did the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) respond to them when they greeted him while he was praying? He said: He would do this, and he spread his palm, and Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn spread his palm, placing its underside downward and its back upward. It was recorded by Abū Dāwūd (927) with a good chain of transmission and by the rest of the authors of the sunan. Al-Tirmidhī said (2/204): "A ḥadīth that is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ." There is another route for it in the Musnad (2/30) and elsewhere from Ibn ʿUmar. Its chain is authentic according to the criteria of al-Shaykhayn. Imāms Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh adhered to the ḥadīth, as al-Marwazī said in "al-Masāʾil" (p. 22): "I said (meaning to Aḥmad): Should one greet people while they are praying? He said: Yes, and he mentioned the story of Bilāl when Ibn ʿUmar asked him how he would respond. He said: He would gesture. Isḥāq said: As he said." Some of the verified scholars of the Mālikī school chose this, as Qāḍī Abū Bakr ibn al-ʿArabī said in "al-ʿĀriḍah" (2/162): "Gesturing in prayer to respond to greetings may occur for something that happens during the prayer, and it may be for a need that arises for the one praying. If it is to respond to greetings, then there are authentic reports about it, like the action of the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) in Qubāʾ and elsewhere. I was in the gathering of al-Ṭurṭūshī, and we discussed the issue, mentioned the ḥadīth, and used it as evidence. A layman at the end of the circle stood up and said: Perhaps he was responding to them as a prohibition so they would not distract him! We were amazed by his understanding! Then I saw after that that the narrator's understanding that it was to respond to greetings is definitive in the matter, as we have clarified in the principles of jurisprudence."