that the Messenger of Allah used to pray while seated: he would recite in a sitting posture, and when only the final part of the recitation remained … —and so on. From this same chain the report is also recorded by al-Bukhari (2/471); Muslim (2/163); Abu Dawud (1/151); al-Nasa’i (1/244); al-Tirmidhi (2/213)—whose isnad does not contain the name ‘Abd Allah ibn Yazid al-Madani—together with al-Tahawi (1/200), al-Bayhaqi (2/490), and Ahmad (6/178), all of them transmitting it from Malik. Malik further included it in the Muwatta’ through another route: from Hisham ibn ‘Urwah, from his father, from her, stating that she related: She had never seen the Messenger of Allah perform the night prayer sitting until he became advanced in age; then he would recite while seated … —the remainder of the hadith in a similar wording, omitting the phrase, “then he prostrated …,” and so forth. Through Malik’s chain mentioned in the first version, the hadith was likewise reported by all the previously named compilers except Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa’i; these four—apart from al-Tirmidhi—recorded it through other chains from Hisham. It is also found in Ibn Majah (1/369); Ahmad (6/46, 52, 125, 183, 204, 231); as well as al-Tahawi and Ibn Nasr (p. 81). A third chain, via ‘Amrah from her, is given by Muslim, Ibn Majah, al-Bayhaqi, and Ahmad (6/217). Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar remarks in Fath al-Bari (3/26): “This refutes those who stipulate that whoever begins a nafilah (supererogatory) prayer standing must also bow standing, and that whoever begins it sitting must bow sitting—a view ascribed to Ashhab and some Hanafi jurists. The proof is the narration in Muslim and others from ‘Abd Allah ibn Shiqiq, in which ‘A’isha was asked about the Prophet’s prayer and said: ‘When he recited standing, he bowed standing; and when he recited sitting, he bowed sitting.’ This is sound, yet it does not negate the report transmitted by ‘Urwah; the two are reconciled by saying that he would adopt either practice according to his level of vigor at the time. Allah knows best.”