“And if you cannot, then lying on your back.” Thus lying supine is placed after praying on one’s side, which conflicts with the Hanafi school. For this reason Ibn al-Humam, in Fath (1/376), tried to restrict the ruling to Imran ibn Husayn alone so that it would not address the whole community. Yet this claim lacks any proof, for the agreed-upon principle is that the Prophet’s words apply generally even when directed to a single person, unless there is clear evidence limiting them—and none exists here. The position adopted by the Shafi‘i school is therefore the sound one, God willing. (1) Al-Hafiz comments: “The Prophet ﷺ himself is excluded from this general ruling, for his prayer while sitting is not inferior in reward to his prayer while standing. This is based on the hadith of Abd Allah ibn Amr who said: I had heard that the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘A man’s prayer while sitting is worth half of his prayer while standing.’ I later found him praying seated, so I placed my hand on my head. He asked, ‘What is the matter with you, Abd Allah?’ I told him what I had heard. He replied, ‘Yes, but I am not like any of you.’ Muslim, Abu Dawud, and al-Nasa’i narrate it.” I add: it is also reported by al-Darimi (1/321) and Ahmad (2/203). Al-Hafiz continues: “This rests on the principle that the speaker is included in the general purport of his own words, which is correct. The Shafi‘i scholars list this matter among the Prophet’s unique characteristics.”