Abu 'Abd Allah. Ibn Rahwayh says: If a man omits the prayer upon the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in the tashahhud, his prayer is invalidated. He [Ahmad] said: I would not dare to say this. And he said in another place: This is an anomaly (shudhudh). This indicates that he did not make it obligatory. This is the view of Malik, Al-Thawri, the People of Opinion (Ahl al-Ra'y), and the majority of scholars. Ibn al-Mundhir said: It is the view of the totality of scholars, except for Al-Shafi'i. Ishaq used to say: It does not suffice him if he leaves it intentionally. Ibn al-Mundhir said: I hold the first view, because I do not find the evidence present for making it obligatory to repeat it. They argued with the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud: That the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) taught him the tashahhud, then said: "If you have said this — or concluded this — your prayer is completed." In another wording: "You have finished your prayer; if you wish to stand, then stand, and if you wish to sit, then sit." Narrated by Abu Dawud. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said: "If one of you performs the tashahhud, let him seek refuge in Allah from four [things]." Narrated by Muslim. He commanded seeking refuge immediately following the tashahhud without separation. Furthermore, the Companions used to say something in the tashahhud, then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) diverted them from that to the tashahhud alone, which indicates that nothing else is obligatory. Moreover, obligation is derived from the Shari'ah, and it has not been transmitted [as being required]. The manifest position of the madhhab of Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, is its obligation; for Abu Zur'ah al-Dimashqi transmitted from Ahmad that he said: I used to be apprehensive about that, then it became clear to me, and indeed the prayer is obligatory. The manifest implication of this is that he retracted his first statement in favor of this one, based on what Ka'b ibn 'Ujrah narrated, saying: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came out to us, and we said:
(1) In M: "Jumul". Jumul, like suhuf: the group among us. (2) The hadith of Ibn Mas'ud was previously cited on page 221. (3) In: Chapter on the Tashahhud, from the Book of Prayer. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/222. (4) In: Chapter on what one should seek refuge from in prayer, from the Book of Prayer. Sahih Muslim 1/412. It was also recorded by Al-Nasa'i, in: Chapter on another type of seeking refuge in prayer, from the Book of Forgetfulness. Al-Mujtaba 3/49. And Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad 2/477. (5) In M: "He commanded us". (6) Abu Zur'ah 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Amr ibn Safwan al-Basri al-Dimashqi, a hafiz and scholar of hadith and the narrators. He heard saturated and firm issues from Imam Ahmad, and he died in the year two hundred and eighty. Tabaqat al-Hanabilah 1/205, 206.
