0021-1818_islam_98-1-2-i-259

166 Daniella Talmon-Heller, Raquel Ukeles
present knowing all that, is also breaching the rights of the endower. But if he attends
to make a difference, and is capable of it, that is well and good. […]
And if anyone claims that [a hadith on the Prophet’s authority] had been
transmitted in support of this prayer, one that Abu 0amid al-Ghazal\ mentioned
in his Ihya#, the answer is that what we have said pertains to its performance in
mosques and in public, and the inappropriate things that come along with it, as
listed previously. But the man who performs it on his own, and prays it privately,
as [he would pray] other supererogatory prayers, may do so. However, considering
it a sunna that must always be performed is reprehensible, because the
^ulama# have indeed permitted acting according to those hadiths transmitted in
praise of good works on the authority of a weak chain of transmission, so long as
it is not performed on a permanent basis. 98
98 Ibn al-0ajj, al-Madkhal, Cairo 1929, 1: 210, 292–294.