As for the version recorded by al-Bukhārī to which al-Ḥāfiẓ alluded, it appears in his collection as no. 4596, through Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Abū al-Aswad, from ʿIkrimah, with the same wording. It was also narrated by Ibn Jarīr. *

3219—(He would go out to the mosque after the call to prayer. If he found that the people in the mosque were few, he would sit until he saw a group of them, and then pray. But if he went out and found a congregation, he would have the prayer commenced.)

Al-Bayhaqī recorded it in al-Sunan (2/19–20), through al-Fākihī: Abū Yaḥyā ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Zakariyyā ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Abī Masarrah informed us: my father narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj: Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah informed me, from Sālim Abū al-Naḍr, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would do this—the hadith.

I say: This is a mursal chain of transmission, but it has also been narrated with a continuous chain, as will follow. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said after citing it in al-Fatḥ (2/110):

“Its chain of transmission is strong, despite being mursal.”

I say: It seems that he did not notice that al-Bayhaqī immediately added:

“He—that is, Ibn Jurayj—said: ‘Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah also narrated to me from Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr, from Masʿūd ibn al-Ḥakam al-Zuraqī, from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him, with wording like that of this hadith.’”

I say: This is a good, continuous chain of transmission. The reason al-Ḥāfiẓ deemed its mursal version strong, despite the presence in it of ʿAbd al-Majīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—namely, Ibn Abī Rawwād, concerning whom there has been criticism—is that he was particularly reliable in his narrations from Ibn Jurayj. Ibn Maʿīn said:

“He was the most knowledgeable of all people concerning Ibn Jurayj.”