To elaborate: a legal ruling in the Sharia is established either by the Prophet’s statement, his action, or his tacit approval, and—by unanimous agreement—it is not necessary for all three forms of evidence to coincide in order to prove a single ruling. Accordingly, the proofs we have already presented—and those still to come—not only demonstrate the legitimacy of sending salat upon him in the final tashahhud; by their general and unqualified wording they likewise establish its legitimacy in the first sitting, as noted earlier. Granted, had any sound evidence restricted the practice, we would have accepted it, interpreting the absolute texts in light of the qualified ones. But, as you have seen, no such evidence is authentic. That said, a few reports remain whose explicit wording could appear to support that restriction, even though their chains are weak. They are two narrations: 1. Ibn Masud said: “The Messenger of Allah taught me the tashahhud to be recited in the middle of the prayer and at its end …” The hadith continues: “If it is the middle of the prayer, he rises once he finishes his tashahhud; if it is the end, he supplicates after his tashahhud with whatever Allah wills, then gives salam.” Ahmad narrated this, as did Ibn Khuzayma (see al-Talkhis 3:507). The hadith is weak, as has already been shown under ‘The Sitting of the Tashahhud.’ 2. Aisha reports that “The Messenger of Allah did not add, in the two rakahs, anything beyond the tashahhud.” Abu Yaʿla transmitted it through the route of Abu al-Huwayrith from her. Al-Haythami (2:142) comments: “It appears that this Abu al-Huwayrith is Khalid ibn al-Huwayrith, and he is reliable.”