“Sound.” Qadi Ahmad Muhammad Shakir comments: “This is a good additional wording, for the hadith has a sound chain and I know of no defect in it.” I reply: its defect is plain, for the transmitter in question, al-Hajjaj ibn Artaah, was a mudallis; he transmits here with the ambiguous “‘an-” construction and was weak in memory. In Ibn Hajar’s Taqrib he is described as “truthful, yet makes many mistakes and engages in tadlis.” Concerning the report of Abu Masud al-Badri: Ibn Abi Shaybah records it in his Musannaf—as cited in al-Jawhar al-Naqi—saying: Abu ’l-Ahwas narrated to us, from Ata ibn al-Saib, from Salim al-Barrad, who said, “We came to Abu Masud al-Ansari in his house and said, ‘Teach us the prayer of the Messenger of Allah.’ He prayed, and when he prostrated he placed his palms close to his head.” I add: the Musnad (4/274) also preserves it through Abu Awanah from Ata, but without the phrase “close to his head.” Abu Dawud likewise transmits it through Jarir from him; its complete wording has already been quoted under the section on ruku (pp. 634–35). (1) This concerns the hadith of Abu Humayd al-Saidi. It is related by al-Tirmidhi (2/59)—who, together with Ibn al-Mulaqqin (27/2), graded it sahih—by Abu Dawud (1/117), and by al-Tahawi (1/151), through Fulayh ibn Sulayman, who said: Abbas ibn Sahl narrated to me from Abu Humayd, adding: “He kept his arms away from his sides and placed his palms level with his shoulders.”