I say: Al-Mundhiri likewise deemed it defective on account of these two in Mukhtasar al-Sunan. For that reason, I had included it in Daʿif Abi Dawud. But when I found corroborating transmissions from Shuʿbah and ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿid al-Fazari for the latter part of their report, I decided to transfer it to Sahih Abi Dawud, since its first part contains nothing of much consequence and, moreover, is attributed to a Companion. I had likewise declared it weak in my notes on al-Mishkat (1/306–307), so this should all the more be corrected there. Allah is the Grantor of success and the Guide; there is no god but Him.

The hadith contains two important benefits:

First: There must be a separation between an obligatory prayer and the voluntary prayer that follows it, either by speaking or by moving from one’s place. There are authentic hadiths on this subject. One of them is in Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Muʿawiyah, and is referenced in al-Irwaʾ (2/190/344) and Sahih Abi Dawud (1034), where other hadiths on the subject also appear under nos. 631 and 922. For this reason, reports from the early righteous generations concerning its observance are numerous. ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated many sound reports of this kind in al-Musannaf (2/416–418), as did Ibn Abi Shaybah (2/138–139) and al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan.

Thus, what some worshippers do today in certain lands—exchanging places when they rise to perform the post-prayer Sunnah—is part of the movement mentioned above. The early righteous generations also did this. Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated from ʿAsim, who said:

“I performed the Friday prayer with him. When I had finished my prayer, he took me by the hand, stood in my place, and made me stand in his place.”

Its chain is authentic.

Something similar was narrated from Abu Mijlaz and Safwan ibn Muhriz.

The other benefit is the permissibility of voluntary prayer after the afternoon prayer, since the Prophet, and then Umar, approved of the man’s praying afterward, although Umar censured him for failing to make a separation, and the Prophet affirmed that he was correct—