I say: This chain of transmission is weak. Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ghurāb was mentioned by Ibn Abī Ḥātim (4/1/28) through another narration from him, but he cited no criticism or accreditation concerning him; thus, his status is unknown. His father, ʿAlī ibn Ghurāb, was truthful but practised tadlīs, and he narrated it using an ambiguous “from” formulation. Ibn Khuzaymah also deemed it defective on account of a conflicting version. Al-Bayhaqī said: Ibn Khuzaymah said: “In my view, this report is defective. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd al-Ashajj narrated to us: al-Naḍr ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us from Abān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Bajalī, who said: I saw ʿAdī ibn Thābit turn his face towards the imam when he stood to deliver the sermon. So he said—perhaps it should read, ‘I said’—to him: ‘I saw you turn your face towards the imam. Why?’ He replied: ‘I saw the Companions of the Prophet do so.’”

I say: Ibn Khuzaymah thus deemed it defective because it was stopped at the Companions. This is open to question on two grounds. First, al-Naḍr ibn Ismāʿīl was no better than ʿAlī ibn Ghurāb, for al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb: “He is not strong.” Second, Ibn al-Mubārak contradicted him. Al-Bayhaqī then said: “Ibn al-Mubārak likewise narrated it from Abān ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from ʿAdī ibn Thābit, except that he said: ‘This is how the Companions of the Messenger of Allah used to behave toward the Messenger of Allah.’ Abū Dāwūd mentioned it in al-Marāsīl, from Abū Tawbah, from Ibn al-Mubārak.”

Ibn al-Turkumānī criticized this in al-Jawhar al-Naqī, saying: “I say: This is a report with a continuous chain to the Prophet, not a mursal report, because all the Companions are upright; their anonymity does not harm it.” I say: It is as he said, for the apparent meaning is that ʿAdī received it from the Companions. This constitutes a strong corroborating narration from Ibn al-Mubārak for ʿAlī ibn Ghurāb, giving this narration preponderance over that of al-Naḍr ibn Ismāʿīl, and thereby