prayed two rakʿahs before Maghrib, then said, “Pray two rakʿahs before Maghrib.” On the third occasion he added, “for whoever wishes,” for he feared that the people might regard it as an established sunnah.

233 – “Pray two rakʿahs before Maghrib.” On the third occasion he added, “for whoever wishes,” for he feared that the people might regard it as an established sunnah.

Ibn Naṣr recorded it in Qiyām al-Layl (28):

ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd narrated to us; he said: my father narrated to me; he said: Ḥusayn narrated to us, from Ibn Buraydah, that ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī (may Allah be pleased with him) transmitted it to him. The erudite scholar Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī, in his abridgement, remarked:

“This chain of transmission is authentic according to Muslim’s criterion, for Muslim relied upon ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, and the rest were accepted by the compilers of the Six Books. Another authentic ḥadīth in Ibn Ḥibbān states that the Prophet ﷺ prayed two rakʿahs before Maghrib.”

I say: It is indeed authentic, just as he said. However, his treating the report in Ibn Ḥibbān as a separate ḥadīth is questionable, for the apparent fact is that Ibn Ḥibbān relates it through this same route with exactly the same wording in full—so how can it be considered a different ḥadīth? Still more surprising is that al-Maqrīzī himself cited it from Ibn Ḥibbān in these words:

“Ibn Ḥibbān said: Muḥammad ibn Khuzaymah informed me; he said: ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith narrated to us; he said: my father narrated to me; he said: Ḥusayn al-Muʿallim narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Buraydah, that ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed two rakʿahs before Maghrib!”

The ḥadīth is listed in Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān ilā Zawāʾid Ibn Ḥibbān, no. 617, after which the author comments: “I say: Then he mentioned the ḥadīth.”

This points to the fact that Ibn Ḥibbān’s version is not limited to the excerpt cited by al-Maqrīzī; it actually has a continuation—which would plainly be the Prophet’s words, “Then he said: Pray … .” Accordingly, when citing the ḥadīth one may say in its documentation