“The attribution of this hadith to the Prophet is not established; what is well known from Ibn ʿUmar is that it was his own statement.”

He then cited it through the route of ʿAmr ibn Dinar, from him, with similar wording.

I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic. However, the report attributed to the Prophet is strengthened by another route and a corroborating report.

As for the route, al-Bayhaqi recorded it from Ahmad ibn ʿUmar al-Wakiʿi, who said: ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Muharibi narrated to us from Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Ansari, from Nafiʿ, from him, with the wording:

“When one of you becomes drowsy during the Friday prayer in the mosque …”

He said: “What is meant by ‘the prayer’ is the place of prayer, and the attribution of this hadith to the Prophet is not established …”

I say: The narrators in this route are all narrators used by Muslim, except that Ahmad described al-Muharibi as one who practised concealment in transmission. Perhaps this was why al-Bayhaqi did not establish his hadith. Were it not for this, the chain would have been authentic; at the very least, it is suitable for corroboration.

As for the corroborating report, Ismaʿil ibn Muslim narrated it from al-Hasan, from Samurah ibn Jundub, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said it. He added in his narration:

“Ismaʿil was asked: ‘Even while the imam is delivering the sermon?’ He replied: ‘Yes.’”

Al-Bayhaqi recorded it (3/237–238) and said: “This Ismaʿil ibn Muslim is not strong.”

I say: Al-Bazzar also narrated it through his route (p. 70, al-Zawaʾid), as did al-Tabarani in al-Kabir, as cited in al-Haythami’s Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid (2/180), where he said: “He is weak.”