its tenth edition. I therefore hope that anyone who has a copy of the book will correct this error. I also hope to be enabled to reprint the book here in Amman, corrected and expanded, by His permission, Most High. Credit for drawing my attention to this error belongs to the eminent Shaykh Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allah Abu Zayd, in a letter he kindly sent me dated 20/2/1409 AH. May Allah reward him well.

The book was then issued in a new, revised and expanded edition in Amman in 1411 AH. The wording in question was corrected in it—praise be to Allah—with due acknowledgment of the one to whom credit was due.

2837 — “I did this so that my ummah would not be put to hardship”—that is, combining the prayers.

Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (The Major Collection) (10/269/10525): Idrīs ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Ḥaddād narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Ḥātim al-Ṭawīl narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Quddūs narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Tharwān, from Zādhān, who said: ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, combined the noon and afternoon prayers, and the sunset and night prayers.” He was asked about this, and he replied with the wording cited above.

He also narrated it in al-Awsat (The Middle Collection) (1/46/1) through another route from Ibn ʿAbd al-Quddūs, with the same wording. He then referred to the aforementioned narration of Aḥmad al-Ṭawīl.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. All its narrators are reliable except ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Quddūs, whom Ibn Ḥibbān listed in al-Thiqāt (The Reliable Narrators) (7/48). Al-Ḥāfiẓ quoted him as saying: “He would sometimes narrate odd reports.” This statement is not found in its printed edition, so perhaps it occurs in some manuscripts, for I had begun to suspect—