is not obligatory, so one may instead say: “as-salam ‘ala an-nabiyyi (peace be upon the Prophet).” I say: this report is unquestionably authentic, and I have located a strong supporting chain. ‘Abd al-Razzaq relates: Ibn Jurayj told us, reporting from ‘Ata’, that the Companions used to say while the Prophet ﷺ was alive, “as-salam ‘alayka ayyuhan-nabiyyu (peace be upon you, O Prophet!),” but after he passed away they would say, “as-salam ‘ala an-nabiyyi (peace be upon the Prophet).” This isnad is sound. As for the narration recorded by Sa‘id ibn Mansur through Abu ‘Ubayda ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud, from his father, that the Prophet ﷺ taught them the tashahhud … and Ibn ‘Abbas commented, “We used to say ‘peace be upon you, O Prophet’ while he was alive,” whereupon Ibn Mas‘ud replied, “That is how we were taught and that is how we teach”—it is clear that Ibn ‘Abbas was merely raising a question, whereas Ibn Mas‘ud did not retract. Nevertheless, the version transmitted by Abu Ma‘mar—i.e., the one in al-Bukhari—is sounder, because Abu ‘Ubayda never heard from his father and, in any case, the chain to him is weak. Al-Hafiz’s assessment has been cited and endorsed by a number of precise scholars, among them al-Qastallani in his commentary on al-Bukhari, al-Zurqani in al-Mawahib al-Ladunniyya and in his commentary on the Muwatta’, and ‘Abd al-Hayy al-Laknawi in at-Ta‘liq al-Mumajjad; they all accepted it without objection. From this it appears that the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, did not adopt the wording “as-salam ‘ala an-nabiyyi” in the third person except by explicit instruction from the Prophet ﷺ, for ijtihad or analogy has no place in such a matter; to do so on one’s own would be a clear innovation, and the Companions—especially Ibn