Ahmad likewise cited the report in al-Nasikh wa-l-Mansukh in mursal form, as reproduced in al-Muntaqa min Akhbar al-Mustafa (1/364). He added: “Saʿid ibn Mansur related it in his Sunan with similar wording and the extra sentence: ‘They considered it commendable that a man should not let his gaze pass beyond his place of prostration.’” Ibn Abi Shayba recorded the same, as noted in Fath al-Bari (2/185). Ibn Hajar comments in Fath al-Bari (2/184): “Its transmitters are trustworthy.” (See also al-Irwaʾ, no. 354.) Al-Bayhaqi later produced the report with a continuous chain via Abu ʿAli Hamid ibn al-Raffaʾ al-Harawi → Muhammad ibn Yunus → Saʿid Abu Zayd al-Ansari → Ibn ʿAwn → Ibn Sirin → Abu Hurayra. He then remarked: “The correct version is the mursal one.” Ibn al-Turkamani objected: “I say: Ibn Aws is reliable and has supplied the elevated (marfuʿ) chain; moreover, Ibn ʿUlayya’s narration corroborates him, for it also connects the hadith through Ayyub → Ibn Sirin → Abu Hurayra!” I reply: reliance should be placed on this corroborating chain, for its isnad is sound, as shown above. By contrast, the route of Ibn Aws contains Muhammad ibn Yunus—Abu al-ʿAbbas al-Kudaymi—who is one of the abandoned narrators, as al-Dhahabi states; the one reporting from him, Abu ʿAli Hamid ibn al-Raffaʾ, was judged reliable by al-Khatib in his Tarikh (8/172). It appears that Ibn Sirin sometimes transmitted the hadith as mursal and at other times with a connected chain; preference is given to the connected transmission. Allah knows best. (1) Al-Bayhaqi (2/283) and Ibn ʿAsakir (7/302/2 = 28/294) recorded it through Sadaqa ibn ʿAbd Allah → Sulayman ibn Dawud al-Khawlani, who said: “I heard Abu Qilaba al-Jarmi say: …”