and al-Darimi supplies an additional line through Isra’il: “When the sons of Abd Allah ibn Masud performed ruku, they placed their hands between their thighs, and I prayed…,” and so on. Al-Hafiz comments: “This addition reveals the basis on which Musab acted, and shows that Ibn Masud’s children learnt the practice from their father.” The report is further supported by other chains. One comes via Isra’il—Abu Husayn—Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, who said: “Whenever we bowed, we put our hands between our thighs; then Umar said, ‘Grasping the knees is the sunnah.’” The isnad is sound. It is recorded by al-Tirmidhi (2/43), al-Nasai (1/159), al-Tahawi (1/135), al-Bayhaqi, and al-Tayalisi (p. 12) through several routes from Abu Husayn, though without Abu Abd al-Rahman’s wording about clasping. Al-Tirmidhi judged it “hasan sahih.” Ibrahim also corroborated it from Abu Abd al-Rahman; al-Nasai preserved this version, and its chain fulfils Muslim’s conditions. Al-Hafiz notes: “Such a statement has the force of being marfu, for when a Companion says, ‘The sunnah is so-and-so,’ or ‘It was ordained to do so-and-so,’ it is generally understood to refer to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ—especially when the Companion is someone like Umar.”