Jurisprudential lessons from the hadith: The hadith explicitly indicates that returning a greeting verbally while praying was legislated during the early period of Islam in Mecca; then this was abrogated and replaced, in Medina, by returning it with a gesture. Since this is so, it indicates that it is recommended to offer greetings to one who is praying, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved Ibn Masʿūd’s offering of the greeting, just as he approved it from others who would greet him while he was praying. There are many well-known hadiths on this matter through different routes, and they have been documented in more than one place. Accordingly, the supporters of the sunnah must adhere to them, and be tactful in conveying and implementing them, for people are hostile to what they do not know—especially those among them who follow whims and religious innovations.

2918 — “O Satan, leave Uthman’s chest!” [He did this three times.]

It is narrated in the hadith of ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ al-Thaqafī (may Allah be pleased with him), through four routes:

The first: From ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṭāʾifī narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥakam, from ʿUthmān ibn Bishr, who said: I heard ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ say: “I complained to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) of forgetting the Quran. He struck my chest with his hand, uttered this, and enabled me to remember it.” ʿUthmān said: “After that, I did not forget any of it that I wished to remember.”

Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (9/37/8347). Al-Haythamī said in al-Majmaʿ (9/3): “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its chain includes ʿUthmān ibn Bishr, whom I do not know; its remaining narrators are reliable.”