(5) It is reported from Abu Said al-Khudri who said: “We asked: Messenger of Allah, we already know how to greet you; but how are we to invoke blessings upon you?” He replied: “Say: O Allah, send prayers upon Muhammad as You sent prayers upon the family of Ibrahim. O Allah, bless Muhammad as You blessed the family of Ibrahim.” The chain is sound according to Muslim’s criterion. Muhammad b. Ishaq also transmitted the hadith—concerning the formula of blessing the Messenger of Allah when a Muslim invokes it in his prayer—through Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. al-Harith al-Taymi from Muhammad b. Abd Allah b. Zayd with a similar wording. He said: “When you invoke blessings upon me, say: O Allah, send prayers upon Muhammad al-nabi al-ummi (the unlettered Prophet) and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent prayers upon Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim; and bless Muhammad al-nabi al-ummi as You blessed Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim. You are indeed Praiseworthy, Glorious.” It was recorded by Abu Dawud, al-Darqutni (135), al-Hakim (1/268), al-Bayhaqi (2/146, 378), Ahmad (4/119), and Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf (2/132/1 = 2/248/8635). Al-Darqutni declared its chain “good and continuous,” whereas the verdict of al-Hakim and al-Dhahabi that it is “sound according to Muslim’s criterion” is incorrect, as has been explained repeatedly. This version contains additions not found in the earlier narrations. Had Ibn Ishaq not been alone in transmitting them, we would have incorporated them into the main text. And Allah knows best. (*) We later discovered that the Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—did insert those additions into the main text, just as he had done in the printed Sifat al-Salat, and he graded Ibn Ishaq’s report as hasan in Sahih Abi Dawud (4/137/902), apparently considering that Ibn Ishaq’s solitary transmission is not harmful, since it does not contradict the trustworthy narrators. And Allah knows best.