Establishing the Prayer and the Sunnah Regarding Them

The source gives two routes: Bakr ibn Khalaf Abu Bishr from Humayd ibn al-Aswad from Ismail ibn Umayyah; and Ammar ibn Khalid from Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, from Ismail ibn Umayyah. The latter route continues through Abu Amr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hurayth, from his grandfather Hurayth ibn Sulaym, from Abu Hurayrah. The “something” is a barrier in front of the worshipper.

The first chain is Hisham ibn Ammar, from Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, from Salim Abu al-Nadr, from Busr ibn Said. Sufyan preserves uncertainty about the unit of time meant by forty.

قَالَ سُفْيَانُ فَلاَ أَدْرِي أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً أَوْ شَهْرًا أَوْ صَبَاحًا أَوْ سَاعَةً ‏.

Sufyan explicitly says he does not know whether forty means years, a month, a morning, or an hour.

Should the duration remain unspecified, preserving the uncertainty stated by Sufyan?

The chain is Ali ibn Muhammad, from Waki, from Sufyan, from Salim Abu al-Nadr, from Busr ibn Said; Zayd ibn Khalid then sends Busr to Abu Juhaim. The text leaves the unit of forty uncertain among years, months, and days.

ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فِي الرَّجُلِ يَمُرُّ بَيْنَ يَدَىِ الرَّجُلِ وَهُوَ يُصَلِّي فَقَالَ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ ‏ "‏ لَوْ يَعْلَمُ أَحَدُكُمْ مَالَهُ أَنْ يَمُرَّ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ أَخِيهِ وَهُوَ يُصَلِّي كَانَ لأَنْ يَقِفَ أَرْبَعِينَ - قَالَ لاَ أَدْرِي أَرْبَعِينَ عَامًا أَوْ أَرْبَعِينَ شَهْرًا أَوْ أَرْبَعِينَ يَوْمًا - خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ ‏"‏ ‏.

The report lists three possible units for forty and does not specify which one is meant.

Should the unspecified duration be left exactly as this narrator presents it?

The chain is Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, from Waki, from Ubayd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Mawhab, from his uncle, from Abu Hurayrah. This version specifies one hundred years and compares it with a single step.

The chain is Hisham ibn Ammar, from Sufyan, from al-Zuhri, from Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah, from Ibn Abbas. The source says he came with al-Fadl on a she-donkey and that they dismounted and left it before entering the row.

The chain is Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, from Waki, from Usamah ibn Zayd, from Muhammad ibn Qays—the storyteller of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz—from his father, from Umm Salamah. The source itself gives either Abdullah or Umar ibn Abi Salamah as the first passer. Hunna aghlab is rendered as “these women are more persistent,” following the secondary English witness while preserving the source pronoun and comparative sense.

قَالَتْ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يُصَلِّي فِي حُجْرَةِ أُمِّ سَلَمَةَ فَمَرَّ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ أَوْ عُمَرُ بْنُ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ فَقَالَ بِيَدِهِ فَرَجَعَ فَمَرَّتْ زَيْنَبُ بِنْتُ أُمِّ سَلَمَةَ فَقَالَ بِيَدِهِ هَكَذَا فَمَضَتْ فَلَمَّا صَلَّى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ ‏"‏ هُنَّ أَغْلَبُ ‏"‏ ‏.

The first passer is named alternatively as Abdullah or Umar, and the final phrase hunna aghlab is figurative, literally saying they are more dominant.

Should the name alternative and the idiomatic force of hunna aghlab be preserved as rendered here?

The chain is Abu Bakr ibn Khallad al-Bahili, from Yahya ibn Said, from Shubah, from Qatadah, from Jabir ibn Zayd, from Ibn Abbas, from the Prophet. The verb yaqta is rendered literally as “interrupt”; its legal force is flagged as uncertain rather than interpreted further.

عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ ‏ "‏ يَقْطَعُ الصَّلاَةَ الْكَلْبُ الأَسْوَدُ،

Yaqta can mean interrupt or invalidate the prayer; this excerpt does not explain the legal force intended.

Should “interrupts the prayer” or “invalidates the prayer” be used for yaqta in this report?

The chain is Zayd ibn Akhzam Abu Talib, from Muadh ibn Hisham, from his father, from Qatadah, from Zurarah ibn Awfa, from Sad ibn Hisham, from Abu Hurayrah. The verb yaqta is rendered as “interrupt” while its possible legal force remains flagged for review.

يَقْطَعُ الصَّلاَةَ الْمَرْأَةُ وَالْكَلْبُ وَالْحِمَارُ

Yaqta can mean interrupt or invalidate the prayer; the report does not clarify the legal force.

Should yaqta be rendered “interrupt” or “invalidate” in this report?

The chain is Jamil ibn al-Hasan, from Abd al-Ala, from Said, from Qatadah, from al-Hasan, from Abd Allah ibn Mughaffal, from the Prophet. The verb yaqta is translated as “interrupts”; its legal implications are flagged for review.

يَقْطَعُ الصَّلاَةَ الْمَرْأَةُ وَالْكَلْبُ وَالْحِمَارُ

Yaqta can mean interrupt or invalidate the prayer; this brief wording does not specify the legal force.

Should yaqta be rendered “interrupts” or “invalidates” the prayer?

The chain is Muhammad ibn Bashshar, from Muhammad ibn Jafar, from Shubah, from Humayd ibn Hilal, from Abd Allah ibn al-Samit, from Abu Dharr. The report explicitly conditions the first statement on there being no barrier like a saddle pommel. The verb yaqta is rendered as “interrupts”; its legal force and the statement about the black dog are retained without expansion.

عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ ‏ "‏ يَقْطَعُ الصَّلاَةَ إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ بَيْنَ يَدَىِ الرَّجُلِ مِثْلُ مُؤْخِرَةِ الرَّحْلِ الْمَرْأَةُ وَالْحِمَارُ وَالْكَلْبُ الأَسْوَدُ ‏"‏ ‏.

The report conditions this statement on absence of a barrier like a saddle pommel, but does not explain whether yaqta means interruption or invalidation.

Should yaqta be rendered “interrupts” or “invalidates” here, given the stated barrier condition?

The chain is Ahmad ibn Abdah, from Hammad ibn Zayd, from Yahya Abu al-Mualla, from al-Hasan al-Urani, who said. The phrase badarahu al-qiblah is rendered as moving ahead of the goat toward the qiblah; the exact action is unclear and flagged for review.

قَالَ ذُكِرَ عِنْدَ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ مَا يَقْطَعُ الصَّلاَةَ فَذَكَرُوا الْكَلْبَ وَالْحِمَارَ وَالْمَرْأَةَ فَقَالَ مَا تَقُولُونَ فِي الْجَدْىِ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ كَانَ يُصَلِّي يَوْمًا فَذَهَبَ جَدْىٌ يَمُرُّ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ فَبَادَرَهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ الْقِبْلَةَ ‏.

The wording says the Prophet badar the goat toward the qiblah, but does not explicitly state whether he blocked it, redirected it, or simply moved ahead of it.

What physical action is intended by badarahu al-qiblah in this report?

The chain is Abu Kurayb, from Abu Khalid al-Ahmar, from Ibn Ajlan, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Said, from his father. The verb yuqatil means to fight; it is rendered here as “resist” to convey the prayer-context action while preserving the source wording in the review issue.

فَإِنْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ يَمُرَّ فَلْيُقَاتِلْهُ

The text uses a direct imperative meaning “fight him,” but does not explain the practical limits or legal force in this excerpt.

Should the direct imperative be retained literally, or is an established contextual rendering preferred?

The chain begins with Harun ibn Abd Allah al-Hammal and al-Hasan ibn Dawud al-Munkadiri, both from Ibn Abi Fudayk, from al-Dahhak ibn Uthman, from Sadaqah ibn Yasar, from Abd Allah ibn Umar. The main wording says al-qarin; al-Munkadiri gives al-Uzza as a variant. The command yuqatil is rendered directly as “fight.”

وَقَالَ الْمُنْكَدِرِيُّ فَإِنَّ مَعَهُ الْعُزَّى ‏.

The main wording says al-qarin (a close companion), while al-Munkadiri gives al-Uzza, the name of a deity; the same report contains an imperative to fight the passer.

Should al-Uzza be preserved as the exact variant without harmonizing it with al-qarin?

The chain is Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, from Sufyan, from al-Zuhri, from Urwah, from Aishah. The wording compares her position across the space before him to the way a funeral bier is laid out.

The chain is Bakr ibn Khalaf and Suwayd ibn Said, both from Yazid ibn Zuray, from Khalid al-Hadhdha, from Abu Qilabah, from Zaynab bint Abi Salamah, from her mother. The phrase bi-hiyali masjidihi is rendered as “opposite the prayer place.”

The chain is Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, from Abbad ibn al-Awwam, from al-Shaybani, from Abd Allah ibn Shaddad, who said: Maymunah, the wife of the Prophet, told me.

The source gives a broad, brief prohibition without explaining its circumstances; no additional conditions are supplied here. The chain is Muhammad ibn Ismail, from Zayd ibn al-Hubab, from Abu al-Miqdam, from Muhammad ibn Kab, from Ibn Abbas.

The chain is Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah, from Muhammad ibn Ubayd, from al-Amash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah. The report prohibits moving ahead of the imam in bowing and prostration.

The chain is Humayd ibn Masadah and Suwayd ibn Said, from Hammad ibn Zayd, from Muhammad ibn Ziyad, from Abu Hurayrah. The rhetorical question describes a donkey-headed transformation.

The chain is Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Numayr, from Abu Badr Shuja ibn al-Walid, from Ziyad ibn Khaythamah, from Abu Ishaq, from Darim, from Said ibn Abi Burdah, from Abu Burdah, from Abu Musa. The verb badantu is rendered as “I have grown heavier,” following the Arabic verb and the secondary English witness.