Ibn Battal—and those who followed him, including Ibn Daqiq al-Id—affirm that the faʾ in the Prophet’s words fa-kabbiru (“then say the takbir”) denotes immediate succession; hence, the follower’s acts must come directly after the imam’s. This was challenged on the grounds that the faʾ of immediate succession is the coordinating conjunction, whereas the faʾ here merely links the apodosis to its condition, so it does not in itself require the follower’s actions to lag behind the imam’s—except for those who insist that the protasis must always precede the apodosis. Other scholars maintain that the apodosis may occur together with the condition; on that view, simultaneity is still possible. Nevertheless, the version narrated by Abu Dawud explicitly rules out both precedence and simultaneity. Allah knows best. (1) Reported by al-Bayhaqi, 2/16, through Abu Asim—Sufyan—Abd Allah b. Abi Bakr—Saʿid b. al-Musayyib—Abu Saʿid al-Khudri as a marfuʿ hadith with the same wording, adding: “And when he says: samiʿa Allahu liman hamidah, say: Rabbana, wa-laka al-hamd.” The chain is sound; all its transmitters are found in the Six Books, and this Abu Asim is Duhak b. Makhlad. Al-Bayhaqi and Ahmad (3/3) also narrate it via another route from Saʿid, through Zuhayr b. Muhammad—Abd Allah b. Muhammad b. Aqil—Saʿid, in a longer form; this isnad is hasan. I later located the hadith in al-Mustadrak, 1/215, through the first route; al-Hakim declared it “sound according to their criteria,” and al-Dhahabi agreed.