Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:142
The foolish among the people will say, "What has turned them away from their qiblah, which they used to face?" Say, "To Allah belongs the east and the west. He guides whom He wills to a straight path."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the words of the Exalted: سَيَقُولُ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَ النَّاسِ ("The foolish among the people will say")
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying — exalted is His praise — "The foolish will say" He means: the ignorant ones "among the people" will say, and they are the Jews and the people of hypocrisy (nifāq).
Allah — mighty and exalted is He — called them "foolish" (sufahāʾ) only because they held the truth to be folly. For the scholars of the Jews feigned ignorance, and their ignorant ones and the dull-witted among them grew arrogant against following Muḥammad ﷺ, because he was of the Arabs and not of the Children of Israel; and the hypocrites became confused and dull of mind.
* * *
And with what we have said concerning "the foolish" — namely that they are the Jews and the people of hypocrisy — the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) concur.
Mention of those who said: they are the Jews:
2142- Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah — mighty and exalted is He: "The foolish among the people will say: What has turned them away from their prayer direction (qibla) toward which they were facing?" He said: The Jews said that, when he departed from Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis).
2143- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
2144- It was related to me on the authority of Aḥmad ibn Yūnus, on the authority of Zuhayr, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ: "The foolish among the people will say", he said: the Jews.
2145- Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ: "The foolish among the people will say", he said: the Jews.
2146- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ, concerning His saying: "The foolish among the people will say", he said: the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb).
2147- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: the Jews.
* * *
Others said: "the foolish" are the hypocrites (munāfiqūn).
* Mention of those who said that:
2148- Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: "The foolish among the people will say" was revealed concerning the hypocrites.
* * *
The explanation of the words of the Exalted: مَا وَلاهُمْ عَنْ قِبْلَتِهِمُ الَّتِي كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا ("What has turned them away from their prayer direction toward which they were facing?")
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying — exalted is His praise — "What has turned them away" He means: what thing has turned them away from their prayer direction? It is derived from the expression of one who says: "So-and-so turned his back to me (wallānī fulān duburahu)", when he turns his face away from him and turns his back to him. So too is His saying "What has turned them away?": what thing has turned away their faces?
* * *
As for His saying "from their prayer direction (qibla)": the "qibla" of each thing is that which its face faces toward. It is a form "fiʿla", in the position of "al-jilsa" (the posture of sitting) and "al-qiʿda" (the posture of being seated), derived from the expression of one who says: "I faced so-and-so (qābaltu fulānan)", when I come to stand opposite him and face him; then he is a "qibla" for me and I am a "qibla" for him, when each of the two faces with his face the face of his companion.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpretation of the words then — since that is its meaning — is: The foolish among the people will say to you, O believers in Allah and His Messenger — when you turn your faces away from the prayer direction of the Jews, which was a qibla for you before My command to you to turn your faces away from it toward the direction of the Sacred Mosque (al-Masjid al-Ḥarām) —: what thing has turned away and diverted the faces of these people from the place that they used to face with their faces in their prayer?
Thus Allah — exalted is His praise — informed His Prophet ﷺ of what the Jews and the hypocrites would say upon the turning of his prayer direction and the prayer direction of his companions from Syria (al-Shām) toward the Sacred Mosque, and He taught him what the correct answer ought to be in order to refute them. He said to him: When they say that to you, O Muḥammad, then say to them: لِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ ("To Allah belong the east and the west; He guides whom He wills to a straight path").
* * *
The occasion of that was that the Prophet ﷺ prayed in the direction of Jerusalem for a period — whose extent we shall mention hereafter, if Allah the Exalted wills. Then Allah the Exalted willed to turn the prayer direction of His Prophet ﷺ toward the Sacred Mosque. So He informed him of what the Jews would say upon the turning of his face and the face of his companions in that direction, and what the correct answer ought to be in order to refute them.
* * *
Mention of the period during which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions prayed in the direction of Jerusalem, and what was the occasion of his praying in that direction, and what brought the Jews and the hypocrites to say what they said when Allah turned the prayer direction of the believers from Jerusalem to the Kaʿba.
The people of knowledge differed concerning the period during which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed in the direction of Jerusalem after the Hijra. Some of them said, with what follows:
2149- Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us — and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us — both said together: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr or ʿIkrima informed me — Muḥammad doubted —, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When the prayer direction was turned from Syria to the Kaʿba — and it was turned in [the month of] Rajab, at the head of seventeen months after the arrival of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in Medina — there came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ Rifāʿa ibn Qays, Qardam ibn ʿAmr, Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf, Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nāfiʿ — thus said Ibn Ḥumayd, while Abū Kurayb said: Rāfiʿ ibn Abī Rāfiʿ — al-Ḥajjāj ibn ʿAmr — confederate of Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf — and al-Rabīʿ ibn al-Rabīʿ ibn [Abī] al-Ḥuqayq, and Kināna ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq, and they said: O Muḥammad, what has turned you away from your prayer direction toward which you were facing, while you claim that you follow the creed of Ibrāhīm and his religion? Return to your prayer direction toward which you were facing, then we shall follow you and hold you to be truthful! But they only wished to put him to trial away from his religion. Then Allah revealed concerning them: "The foolish among the people will say: What has turned them away from their prayer direction toward which they were facing?" up to His saying: "except that We might know who follows the Messenger and who turns back on his heels."
2150- Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us; al-Barāʾ said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed in the direction of Jerusalem for seventeen months, and he longed to be turned toward the Kaʿba. He said: While we were praying one day, a passer-by came by us and said: Do you not know that the Prophet ﷺ has been turned toward the Kaʿba? He said: We had [already] prayed two rakʿas toward this [direction] and we prayed [then] two rakʿas toward that [direction] — Abū Kurayb said: He was asked: Does Abū Isḥāq occur in it? But he kept silent.
2151- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ, who said: We prayed, after the arrival of the Prophet ﷺ in Medina, for seventeen months in the direction of Jerusalem.
2152- Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, he said: Abū Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, who said: I prayed together with the Prophet ﷺ in the direction of Jerusalem for sixteen months or seventeen months — Sufyān doubted — and after that we were turned toward the Kaʿba.
2153- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Nufaylī related to us, saying: Zuhayr related to us, saying: Abū Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of al-Barāʾ: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ first arrived in Medina, he stayed with his forefathers — or his maternal uncles — among the Anṣār, and he prayed in the direction of Jerusalem for sixteen months, while it pleased him that his prayer direction should be the direction of the [Sacred] House. He performed the afternoon prayer (ʿaṣr) and with him was a group of people. A man who had prayed with him went out, passed by the people in the mosque while they were in bowing (rukūʿ), and said: I bear witness that I have prayed with the Messenger of Allah in the direction of Mecca. Then they turned, as they were, toward the direction of the House. It pleased him that he was turned in the direction of the House. And the Jews — and the People of the Book — had been pleased that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed in the direction of Jerusalem; but when he turned his face toward the direction of the House, they rejected that.
2154- ʿImrān ibn Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyab, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed in the direction of Jerusalem, after he had arrived in Medina, for sixteen months; then he was turned in the direction of the Kaʿba, two months before [the battle of] Badr.
* * *
Others said, with what follows:
2155- ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿd al-Kātib related to us, saying: Anas ibn Mālik related to us, who said: The Prophet of Allah ﷺ prayed in the direction of Jerusalem for nine months or ten months. While he was standing praying — the noon prayer (ẓuhr) in Medina — and he had prayed two rakʿas toward Jerusalem, he turned his face toward the Kaʿba. Then the foolish said: "What has turned them away from their prayer direction toward which they were facing?"
* * *
Others said, with what follows:
2156- Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Dāwūd related to us, saying: al-Masʿūdī related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of Muʿādh ibn Jabal: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived in Medina and prayed in the direction of Jerusalem for thirteen months.
2157- Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdām al-ʿIjlī related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard my father say: Qatāda related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: that the Anṣār prayed toward the first prayer direction, three pilgrimages (ḥajj seasons) before the arrival of the Prophet ﷺ, and that the Prophet ﷺ prayed toward the first prayer direction after his arrival in Medina for sixteen months — or as he said [it]. Both reports Qatāda relates on the authority of Saʿīd.
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Mention of the occasion for which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed in the direction of Jerusalem, before it was prescribed for him to turn toward the direction of the Kaʿba.
* * *
The people of knowledge differed concerning this.
Some of them said: That occurred by the choice of the Prophet ﷺ himself.
Mention of those who said that:
2158- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ Abū Tumayla related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima — and on the authority of Yazīd al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿIkrima — and [on the authority of] al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī; both of them said: The first thing that was abrogated from the Qurʾān was the prayer direction. That was because the Prophet ﷺ faced toward the Rock of Jerusalem, which is the prayer direction of the Jews. The Prophet ﷺ faced toward it for seventeen months, that they might believe in him and follow him, and that he might thereby invite the unlettered ones among the Arabs. Then Allah — mighty and exalted is He — said: وَلِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ ("To Allah belong the east and the west; wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah. Truly, Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing") [Surah al-Baqarah: 115].
2159- Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying: "The foolish among the people will say: What has turned them away from their prayer direction toward which they were facing?", by which they mean Jerusalem. Al-Rabīʿ said: Abū al-ʿĀliya said: The Prophet of Allah ﷺ was given the choice to turn his face wherever he wished, and he chose Jerusalem in order to win over the People of the Book. Thus his prayer direction was [toward there] for sixteen months, while during that time he turned his face toward the heaven; then Allah turned him toward the Sacred House.
* * *
Others said: No, the performance of that — by the Prophet ﷺ and his companions — occurred on the basis of a prescription that Allah — mighty is His mention — had imposed upon them.
* Mention of those who said that:
2160- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ emigrated to Medina — and [most of] its inhabitants were Jews — Allah commanded him to face toward Jerusalem. Then the Jews rejoiced. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ faced toward it for some ten months, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ loved the prayer direction of Ibrāhīm — peace be upon him — and he used to supplicate and look toward the heaven. Then Allah — mighty and exalted is He — revealed: قَدْ نَرَى تَقَلُّبَ وَجْهِكَ فِي السَّمَاءِ ("We have seen your face turning about toward the heaven") [Surah al-Baqarah: 144], the verse. Thereupon the Jews doubted concerning it and said: "What has turned them away from their prayer direction toward which they were facing?" Then Allah — mighty and exalted is He — revealed: قُلْ لِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ ("Say: To Allah belong the east and the west").
2161- Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed, when he first prayed, toward the Kaʿba; then he was turned toward Jerusalem. Thus the Anṣār prayed in the direction of Jerusalem for three pilgrimages (ḥajj seasons) before his arrival; and he prayed after his arrival for sixteen months, and after that Allah — exalted is His praise — turned him toward the Kaʿba.
* * *
Mention of the occasion for which those who said "What has turned them away from their prayer direction toward which they were facing?" said that.
* * *
The people of interpretation differed concerning this. From Ibn ʿAbbās two statements are related concerning this. One of them is what follows:
2162- Ibn Ḥumayd related it to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: A group of the Jews said that to the Prophet ﷺ; they said to him: Return to your prayer direction toward which you were facing, then we shall follow you and hold you to be truthful! They wished to put him to trial away from his religion.
And the other statement is what I have mentioned from the report of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa on his authority, which has passed before.
* * *
2163- Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "The foolish among the people will say: What has turned them away from their prayer direction toward which they were facing?" He said: The Anṣār prayed in the direction of Jerusalem for two years before the arrival of the Prophet ﷺ in Medina, and the Prophet of Allah ﷺ prayed after his arrival in Medina as an emigrant in the direction of Jerusalem for sixteen months; then Allah turned him after that toward the Kaʿba, the Sacred House. Then speakers among the people said concerning that: "What has turned them away from their prayer direction toward which they were facing? The man surely longs for his birthplace!" Then Allah — mighty and exalted is He — said: قُلْ لِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ ("Say: To Allah belong the east and the west; He guides whom He wills to a straight path").
* * *
And it was said: those who made this statement were the hypocrites. They said that only out of mockery of Islam.
* Mention of those who said that:
2164- Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: When the Prophet ﷺ was turned toward the direction of the Sacred Mosque, the people differed concerning it and became various factions. The hypocrites said: What is the matter with them, that they adhered to one prayer direction for a time and then abandoned it and turned toward another? Then Allah revealed concerning the hypocrites: سَيَقُولُ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَ النَّاسِ ("The foolish among the people will say"), the entire verse.
* * *
The explanation of the words of the Exalted: قُلْ لِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ (142) ("Say: To Allah belong the east and the west; He guides whom He wills to a straight path")
Abū Jaʿfar said: By that He means — mighty and exalted is He: Say, O Muḥammad — to these who said to you and your companions: What has turned you away from your prayer direction of Jerusalem, toward which you used to turn, toward turning in the direction of the Sacred Mosque? —: To Allah belongs the dominion over the east and the west — by that He means: the dominion over what lies between the two extremities of the place of sunrise and the two extremities of its place of sunset, and what is between them of the world — He guides whom He wills of His creatures, and aids him onto the right way and leads him successfully to the straight path, and that is "the straight path" (al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm) — and by that He means: toward the prayer direction of Ibrāhīm, whom He made a leader (imām) for the people — and He forsakes whom He wills of them, and leads him astray from the way of the truth.
* * *
By His saying — exalted is His praise — "He guides whom He wills to a straight path" He means only: Say, O Muḥammad: Truly, Allah has guided us through turning toward the direction of the Sacred Mosque, toward the prayer direction of Ibrāhīm, and He has led you astray — O Jews and hypocrites and company of those who ascribe partners to Allah (shirk) — and has forsaken you with respect to that toward which He has guided us.
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Footnotes:
(1) "He held the truth to be folly (safiha al-ḥaqq)": he was ignorant of it. See what has passed before concerning the meaning of "al-safah" 1: 293–294, and further this volume 3: 90.
(2) The report 2144: This is not a strong isnād, for al-Ṭabarī related it through an unknown person, on the authority of Aḥmad ibn Yūnus, and that is Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūnus al-Tamīmī. He is trustworthy (thiqa); the group [of traditionists] related from him, and he is sometimes attributed to his grandfather. He was born in the year 133 or 134 and died in the year 227. His biography is in al-Tahdhīb, and in al-Kabīr 1/2/6, and al-Ṣaghīr, p. 239, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/1/57, and Ibn Saʿd 6: 283. Zuhayr: that is Ibn Muʿāwiya Abū Khaythama al-Kūfī. Trustworthy, firmly established (thabt), well-known. And Abū Isḥāq: that is al-Sabīʿī, ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, the great and famous Follower (tābiʿī). Al-Barāʾ: that is Ibn ʿĀzib, the Companion (ṣaḥābī).
(3) See what has passed before concerning the meaning of "walī" 2: 162, and this volume 3: 115.
(4) See what he has said concerning that under "al-ḥikma" in this volume 3: 87.
(5) In the printed edition it reads: "since its meaning" with the omission of "that (dhālika)", whereas the sentence stands only with that word.
(6) See what has passed before in this volume 3: 111, note 1.
(7) The addition between brackets is from the Sīra of Ibn Hishām. Therein it reads: "wa-Kināna ibn al-Rabīʿ ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq."
(8) The report 2149: The text is what is in the Sīra of Ibn Hishām, 2: 198–199.
(9) The report 2150: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh: trustworthy, well-known, except that some errors were reckoned against him, because his memory weakened and changed when he grew old. He relates here the report — broken (munqaṭiʿ) — on the authority of al-Barāʾ, because he did not meet him. One of his listeners asked him, as Abū Kurayb conveys at the end of the report: "Does Abū Isḥāq occur in it?" — the questioner wished to ascertain from him: did he hear it from Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī on the authority of al-Barāʾ? But he kept silent and did not answer him. Had this stood by itself, the report would have been weak. But it is established from the report of Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī on the authority of al-Barāʾ, in the three following isnāds — the first of them is from the report of Ibn ʿAyyāsh himself — and from the rest of the sources of the report, as will follow.
(10) The report 2151: This is a weak isnād, owing to the weakness of Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ — the teacher of al-Ṭabarī. But it is strengthened by the following reports and others. Ibn Mājah related it (1010), on the authority of ʿAlqama ibn ʿAmr al-Dārimī, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ, more fully. Therein he mentioned that their prayer in the direction of Jerusalem lasted "eighteen months." ʿAlqama ibn ʿAmr al-Dārimī: trustworthy. Al-Būṣīrī said in the Zawāʾid of Ibn Mājah: "The report of al-Barāʾ is authentic (ṣaḥīḥ), and its relaters are trustworthy."
(11) The report 2152: This is a very authentic isnād. Yaḥyā: that is Ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān. Sufyān: that is al-Thawrī. The report is abridged. Thus al-Bukhārī (8: 132, Fatḥ al-Bārī) and Muslim (1: 148) related it — both via Yaḥyā, on the authority of Sufyān, with it, abridged.
(12) The report 2153: This is a detailed report. The isnād is very authentic. Imam Aḥmad related it in al-Musnad 4: 283 (Ḥalabī), on the authority of Ḥasan ibn Mūsā, on the authority of Zuhayr, that is Ibn Muʿāwiya, with this isnād in a similar manner, more fully than this. And Ibn Saʿd related it in al-Ṭabaqāt 1/2/5, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Mūsā, with this isnād. Likewise al-Bukhārī related it (1: 89–90), on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Khālid, on the authority of Zuhayr, with it. And he also related it (8: 130), on the authority of Abū Nuʿaym, on the authority of Zuhayr, somewhat abridged. Al-Bukhārī also related it (1: 421–422 and 13: 202), and Muslim (1: 148), through various paths, on the authority of al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib. The remainder of it will follow with this isnād: 2222.
(13) The report 2154: ʿImrān ibn Mūsā ibn Ḥayyān al-Qazzāz al-Laythī, the teacher of al-Ṭabarī: trustworthy. His biography is in al-Tahdhīb, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 3/1/305–306. ʿAbd al-Wārith: that is Ibn Saʿīd ibn Dhakwān, one of the eminent ones. Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd: that is al-Anṣārī, trustworthy, an authoritative proof (ḥujja), among the teachers of al-Zuhrī, Mālik, al-Thawrī and others. Ibn al-Musayyab: that is Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, the great Follower-imam; in the printed edition it reads "al-Musayyab", with the omission of "Ibn"! And that is an evident error of the copyists. This report is mursal (the Companion is absent from the chain), as has been clearly set forth. Thus Mālik also related it in al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, p. 196, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, mursal. Thus al-Shāfiʿī also related it on the authority of Mālik, in al-Risāla, in our edition, no. 366. Thus Ibn Saʿd also related it in al-Ṭabaqāt 1/2/4, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Hārūn, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd. Al-ʿUṭāridī transmitted it connected (mawṣūl) from the report of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ: al-Bayhaqī related it in al-Sunan al-Kubrā 2: 3, via Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-ʿUṭāridī: "Muḥammad ibn al-Fuḍayl related to us, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said: I heard Saʿd say…" — and he mentioned the report. Then al-Bayhaqī said: "Thus al-ʿUṭāridī related it on the authority of Ibn Fuḍayl. And Mālik, al-Thawrī and Ḥammād ibn Zayd related it on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyab, mursal, without mention of Saʿd." This is a good isnād, suitable as a good corroboration (mutābaʿa) for the mursal report. For concerning "Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-ʿUṭāridī" it has passed before at no. 66 that Abū Ḥātim said of him: "He is not strong." But whoever attentively considers his biography in al-Tahdhīb 1: 51–52 and Tārīkh Baghdād 4: 262–265, sees that deeming him trustworthy is the most justified, and that the criticism of him did not rest on clear evidence. Therefore al-Khaṭīb said: "Abū Kurayb was among the great teachers, the truthful upright ones, and Abū ʿUbayda al-Sarī ibn Yaḥyā was likewise an exalted teacher, trustworthy, of the generation of al-ʿUṭāridī. The one bore witness for him with [the fact of] hearing, and the other with uprightness. That indicates the good state of his affair and the permissibility of his report, since from no one else has a statement been established that requires the rejection of his report and the setting aside of his account." This is sufficient for the acceptance of his addition in this report, by transmitting it connected from the report of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab on the authority of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ.
(14) The report 2155: ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī: that is al-Fallās, his biography has passed before at no. 1989. Abū ʿĀṣim: that is al-Nabīl, and his name is "al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Makhlad", and he is a jurist (faqīh), trustworthy, a memorizer (ḥāfiẓ), among the teachers of Aḥmad, Isḥāq, Ibn al-Madīnī and other imams. His biography is in al-Tahdhīb, and al-Kabīr 2/2/337, and al-Ṣaghīr: 231, and Ibn Saʿd 7/2/49, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/1/463, and al-Jamʿ bayn rijāl al-Ṣaḥīḥayn 228–229. He was truly noble (nabīl), in attribute and in epithet. Al-Bukhārī said in al-Kabīr: "I heard Abū ʿĀṣim say: I have not spoken ill of anyone since I knew that backbiting (ghība) harms its practitioners." He was born in the year 122 and died in the year 212, when he was 90 years and 4 months old; his mother bore him when she was 12 years old — may Allah have mercy on them both. ʿUthmān ibn Saʿd al-Tamīmī al-Kātib al-Muʿallim: trustworthy; Abū Nuʿaym, al-Ḥākim and others deemed him trustworthy, while some criticized him without evidence. Some transmitted from al-Nasāʾī that he said: "He is not trustworthy", and al-Ḥāfiẓ transmitted that he saw in the handwriting of Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī: "The correct in the statement of al-Nasāʾī is: that he is not strong." And this is the correct concerning al-Nasāʾī, and that is what is in his book al-Ḍuʿafāʾ, p. 22. Ibn Abī Ḥātim gave his biography 3/1/153 and said: "He heard from Anas ibn Mālik." His hearing from Anas is established with us in another report in al-Musnad: 13201. Thus this isnād — in our view — is authentic. Al-Suyūṭī mentioned the report in al-Durr al-Manthūr 1: 143 and attributed it to al-Bazzār and Ibn Jarīr. Al-Haythamī mentioned it in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 2: 13 and said: "Al-Bazzār related it, and in it occurs ʿUthmān ibn Saʿd, who was deemed weak by Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, Ibn Maʿīn and Abū Zurʿa, and deemed trustworthy by Abū Nuʿaym al-Ḥāfiẓ, and Abū Ḥātim said: '[he is a] teacher (shaykh).'" Al-Haythamī also said: "The report of Anas is in the Ṣaḥīḥ, except that he placed it in the morning prayer (ṣubḥ), and here: in the noon prayer (ẓuhr)." By that he indicates that its origin is in the Ṣaḥīḥ, and that is the report in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1: 148, from the report of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of Thābit, on the authority of Anas, in a similar manner, and therein it reads: "A man of the Banū Salima passed by, while they were in bowing in the morning prayer (fajr), and called out: Truly, the prayer direction has been turned! Then they turned, as they were, toward the direction of the prayer direction." Thus Ibn Saʿd also related it 1/2/4, via Ḥammād ibn Salama. It is clear that this is a different story from the one that al-Ṭabarī relates here. For [the story] here is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is the one who turned with his face toward the Kaʿba; this is the first [moment of] the turning of the prayer direction. The report of Muslim, on the other hand, concerns another group, in the mosque of Qubāʾ, to whom there came a bearer of news who informed them, while they were in the prayer, of the turning of the prayer direction, whereupon they turned themselves toward it — as is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and other [works], from the report of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar. And it is in al-Musnad: 4642, 4794, 5934, 5827.
(15) The report 2156: Abū Dāwūd: that is al-Ṭayālisī, the imam, the memorizer, and his name is "Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd ibn al-Jārūd". His biography is in al-Tahdhīb, and al-Kabīr 2/2/11, and Ibn Saʿd 7/2/51, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/1/111–113. He died in the year 203, when he had not yet completed 92 years, as Ibn Saʿd said. Al-Masʿūdī: that is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, and he is trustworthy; his memory changed at the end of his life. His biography is in al-Tahdhīb, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/2/250–252. We have given him a biography repeatedly in the commentary on al-Musnad, most recently in the report: 7105. Ibn Abī Laylā: that is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the famous Follower. But he did not hear from Muʿādh ibn Jabal, as ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Khuzayma have firmly established, because he was born in the year of Muʿādh's death, or [shortly] before it, or [shortly] after it. Thus this isnād is broken (munqaṭiʿ). The report with this isnād, abridged, was related by Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī in his Musnad: 566, with the wording: "That the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Medina and prayed for seventeen months in the direction of Jerusalem; then this verse was revealed to him: 'We have seen your face turning about toward the heaven', up to the end of the verse. He said: Then Allah turned him toward the Kaʿba." It is part of a long report, which Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī related in his Sunan: 507, with two isnāds: on the authority of Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā — the teacher of al-Ṭabarī here — on the authority of Abū Dāwūd, that is al-Ṭayālisī — and then he related it on the authority of Naṣr ibn al-Muhājir, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Hārūn, both on the authority of al-Masʿūdī. But Abū Dāwūd set forth that the report of Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā is abridged, like the report in the Musnad of al-Ṭayālisī, except that he mentioned that their prayer in the direction of Jerusalem lasted "thirteen months", like the report of al-Ṭabarī here on the authority of Ibn al-Muthannā. And I deem it most likely that the report of Ibn al-Muthannā on the authority of al-Ṭayālisī is more reliable than the report in the Musnad of al-Ṭayālisī, since the latter was not compiled by himself, but by one of the relaters on his authority. Furthermore, Aḥmad related the report of Muʿādh — in its entirety — in al-Musnad 5: 246–247, on the authority of Abū al-Naḍr Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Hārūn — both on the authority of al-Masʿūdī, with this isnād. But therein it reads "seventeen months", like the report in the Musnad of al-Ṭayālisī. Al-Ḥāfiẓ in al-Fatḥ 1: 89–90 pointed to many reports concerning that, and attempted to reconcile them with one another or to determine a [preference]. In my view such a thing can only be precisely established if they had written it down at the time, or if their dedication had been directed toward memorizing it. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr said (1: 345–346): "The upshot is that the facing toward Jerusalem [occurred] after the arrival of the Prophet ﷺ in Medina. The matter remained so for some ten months, and he supplicated and prayed abundantly to be turned toward the Kaʿba, which is the prayer direction of Ibrāhīm — peace be upon him. Thereupon his [supplication] was answered and he was commanded to turn toward the Ancient House." See also the Tārīkh of Ibn Kathīr 3: 252–254.
(16) The report 2160: It has passed before under no. 1833, and will follow under no. 2236; and the addition between brackets is from both passages.
(17) The report 2162: It is part of the previously passed report no. 2149.
(18) That is, the report no. 2160.
(19) See the explanation of "the east and the west (al-mashriq wa-l-maghrib)" in what has passed before, 2: 526–530.
(20) See the explanation of "guidance (hudā)" in what has passed before, 1: 166–169, and in the linguistic index in the first and second volumes.
(21) See the explanation of "the straight path (al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm)" in what has passed before, 1: 170–177.
