2616 — “They would pray with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. When he bowed, they would bow; and when he said, ‘Allah hears whoever praises Him,’ they would remain standing until they saw that he had placed his face—or, in another wording, his forehead—upon the ground; then they would follow him.”

Muslim (2/46) and Abu Dawud (622) narrated it, as did Abu Awanah (2/179), through several routes from Abu Ishaq al-Fazari, from Abu Ishaq al-Shaybani, who said: Muharib ibn Dithar related to us that he heard Abdullah ibn Yazid say from the pulpit: Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib—whom, to the best of my knowledge, I did not know to be a liar—told me that they would ... and so on. The other wording is Abu Dawud’s, while al-Tabarani’s is the wording cited here. He said: “No one narrated this hadith from Abu Ishaq al-Shaybani except Abu Ishaq al-Fazari.”

I say: He was Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn al-Harith, an imam, a trustworthy hadith master, and an author of books; both compilers of the two Sahih collections narrated from him. Abu Ishaq al-Shaybani, whose name was Sulayman ibn Abi Sulayman, was likewise trustworthy and among the narrators relied upon by both of them. Thus, the chain is entirely authentic. Abu Ishaq al-Sabi‘i also corroborated him in the two Sahih collections and elsewhere. I have included it, together with the hadith under discussion, in my Sahih Abu Dawud (631). It also has another route from al-Bara’ there (632).

I have only included the hadith here for two reasons. The first is that the vast majority of worshippers fail to observe what it requires: delaying their prostration until the imam has placed his forehead upon the ground. I make no exception for anyone among them, even those who are keen