(continuation) It appears that the anʿanah recorded in al-Musannaf is one of the many copyist errors that crept into the work, as anyone who scrutinises the editorial notes of Shaykh al-A‘zami will notice. Curiously, the editor contents himself with the bare remark, “Kanz al-ʿUmmal, 4/4668,” and nothing more—such is his “critical” apparatus! When I checked that entry, I found the report exactly as al-Fath cites it: Ibn Jurayj states, “Akhbarani ʿAtaʾ…,” transmitted through ʿAbd al-Razzaq. Al-A‘zami should have pointed this out, blocking the path for those—like al-Ghumari—who exploit the anʿanah. Who knows? Perhaps he kept silent deliberately, because the report conflicts with his legal school; in this he and al-Ghumari share the habit of following desire and turning away from proof whenever it opposes their madhhab. I then consulted al-Suyuti’s al-Jamiʿ al-Kabir, the source of Kanz, and found it identical. The report is therefore firmly established, and the evidence stands against al-Ghumari, who is swamped by caprice—may Allah protect us. His arrogance and disdain for the truth—well understood by hadith scholars—also show in the following. When I supported Ibn Masʿud’s wording (which I traced back to the Prophet ﷺ) with the report that ʿAʾishah used to teach the tashahhud in prayer as “al-salam ʿala al-nabiy,” and documented it from two manuscript sources that al-Ghumari has never even dreamt of seeing, he merely wrote (p. 15): “This statement betrays gross ignorance (!) He even oddly attributed ʿAʾishah’s report to al-Siraj and al-Mukhlis—may Allah deliver al-Albani from his ignorance—whereas it is found in Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah and Musannaf ʿAbd al-Razzaq.” I say: let the fair-minded reader observe this obscure man’s brazenness—he brands me ignorant simply because I cited two sources unknown to him, yet offers no reply to the corroboration that he ought either to accept or to refute with scholarly argument. Alas, had he possessed such learning he would not have stumbled into an ignorance beneath even common folk. Allah is our help. Another example of his malice and misrepresentation appears on the same page, where he writes: “al-Tabarani, with a sound chain, reports from al-Shaʿbi that Ibn Masʿud, after saying ‘al-salam ʿalayka ayyuhan-nabiy wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,’ would add: ‘al-salam ʿalayna min rabbina.’ This extra phrase, and likewise the change from direct address to third person, were both the result of Ibn Masʿud’s personal ijtihad.” I reply to this in six points: