the hadith remains sound. Furthermore, al-Dirawardi is not the only one who transmits it; he is, in fact, followed—at least in substance—by others. Abu Dawud, al-Nasaʾi, and likewise al-Tirmidhi (2/57–58) reproduce the report through the route of Abd Allah ibn Nafiʿ, from Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan, in an abbreviated wording: “Does one of you fling himself down in his prayer the way a camel collapses?!” This is a robust corroboration, for Abd Allah ibn Nafiʿ, like al-Dirawardi, is trustworthy and is listed among Muslim’s authorities. As for the version cited by al-Tahawi (1/150), al-Bayhaqi (2/100), and Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf (1/102/2)—and from him by al-Athram in his Sunan, as quoted in Zad (1/80)—all of them transmit it through Ibn Fudayl, from Abd Allah ibn Saʿid, from his grandfather, from Abu Hurayra, with the wording: “When one of you prostrates, let him begin with his knees before his hands, and let him not collapse like the stallion-camel.” Al-Hafiz (2/231), following al-Bayhaqi, comments: “Its chain is weak.” I would go further: it is very weak. Its defect lies in Abd Allah ibn Saʿid al-Maqburi, who is discarded, as already noted in the preceding narration, and some scholars even accused him of fabrication. It appears he may have deliberately inverted this hadith, thereby altering its meaning. The real surprise is not the conduct of this discredited narrator but that Ibn al-Qayyim, in Zad, relied on his version and claimed that the authentic first report of Abu Hurayra had been textually inverted by some transmitters, and that its original wording was “let him place his knees before his hands”—precisely as reported by this Maqburi! Ibn al-Qayyim adopted this position because, to his mind, the standard wording is irrational: its opening supposedly contradicts its ending—so he alleged—except for anyone who says that a camel’s knees are in its forelegs. He, however, rejects that notion, stating: “Such speech is unintelligible; it is unknown among the linguists, for the ‘knee’ is only in the hind legs.” So he said—and that too is astonishing—how could this have escaped him when the linguistic authorities