the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) prayed, and when he finished, he said to me... and mentioned it. I said: O Messenger of Allāh! Is it appropriate for anyone to pray beside you while you are the Messenger of Allāh whom Allāh has blessed? He was pleased and prayed to Allāh to increase me in knowledge and understanding. Aḥmad added: "He said: Then I saw the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) sleep until I heard him snoring. Then Bilāl came to him and said: O Messenger of Allāh! The prayer. So he got up and prayed without renewing his ablution." Al-Ḥākim said: "Authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs." Al-Dhahabī agreed with him, and it is as they said. Al-Haythamī said (9/284): "Narrated by Aḥmad, and its men are the men of the authentic [collections]." The last part of the supplication for him has been narrated through other chains more completely, and it was mentioned before this ḥadīth. In it, there is an important juristic benefit that may not be found in many fiqh books; rather, some contain what contradicts it. It is that the sunnah is for the one praying with the imam to stand to his right and beside him, neither ahead of him nor behind him. This is contrary to what is in some schools of thought, which suggest that one should stand slightly behind the imam so that his toes are in line with the imam's heels, or similar. As you can see, this contradicts this authentic ḥadīth, and some of the predecessors acted upon it. Imām Mālik narrated in "al-Muwaṭṭaʾ" (1/154) from Nāfiʿ that he said: "I stood behind ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar in one of the prayers, and there was no one else with him. ʿAbd Allāh gestured with his hand and made me stand beside him." Then he narrated (1/169-170) from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah that he said: I entered upon ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb at midday and found him praying. I stood behind him, and he brought me close until he made me stand beside him on his right. When (Yarfāʾ) came, I stepped back, and we formed a row behind him