“The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a man praying while the muezzin was calling the congregation to prayer, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: …” He then cited it.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy and known, apart from ʿAbd al-Ghaffār ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, Abu Yaʿla’s shaykh. Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned him (3/1/54) and said: “He narrated from ʿAli ibn Mushir and ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAtaʾ al-Taʾi. Ibrahim ibn Yusuf al-Hasanjani narrated from him.” He mentioned neither narrator criticism nor accreditation concerning him. Ibn Hibban listed him in al-Thiqat (The Reliable Narrators) (8/421) and said: “He was from Mosul; his kunyah was Abu Nasr … Al-Hasan ibn Idris transmitted to us from him.”

I say: Others also narrated from him. Ibn Hibban included eight hadiths from him in his Sahih, all transmitted by Abu Yaʿla from him; in one of them, he is paired with al-Hasan ibn Idris. The hadith of Ibn Buḥaynah also bears witness to this hadith and strengthens it. He said: The Fajr prayer was called, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a man praying while the muezzin was calling the congregation to prayer. He said: “Are you praying Fajr as four units?!” Muslim recorded it (2/154).

In another version recorded by him, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by a man who was praying after the Fajr prayer had been called. He said something to him, but we did not know what it was. When we had finished, we gathered around him and said: “What did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say to you?” He replied: “He said to me: ‘Is one of you about to pray Fajr as four units?!’”

Abu ʿAwanah (2/37–38), Ibn Majah (no. 1153), and al-Bayhaqi (2/481) also narrated it. Al-Bukhari (663) narrated it in a wording similar to the first version.