“He is a jurist and a transmitter; trustworthy authorities have narrated from him. He is one of the scholars of greater Syria (al-Sham). He has transmitted reports in which he is the sole narrator, yet in my view he is reliable and truthful.” The other hadith is cited by the same critic (3/8) from al-Tabari (30/325), al-Hakim (2/537), and al-Bayhaqi (2/29, 30–31) through the chain of Hammad ibn Salamah, from Asim al-Jahdari, from Uqbah ibn Zhibyan, from Ali concerning the verse: “So pray to your Lord and sacrifice” (Q 108:2). Ali explained: “It means placing your right hand over your left in prayer.” The critic then remarked: “Asim al-Jahdari—he is Ibn al-Ajjaj, Abu al-Mujashshir, the Qurʾan reciter—was declared reliable only by Ibn Hibban, and the same applies to Uqbah ibn Zhibyan. Ibn al-Turkamani (2/30) added: the chain and the text both show inconsistency.” I reply: although the person alluded to has criticised the isnad of this report—and I shall soon clarify what it contains—it still serves as a supporting witness for the chest-placement narrations, had the man only quoted the fuller wording. It is not far-fetched to think that his motive for omitting it was to shore up his earlier allegation that “it has its defects.” This becomes evident to any reader who reflects on the following points: First: the version he cited is al-Hakim’s, chosen because it is brief, while he ignored the wording of al-Tabari and al-Bayhaqi, which is more complete and contains the decisive phrase “upon his chest.” Al-Tabari and al-Bayhaqi both record it through four routes from Hammad ibn Salamah. One of those routes is also found in al-Bukhari’s al-Tarikh al-Kabir (3/2/437), transmitted by Musa ibn Ismail from Hammad. Al-Hakim, however, took it only from Musa’s route and without the additional wording, making his version anomalous. Is it permissible to single out that lone, abbreviated rendition and ignore the fuller versions accepted by the majority—except on the basis of personal bias and sectarian zeal? Second: he claimed that no one besides Ibn Hibban declared Asim al-Jahdari reliable. I say: this assertion is false, and I can hardly imagine that he was unaware of Ibn Abi Hatim’s statement on Asim (3/349): =