I add: Shuʿayb was not cited by the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim); only Abu Dawud included him. Hence the report is merely sahih (sound)—and that on the condition that his transmitter Yaʿqub b. Yusuf al-Wasiti is reliable, for he alone narrates from Shuʿayb. Yet I have not found Yaʿqub mentioned in any of the biographical works available to me. Al-Bayhaqi (2/9) transmitted the narration from al-Hakim through both chains and then remarked: “ Ibn Mujabbir is unique in the first chain, and Yaʿqub b. Yusuf al-Khallal is unique in the second. The version that is well known is that of the group—Hammad b. Salamah, Zaydah b. Qudamah, Yahya b. Saʿid al-Qattan and others—from ʿUbayd Allah, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, from ʿUmar as his own statement.” He added: “It is also reported marfuʿ from Abu Hurayrah, and mursal from Yahya b. Abi Kathir, from Abu Qilabah, from the Prophet.” Al-Bayhaqi concluded: “What is intended—Allah knows best—are the people of Madinah and everyone whose qiblah (direction of prayer) coincides with theirs, i.e. between east and west.” This applies to those situated north or south of Mecca. By contrast, for those living east or west of Mecca the qiblah lies between north and south. Al-Sanʿani comments in Subul al-Salam (1/188): “The hadith proves that, for anyone who cannot physically see the Kaʿbah, the obligation is to face the jihah (general direction) rather than the ʿayn (exact point); a number of scholars have adopted this position on the basis of the present hadith.” I note that this is also the official view of the Hanafis. Al-Sanʿani continues: “The reasoning is that, for one who does not see the Kaʿbah (and those in the same category), the area between the two directions—east and west—constitutes his qiblah. The on-site observer, however, is not restricted to that span; any angle is valid for him so long as he faces the Kaʿbah itself or any part of it.”