al-hanif means “one who inclines.” Hence the Arabs say: ahnaf al-rijl (a foot that turns inward). Here it signifies one who inclines toward the truth, and he was so described because so many people opposed him. The phrase “and I am not of the polytheists” further defines al-hanif and clarifies its sense. The term mushrik (polytheist) applies to every unbeliever—idol- or image-worshipper, Jew, Christian, Magian, or zindiq (heretic). The words “Indeed, my prayer and my sacrifice”–al-Azhari says that salat is a comprehensive term embracing the takbir, Qurʾan recitation, bowing, prostration, supplication, tashahhud, and the like. He adds that nusk means worship, and that the nasik is the one who devotes his worship exclusively to Allah. Others say that nusk is whatever the sharia prescribes. End quote. (1) Meaning: my life and my death. The majority read the final yāʾ in maḥyāya with a fatḥa; a quiescent reading is also reported. (2) Muslim—in one transmission—together with Abu ʿAwana, Abu Dawud, one recension of al-Tirmidhi, al-Darimi, al-Daraqutni, al-Tayalisi (and, through him, al-Bayhaqi), and one narration of Ahmad, as well as the version recorded by al-Shafiʿi (mentioned above) and the report from Abu Hurayra, all transmit the wording: “and I am the first of the Muslims.” Another transmission found in Muslim, Abu ʿAwana, al-Bayhaqi, Ahmad, a second recension of al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasaʾi reads: “and I am of the Muslims.” The same wording is given by al-Tabarani from Abu Rafiʿ. Al-Sindi comments: “It appears he (peace be upon him) sometimes said it this way to instruct the community so that they might follow his lead; otherwise what befits him is, ‘and I am the first of the Muslims,’ as occurs in many narrations.” I am inclined to hold that the original text of the hadith is, “and I am the first of the Muslims.” Some transmitters, however, found that phrase problematic when reporting it about someone other than the Prophet, and therefore altered it to: “and I am of the Muslims.”