in meaning from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah; rather, it clarifies and elaborates upon it. Its chain contains inconsistency, as I have explained in my annotations to al-Targhib (1/123–124).
As for this chain of Abu Hurayrah, al-Haythami declared it defective in al-Majma‘ (1/240), after attributing it to al-Awsat, saying: “It contains Atiq ibn Ya‘qub, and I have not found anyone who mentioned him; the rest of its narrators are narrators of the Sahih.” This is what he said, but it is open to question on two grounds:
First, Muslim did not rely upon Ibn Ajlan independently; rather, he only narrated from him in conjunction with another narrator.
Second, Atiq al-Zuhri was declared reliable by al-Daraqutni and others, as noted earlier under hadith 1277. Thus, the chain is good. However, the hadith has another route, which Ibn Khuzaymah (1/61/1), al-Hakim, and al-Dhahabi authenticated. I have documented it in the aforementioned source, through Isma‘il ibn Umayyah, from Sa‘id al-Maqburi, from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, with a fuller wording.
- “When any of you cleanses himself with stones, let him use an odd number; and when he expels water from his nose, let him do so an odd number of times.”
Al-Humaydi recorded it in his Musnad (957): Sufyan narrated to us: Abu al-Zinad narrated to us, from al-A‘raj, from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, with this wording. Through this chain, Abu Nu‘aym recorded it in al-Mustakhraj (1/131/2) and said: “Muslim narrated it from Qutaybah, ‘Amr al-Naqid, and Ibn Numayr, all from Sufyan.”
I say: However, Muslim does not include the second clause. Al-Bukhari and others likewise recorded it, and I have documented it in Sahih Abu Dawud (128).