So which recognised compiler has produced this report? Which reliable transmitter has narrated it? To attribute it to them—far be it from them—without a continuous, firmly-established chain is academically worthless. Similar to that unsupported assertion is the claim that the recitation is forbidden and must be abandoned; it is nothing more than an allegation that requires proof and argumentation. No one adopts it—or even mentions it—save someone like al-Kaydani, who went so far as to class the pointing gesture during the tashahhud among the prohibited acts! ʿAli al-Qari al-Makki refuted him decisively in his treatises Tazyin al-ʿibarah bi-taḥsin al-isharah (Embellishing the Phrase by Perfecting the Gesture) and Al-Tazyin bi-l-tadhin (Beautification by Anointing), demonstrating with clear evidence that the gesture is not only established but recommended (sunnah). As for the view that the act is prohibitively disliked (karahah taḥrimiyyah), a large company of Hanafi jurists adopted it, supporting their position with proofs that will be cited later along with their respective strengths and weaknesses, so that the uninformed may be alerted and the accomplished scholar invigorated. The soundest of all these opinions is the third one: although weak in terms of transmission, it is strong in terms of legal reasoning, as you will soon see. He then presented their evidences (pp. 74–159), analysed them, and set out their pros and cons. The most dependable of these, with respect to chain of transmission—after the noble verse wa-idha quriʾa al-qurʾanu fa-istamiʿu lahu wa-ansitu (“When the Quran is recited, listen to it and remain silent”)—is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah concerning the dispute, followed by his narration, “When he (the imam) recites, keep silent,” and then the very hadith presently under discussion. We have already shown, and quoted him as well, that none of these texts proves a prohibition on reciting in a silent prayer (sirriyyah) unless such recitation causes confusion or disturbance. The remaining hadiths—most of whose chains are weak—likewise fail to establish prohibition. He then said: