“No one is to lead others in prayer after me while sitting.” Even supposing its chain were sound, the report would still be mursal, and for us a mursal narration is no better than one with no chain at all. For if we were to accept the mursal report of a Successor—even a trustworthy one—we would then be obliged to accept the same from the followers of the Successors; accepting that would in turn oblige us to accept it from those after them, until it would end with accepting the claim of anyone who says, “The Messenger of Allah said…,” and this would undermine the entire Sharia. What is astonishing is that Abu Hanifa condemns Jabir al-Juʿfi and calls him a liar, yet when he found himself in need he cited Jabir’s very hadith as proof, exactly as we have been told. I add: he then supplied his chain of transmission back to Abu Yahya al-Hammani, who said, “I heard Abu Hanifa say: ‘Among all those I have met I saw none better than Ata, and among all those I have met I saw none more dishonest than Jabir al-Juʿfi; I never presented him with any opinion without his bringing me a hadith for it.’ ” That ends the quotation from Nasb al-Raya, somewhat abridged. This hadith of Jabir was recorded by Imam Muhammad in the Muwatta (no. 113), and he used it to claim that the Prophet’s statement, “When the imam prays sitting, then all of you must pray sitting,” had been abrogated—but you already know its weaknesses. They advanced another argument for abrogation: during the Prophet’s final illness he led the people in prayer while seated and they stood behind him, and he did not bid them sit. Al-Hafiz said: “Ahmad denied that this incident abrogates the earlier command, and he reconciled the two hadiths by applying each to a different situation: 1. If the regular imam begins the prayer sitting because of an illness from which recovery is expected, then the congregation must pray behind him sitting. 2. If the regular imam begins the prayer standing, the congregants are required to stand behind him, whether there occurs …”