Is there a sound report from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the correct wording of the tashahhud?

The questioner : Is there a sound report from the Messenger...?

The Shaykh : All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He leaves to misguide, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
Move forward, as long as the one in front is reciting, so that the one behind can hear, if Allah wills.
The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not know the tashahhud in the sitting of the tashahhud; therefore, they would omit some words from their own minds, glorifying Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) as it seemed to them. So one of them, when he sat in the tashahhud, would say: "Peace be upon Allah, peace be upon Jibril, peace be upon the righteous servants of Allah." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: , and the prayer of the one praying: "Peace be upon Allah"; this is not fitting for the station of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He); because "As-Salam" is one of the names of Allah; so it is as if the servant is repeating the name of Allah upon Allah, and this is not befitting; therefore, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught them and taught them well, and he said to them: . He (peace be upon him) said: .
From this, the tashahhud was made obligatory upon the worshippers, and it was not obligatory before that. And it came in a concise hadith from Ibn Mas'ud himself, explicitly stating that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made the recitation of the tashahhud in prayer obligatory. And from that day, the tashahhud became an obligation among the obligations of prayer. The scholars differed in the past regarding the ruling of this tashahhud; some said, based on what came in the hadith: it is fard (obligatory), and some said: it is wajib (obligatory). I do not want to delve now into explaining the difference between fard and wajib; because first: it is a weak opinion; fard is wajib, and wajib is fard, and it is merely a terminology of some schools of jurisprudence. And you know—and this is second—that it is contrary to the position of the majority of scholars, and contrary to the previous hadith that the tashahhud in prayer is fard; meaning: the Messenger made it obligatory by revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.
So after this new legislation, it is not permissible for anyone to be lax in leaving the tashahhud in the sitting of the tashahhud. And this wording that you heard, we must mention two matters regarding it; the first is the answer to the questionThe questioner : ; that is: this wording is the best and most authentic of the wordings that came from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And although there are other wordings that I have enumerated and collected in my book "The Description of the Prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from the Takbir to the Taslim as if you are seeing it," the most authentic of these tashahhuds is the tashahhud of Ibn Mas'ud; because al-Bukhari and Muslim agreed to include it in their "Sahih"s, and because the scholars of hadith unanimously hold that this wording is more authentic than the other wording.
There is the second famous wording, which is the one adopted by Imam al-Shafi'i, and it differs somewhat from... the tashahhud of Ibn Mas'ud: , in some narrations: . So among the reasons that led some hadith scholars to prefer the narration of Ibn Mas'ud for this wording over the narration of Ibn Abbas is that Ibn Mas'ud was an early Companion, whereas Ibn Abbas was a late Companion; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) died when he was close to reaching the age of accountability. Also, the narrators did not differ on the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, not even in a single letter; all of them narrated this wording as the Ummah narrated the opening of the book by consensus; there is no difference in it, not even in a single letter. Likewise, the tashahhud of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him); all the narrators who narrated it preserved it letter for letter. And there is no wonder in that; because Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), due to his concern in teaching and instructing his Companions after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—the Companions of Ibn Mas'ud who did not meet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—Ibn Mas'ud would teach his Companions, among them Al-Qa'qah. So Al-Qa'qah said about Ibn Mas'ud: "When he taught us the tashahhud, he would hold us accountable for even a single letter."
When Ibn Mas'ud taught them, he would hold them accountable for even a single letter; and therefore... the Companions of Ibn Mas'ud agreed on the narration of the wording of Ibn Mas'ud's tashahhud letter for letter, with no difference among them at all, unlike the tashahhud of Ibn Abbas. So if the question is: which wording is more authentic? You have known the answer: it is the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), and you have known the reasons, which are multiple and numerous.
There remains another matter I indicated must be mentioned; and it is a benefit—in my knowledge—that the majority of worshippers have neglected to apply, because this benefit did not reach them, although it came in "Sahih al-Bukhari" and in "Musnad Imam Ahmad" (may Allah have mercy on them). Ibn Mas'ud said, as narrated by them—I mean al-Bukhari and Ahmad—with their authentic chains: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught me, and my hand was between his hands; the hand of Ibn Mas'ud between the hands of the Messenger (peace be upon him). And this is an indication of his (peace and blessings be upon him) concern for his Companion Ibn Mas'ud, where he placed his hand... And when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reached: , he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , . Ibn Mas'ud said—and here is the benefit: "We said: while the Prophet was among us—meaning: he was alive, living among his Companions. Ibn Mas'ud said: "So when he died, we said: . So when he (peace and blessings be upon him) died, we said: . So the statement of Ibn Mas'ud in distinguishing the peace upon the Prophet in the tashahhud is merely a distinction for describing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for him and his Companions. The intended meaning of the description is to make the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) aware of them to say in the tashahhud, in the peace upon him after his death: . And therefore, in response to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informing them of this new legislation after his death, they responded to him. So Ibn Mas'ud explicitly stated in this tashahhud that we said: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet," while he was among us. So when he died, we said: "Peace be upon the Prophet"; meaning: they left the case of address and moved to the case of absence, and they said: "Peace be upon the Prophet."
Some of the Shafi'i scholars have discussed this statement of Ibn Mas'ud: is it a statement based on the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) instruction, or is it the result of Ibn Mas'ud's independent legal reasoning? Opinions have differed, but the stronger position is what the Shafi'i Imam al-Subki stated. He said: If the statement of Ibn Mas'ud is authentic, then when he died, we said, "Peace be upon the Prophet," and it became necessary to shift from the wording of direct address to the wording of absence: . However, the difference between al-Subki's statement and the correction by al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani is what everyone who has just heard this would notice: this hadith was narrated by al-Bukhari. So al-Subki's condition, "if it is authentic," is a caution that has no place here. Therefore, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani corrected him by saying: It is authentic, as it came in the previous narration of al-Bukhari: "When he died, we said, 'Peace be upon the Prophet.'" So it is authentic. Second, Ibn Mas'ud did not only report this from himself, but he reported it from the Companions; because he said: "We used to say, while he (peace and blessings be upon him) was among us: . We used to say, not 'I used to say.' When he died, we said: . Then al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) supported this clear explanation of the distinction between what al-Bukhari narrated with the wording "When he died, we said, not 'I said'" by supporting this narration with another one he attributed to "Al-Musannaf of 'Abd al-Razzaq." This book has been printed, praise be to Allah, a few years ago or more. 'Abd al-Razzaq narrated in his "Musannaf" with a sound chain from 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah, who said: "The Companions of the Prophet—this is an explicit narration—the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say during his lifetime: , and when he died, they said: . Therefore, it is obligatory for us to say, as his Companions did after his death: , and not: .
For this reason, we say with this example, always and forever: It is not sufficient in this time to call people to act according to the Book and the Sunnah, and this is obligatory. But pay attention to what I am saying: One should call to the Book and the Sunnah, but one should not limit the call to the Book and the Sunnah by stopping there. Rather, we must add to that: "and according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf." That is, we call to the Book and the Sunnah according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf. Why? Because the righteous Salaf, led by the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who directly heard from his mouth, fresh and new, to their ears, and transmitted that reality in their lives to those after them, and this is the example before you... We did not pay attention to this detailed narration of Ibn Mas'ud, which distinguishes between his life (peace be upon him), during which they used to say: , and after his death, during which they said: . We would not have applied the hadith except to the first Prophetic instruction, which is: , and so on. But our reliance on this Companion, who distinguished for us, is not based on a wording from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but on his understanding of the difference between greeting him by addressing him during his life and greeting him by ceasing to address him after his death.
From this, it becomes clear to you, as an example from hundreds of examples, that we cannot understand the Book and the Sunnah correctly except according to the methodology of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and then those who came after them. This condition—"according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf"—may be rejected by some Islamic groups who have not specialized, not only in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), but even in the Noble Qur'an. Because this condition I mentioned earlier, which is following the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in what they understood and what they received from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), is what the Noble Qur'an commanded. We all read in it the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): . His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): , this phrase has an additional meaning to the phrase before it, and the phrase after it was preserved based on it. He said (Exalted is He): "And whoever opposes the Messenger after the guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers." Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) did not say, and if He had said that, it would have been sufficient. But He intended to alert the Muslims to this point I mentioned earlier, which is following the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So He said: . He did not say: "And whoever opposes the Messenger after the guidance has become clear to him, We will turn him to what he has turned to," and so on to the end of the verse. Rather, He added a phrase to the first phrase, as I mentioned earlier, which is: .
So following the way of the believers is extremely necessary, and it is one of the foundations of the true Islamic call, without which one who opposes it is not on the guidance of his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explained this phrase and clarified that the intended meaning, initially, is the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as in the hadith of the division of the Muslims, just as the Jews and Christians divided. It is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . We said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: . He did not say in this narration: It is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah; because this is understood from many verses and hadiths, such as His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . But he said in this hadith: The saved group is the community; that is, they are the Companions who were on the guidance of their Lord because they followed the footsteps of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
And he clarified this meaning further in the other narrations in which he answered that question: Who is the saved group? He said (peace and blessings be upon him): . So he did not say it is only what I am upon, but he also added to that and said: . This is complete, if it is not a direct revelation from Allah to the heart of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it is a quotation from the previous verse: . What is the way of the believers? It is his Companions, about whom he said: .
This is a very famous hadith that gives the meaning of the verse and clarifies it. The other hadith, I will shorten it because time is short, and some of the brothers must have other questions. I have digressed a lot in answering that question and used it lawfully to clarify to you this truth that many Islamic callers have overlooked. Even those who adopt the Book and the Sunnah do not realize the necessity of understanding the Book and the Sunnah as the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did. It has even reached me that some of the young, ignorant people who belong to the work of the Book and the Sunnah said about the Salaf: "Those are men and we are men"!! As if they compared themselves to the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), about whom he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: . They were ignorant of or ignored this hadith and said: "We are men and they are men"!!
Here comes:
And the young camel, if it is tied in a corner, *** cannot perform the leap of the she-camels.
In conclusion: I remind you of that hadith, and I will not recite it in full. It is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . As if a questioner said: What do we do, O Messenger of Allah? He answered without being asked: . He did not say here either: So hold fast to my Sunnah only. Rather, he added to it this phrase: . The addition: is in the well-known hadith of Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah, and it is in "Sunan al-Nasa'i" with a sound chain.