and for that reason al-Nawawi declared this extra wording weak in al-Majmuʿ (*). Al-Khallal records yet another argument in az-Zad, quoting Imam Ahmad – may Allah have mercy on him – through his son ʿAbd Allah in al-Masaʾil. ʿAbd Allah said: “I heard my father remark, ‘If someone follows the hadith of Malik b. al-Huwayrith, I hope there is no harm in that.’” ʿAbd Allah adds: He then mentioned the jalsat al-istirahah (brief sitting of rest) and said, “Hammad b. Zayd used to do it.” Ahmad continued: “I myself rely on the hadith of Rifaʿa b. Rafiʿ transmitted through Ibn ʿAjlan: ‘Then prostrate until you are tranquil in prostration, then rise until you are tranquil sitting, then prostrate until you are tranquil in prostration, then stand.’” End of citation. What the Imam meant is that the sitting of rest is not mentioned in the hadith of al-musiʾi salatahu (the man who prayed badly). This, however, is a puzzling line of reasoning, for the scholars unanimously agree that this single report does not encompass all the sunnahs and postures of the prayer. Whenever a sunnah is established in another narration, it must be accepted rather than rejected on the basis of al-musiʾi’s hadith. Ahmad himself and others have adopted many sunnahs – indeed even obligations – that are absent from that narration; would it be permissible to discard them because of that? Al-Nawawi – may Allah have mercy on him – states (3/443): “The answer regarding the hadith of al-musiʾi is that the Prophet ﷺ taught him only the obligatory elements, not the recommended ones. This has been pointed out many times.” I add: It seems that, because the weakness of this argument was so evident, Ahmad later reverted to the hadith of Malik b. al-Huwayrith in support of the sitting of rest, as al-Khallal reports in az-Zad (1/85). ________ (*) See p. 836 below.