—ʿAbd al-Rahman b. al-Aswad b. Yazid al-Nakhʿai, from his father, from ʿAbd Allah b. Masʿud, who said: “The Messenger of Allah taught me the tashahhud to be recited in the middle of the prayer and at its end. We therefore used to memorise it from ʿAbd Allah when he informed us that the Messenger of Allah had taught it to him. He said: Whenever he sat in the middle or at the end of the prayer he would lean on his left thigh and say: al-tahiyyatu lillah … etc. Then, if it was the middle of the prayer, he would rise as soon as he had finished his tashahhud; but if it was the end, he would supplicate after the tashahhud with whatever Allah willed him to supplicate, and then he would give the salam.” There is, however, some doubt about the soundness of the report with these precise words, for it is transmitted only by Ibn Ishaq and contradicts the version related by others who are more reliable and have better memories. Al-Dhahabi, after quoting the critics’ statements about Ibn Ishaq, concludes: “What appears to me is that Ibn Ishaq’s hadiths are hasan; he is upright and truthful, but whatever he narrates on his own is problematic, for his memory is somewhat deficient.” I add: the mention of the tawarruk posture and of a distinct “middle tashahhud” is anomalous (munkar) in this narration from Ibn Masʿud, for Bukhari, Muslim, the compilers of the four Sunan and others transmit the hadith through numerous chains, and none of them contain what Ibn Ishaq has reported. Allah knows best. (1) These extra words actually belong to the hadith of Rifaʿa b. Rafiʿ. Muhammad b. Ishaq relates it saying: “ʿAli b. Yahya b. Khallad b. Rafiʿ told me, from his father, from his uncle Rifaʿa,” and he adds at the end: “Then recite the tashahhud; and when you rise, do the same until you complete your prayer.” Abu Dawud and others recorded it, as noted earlier under the heading “Facing the qibla,” and its chain is hasan.