“This apparently indicates that he terminated the prayer. However, al-Bayhaqi mentioned that Muhammad ibn ʿAbbad—a teacher of Muslim—was alone among those who narrated from Ibn ʿUyaynah in stating, ‘Then he pronounced the closing salutation’; and that the hadith masters among Ibn ʿUyaynah’s pupils, as well as those among the pupils of his teacher, ʿAmr ibn Dinar, and likewise those who narrated from Jabir, did not mention the closing salutation. It seems that he understood this wording to indicate that the man had terminated the prayer, since the closing salutation releases one from the prayer. The rest of the narrations, however, indicate that he merely ceased following the imam and did not leave the prayer; rather, he continued it on his own.”

He then mentioned the disagreement between al-Rafiʿi and al-Nawawi regarding what the hadith indicates: whether it means merely ceasing to follow the imam, or terminating the prayer and rendering it invalid. He attributed the first view to al-Rafiʿi and the latter to al-Nawawi. This was the view to which I had inclined in al-Irwaʾ (1/331). I mentioned there, in response to al-Hafiz, that if what was meant were merely ceasing to follow the imam, there would have been no justification for his moving over to one side of the mosque, as mentioned; for this entails considerable movement, by which the prayer is invalidated, as is obvious. I had supported this with Muslim’s narration: “So he pronounced the closing salutation, then prayed alone.” And I said:

“This is an explicit text in support of what we have stated. And Allah knows best.”

Now, since it has become abundantly clear that this is an anomalous and unauthentic narration, I have retracted using it as evidence; the other narrations suffice without it. Praise be to Allah for His granting of success, and I ask Him for more of His bounty.

Furthermore, Jabir’s hadith has a supporting report from the hadith of Buraydah, with an authentic chain, documented in al-Irwaʾ. It states:

“A man left before completing his prayer, and departed.”

This supports termination and invalidation. And Allah knows best. *