In *Da'if al-Jami'*, you graded the hadith: (When one of you prays, let him place a tree in front of him, and if he does not find one, let him set up a stick) as weak.

The questioner : He says here: In *Da'if al-Jami'*, you graded the hadith: as weak, and al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar graded its chain as good, and he reported ... from its chain; so what is the reason for your grading it as weak? And what is the response to the one who reported the inconsistency?
Note: In its chain is Abu Muhammad 'Amr ibn Harith, and it is said: he is Abu Muhammad 'Amr ibn Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Harith.

The Shaykh : As I recall, when we began tracing the hadiths of *Sunan Abu Dawud* long ago, about forty years ... slightly, I planned for myself to make it two books; one being *Sahih Abu Dawud*, and the other *Da'if Abu Dawud*, according to this division that has recently appeared with a very brief verification, so this hadith passed by me, and I had in my mind that this hadith has two defects:
The first defect: the inconsistency that was reportedThe questioner : from the words of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar.
And the other defect: the obscurity of some of its narrators, so I was reassured at that time that this hadith is not authentic in its chain, and many hadith scholars before me have graded it as weak, and what we see from his practice - may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him - is turning away from such a hadith practically, for it has come from his actions - may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him and his family - that as in the hadith of his going out for the Eid prayer, a stick called the "anazah" was set up for him, and he did not draw a line, and sometimes he would pray as in the Battle of Badr al-Kubra to a tree, and sometimes he would adjust the camel's saddle and pray toward it, or pray toward a wall as was the case in his mosque, and there is no practical trace of this hadith of the line, rather it contradicts the meaning of his saying - peace be upon him - in some of the authentic hadiths; such as the hadith of Abu Dharr - may Allah be pleased with him - in which he said, in its wording or at least its meaning: , so the prescribed sutrah that prevents the breaking of the prayer is only to be like the back of the saddle; that is: with a height of one shibr and a half of two shibr, and you are supposed to know the back of the saddle, considering you are Arabs, more than people like us who are non-Arabs, for the back of the saddle is the stick on which the rider of his camel hangs his luggage and provisions and the like.
So the Messenger - may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him and his family - by the explicit wording of this hadith defines the sutrah that prevents the prayer of the one praying from being broken; that is: here it is invalidated by the passing of something of these three types, whereas the line is not the back of the saddle naturally, so the meaning of the hadith is a proof as we said earlier in the answer to some questions: "unless it is contradicted by an explicit wording," and the explicit wording of the hadith of the line, if it were authentic, we would take it and prioritize it over the meaning, whereas al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar's denial of the answer that is in the hadith; this in reality requires us to have the paths before us; to look at whether it is true that the inconsistency has been denied? The inconsistency certainly exists, but if the opinion of al-Hafiz is correct, and I do not say now: if what was reported from al-Hafiz is correct, but I say: if the opinion of al-Hafiz is correct that this hadith is not described as inconsistent, then it means a description that undermines its authenticity; that is because it is mentioned in the science of terminology that inconsistency is one of the defects of a hadith, so every hadith that is confirmed to be inconsistent is from the categories of weak hadith, but it is not always that the hadith is inconsistent in a way that undermines the authenticity of the hadith; that is because the hadith sometimes comes in fact with inconsistent aspects, so this inconsistency - as the hadith scholars say - indicates that the narrator did not master his narration of the hadith, either in chain or in text, but if the meticulous Hafiz collects the hadiths of the inconsistent paths of this hadith; then it is possible sometimes that he prioritizes one aspect over another of the aspects of inconsistency; because the effective inconsistency is that the aspects of its inconsistent narrations are equal and it is not possible to prioritize one aspect of these aspects, whereas if the opposite is the case, such that most of the paths narrated one aspect of these aspects and the rest of the other aspects are singular; then in this case the narration of the majority is prioritized over the narration of the minority, and this narration of the majority is the stronger of what? Of the inconsistency, but does the mere strength of the hadith from its description as inconsistent mean that it escaped from weakness and entered the circle of authenticity or the circle of goodness at least? The answer: this is not necessary, rather it may or may not; that is: it may escape from weakness and enter the circle of establishment, goodness or authenticity, and it may not, let us suppose - for example -. Now the chain is not before us now.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : The aspect of inconsistency says: sometimes its narrator says from Abu 'Amr ibn Harith from his father from Abu Hurayrah, and in a narration: from Abu 'Amr ibn Harith from his grandfather from Abu Hurayrah, and in a narration: from Abu Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Harith from his grandfather from Abu Hurayrah, and in a narration: from Abu 'Amr ibn Muhammad from his grandfather from his father from Abu Hurayrah, and sometimes: from Abu 'Amr ibn Muhammad from Harith from his father from Abu Hurayrah, and sometimes: from Harith ibn 'Ammar from Abu Hurayrah.

The Shaykh : ... if you can. Yes.

The questioner : And sometimes: from Abu Muhammad ibn 'Amr from his father from his grandfather from Abu Hurayrah, and in a narration: from Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Harith from his grandfather, and in a narration: from Abu 'Amr ibn Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Harith from his grandfather, these are the aspects of the narrations.

The Shaykh : What is the stronger of them?

The questioner : Allah knows best.

The Shaykh : No, I mean the author? ... this point.

The questioner : This author said: and this is a severe inconsistency. There is another author.

The Shaykh : Calm down - may Allah bless you -, did he try to prioritize one aspect of this much inconsistency or not?

The questioner : He did not mention it, no.

The Shaykh : And this is very clear; I mean the inconsistency in it.

The questioner : He says here: and Ibn al-Salah mentioned it as an example of the inconsistent and he hit the mark.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Here one of the authors tried to reconcile the inconsistency.

The Shaykh : Very good.

The questioner : So he said: that this is one; his name is: Abu Muhammad 'Amr ibn Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Muhammad, 'Amr ibn Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Harith, so he says: sometimes he is attributed to his farthest grandfather, and sometimes he is attributed to his nearest grandfather.

The Shaykh : Yes, you may.

The questioner : So from this aspect he says: the narration from Abu Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Harith from his grandfather, he means from his farthest grandfather.

The Shaykh: All right.

The questioner : And sometimes he says: from Abu Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Muhammad ibn ... this is how he narrates this from his farthest grandfather from the fourth grandfather? I mean from 'Amr ibn Muhammad ibn 'Amr ibn Harith from his third father.

The Shaykh : So is it connected in this case?

The questioner : No no, this is the one ... .

The Shaykh : This is it, in any case, what is in my mind, okay; did the man address that there is obscurity in this chain?

The questioner : Yes, he said that, first it was mentioned that this is Abu Muhammad, and Harith 'Amr and Harith are unknown ... he mentioned this, and Sufyan used to say: when Ismail narrated this hadith he would say: do you have something with which you can distinguish it? And he - Abu Sufyan - said: I do not remember except Abu Muhammad ibn 'Amr, Sufyan said: a man came here after the death of Ismail ibn Umayyah, and he sought thisThe Shaykh : Abu Muhammad until he found him and asked him, and he confused him.

The Shaykh : Okay; did he report the words of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And what is it?

The questioner : The sheikh of Ismail, Abu 'Amr ibn Harith, al-Hafiz said about him: "Unknown," and his father or grandfather is also unknown. Al-Hafiz said: "And in my opinion, the narrator of the hadith of the line is not the Companion, but he is unknown." The strange thing here is that al-Hafiz grades the hadith as good, and he sees that both narrators are unknown? Rather I think.

The Shaykh : Where is the grading as good?

The questioner : The grading as good is in *Bulugh al-Maram*.

The Shaykh : In *Bulugh al-Maram*.

The questioner : Yes. And he mentioned this.

The Shaykh : Are you quoting the text of *Bulugh al-Maram*?

Another questioner : It is not there ... .

The questioner : O Shaykh, we brought "Bulugh al-Maram," and it is cited as evidence, meaning some scholars stated that Ibn Hajar graded this hadith as good.

The Shaykh : This is following a scholar without knowing his evidence, with no basis, after they have known that the hadith is in "Sahih Muslim," and it clarifies what the sutrah is, and in some hadiths in "Al-Mustadrak" by al-Hakim, and although I do not recall now whether the hadiths are established or not; that the sutrah is at the height of the arrow's shaft. Therefore, I say, according to my opinion and independent legal reasoning, both old and new, that the hadith of the line is fabricated. Yes, that is correct.