Ahmad 6128

Its chain of transmission is sahih. It is a longer version of 4468, see also 4793 and 5841.His saying, "he turns the camel sideways" (with a doubled ra), means he places it crosswise. "The back part of the saddle" was explained earlier at 1388, quoting from al-Nihaya. Here we add the words of al-Hafiz in Fath al-Bari 1:479, that the first letter takes damma, followed by a silent hamza. As for the kha, Abu Ubayd stated definitively that it takes kasra, though he also allowed fatha. Ibn Qutayba rejected the fatha. Ibn Makki held the opposite view, saying, "Muqaddam and muakhkhar are not said with kasra except specifically in relation to the ayn, but otherwise they are said only with fatha." Some transmitted it with fatha on the hamza and a doubled kha. What is meant by it is the piece of wood at the back of the saddle that the rider leans against.This hadith was narrated by Bukhari at 1:479 in a longer form, through the narration of Mutamir from Ubaydullah, as we noted at 4468. The wording of his narration is,From Ibn Umar, from the Prophet ﷺ, that he used to set his mount crosswise and pray facing it. I said, "What do you think if the mounts became restless?" He said, "He would take the saddle and set it upright, then pray facing its rear," or he said, "its back part." And Ibn Umar used to do that.Al-Hafiz said, regarding the statement "I said, what do you think" and so on, "Its apparent meaning is that it is the speech of Nafi, and the one being asked is Ibn Umar. But Ismaili made clear, through the route of Ubayda bin Humayd from Ubaydullah bin Umar, that it is the speech of Ubaydullah, and the one being asked is Nafi. On this basis, it has a broken chain, because the one who performs 'he would take' is the Prophet ﷺ, whom Nafi did not meet."The narration of Ubayda bin Humayd is the narration found in the Musnad here, but it is abridged compared to Bukhari's narration, since it confines itself to Ibn Umar's own action alone, without mentioning that it was also the Prophet's action ﷺ and that Ibn Umar used to do it, as Bukhari's narration does.So the totality of the narrations indicates that Ubaydullah asked Nafi, and that Nafi answered him by saying that the Prophet ﷺ used to do that, and that Ibn Umar used to do it as well. So the report stopped at Ibn Umar's own action has a connected chain, while the report attributed to the Prophet apparently has a break in its chain, as al-Hafiz held. But I think the context indicates that Nafi narrated all of it from Ibn Umar, both the Prophet's action ﷺ and then Ibn Umar's action.