at all. As for this deranged man, he claimed (pp. 16 and 18) that it is anomalous, and an anomalous report is a type of weak report—after having alleged that it was merely attributed to her.

Although some Shafi‘i jurists had previously made this claim, al-Hafiz—himself also a Shafi‘i—refuted it in al-Fath (1/464), replying to the dissenters: “This is not something open to personal opinion; rather, it carries the ruling of a report attributed to the Prophet.”

I say: By Allah, I am utterly astonished at those jurists and how they could permit themselves to suppose that Lady Aishah said on her own initiative: “Allah prescribed the prayer, when He prescribed it, as two rak‘ahs, two rak‘ahs, whether resident or travelling ...” The hadith is reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim, as mentioned above. Had she instead said on her own initiative, “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, prescribed ...,” as Ibn Umar said regarding the charity of breaking the fast, then anyone who said this without instruction from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would be deemed one of those who lie about the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. So what would his state be if he said, “Allah prescribed ...”?! By Allah, it is indeed one of the gravest enormities to say of the truthful Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, that she said this on her own initiative, without instruction from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him!

Nor should it be said that perhaps they had not encountered this explicit wording attributing it to the Prophet, but only the other wording: “The prayer was prescribed as two rak‘ahs, two rak‘ahs ...” For we say: Suppose that were so with regard to those other than al-Ghumari; it still has the same meaning as the first wording. Do you not see that the scholars stated in hadith methodology: “A Companion’s statement, ‘We were commanded to do such-and-such,’ or ‘We were forbidden from such-and-such,’ is considered a report attributed to the Prophet, with a continuous chain, according to the hadith scholars”? Thus it is stated in Abridgment of the Hadith Sciences (p. 50) and elsewhere. It is obvious to everyone that there is no difference between a Companion’s saying, “It was commanded,” and his saying, “It was prescribed,” especially when the one who prescribed it is explicitly identified, as in this authentic narration from Aishah