its chain is sound, as al-Nawawi affirms (3/245). Al-Hakim said, “Authentic according to the conditions of the two Shaykhs,” and al-Dhahabi agreed—and their judgment is correct. Ibn Hibban also recorded it in his Sahih (cited in Nasb al-Rayah, 2/82), and so did al-Bazzar (p. 54, Zawaid). I add: Abu Dawud raised an objection that does not impair the report, and al-Bayhaqi has refuted it. (1) Bukhari (2/457), Muslim (2/59), al-Bayhaqi (2/270), and Ahmad (4/48) relate—through al-Makki ibn Ibrahim, from Yazid ibn Abi Ubayd—that Yazid said: “I used to accompany Salamah ibn al-Akwa and he would pray at the column next to the courtyard. I asked, ‘Abu Muslim, I notice you are keen to pray by this pillar?’ He replied, ‘I saw the Prophet ﷺ deliberately pray beside it.’” The wording is Bukhari’s, who entitled the chapter: “Prayer Facing a Pillar.” The report is among Bukhari’s thulathiyyat (three-link chains), and likewise in Ahmad. Ibn Hajar said: “Some of our teachers have verified that the pillar in question stands in the middle of the noble Rawdah and is known as the Pillar of the Muhajirun.” He continues: “I later found the same in Ibn al-Najjar’s Tarikh al-Madinah, and it was mentioned earlier by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan in Akhbar al-Madinah.” I conclude: A sutrah is obligatory for both the imam and the lone worshipper, even in a large mosque. Ibn Haniʾ reports in his Masaʾil from Imam Ahmad (1/66): “Abu Abd Allah—meaning Imam Ahmad—once saw me praying without a sutrah while we were in the main mosque. He said, ‘Screen yourself with something,’ so I used a man as my screen.”