The two of them entered upon Abdullah bin Masud, and he asked, "Have those behind you prayed?"They replied, "Yes."So he stood between them, placing one on his right and the other on his left, then we bowed and placed our hands on our knees. He struck our hands, then joined his palms together and placed them between his thighs. When he had finished praying, he said, "This is how the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did it."
أنهما دخلا على عبد الله بن مسعود فقال: أصلى من خلفكم؟ قالا: نعم. فقام بينهما وجعل أحدهما عن يمينه، والآخر عن شماله، ثم ركعنا. فوضعنا أيدينا على ركبنا فضرب أيدينا. ثم طبق بين يديه، ثم جعلهما بين فخذيه، فلما صلى قال: هكذا فعل رسول الله ﷺ.
Muslim narrated it in "The Mosques" (28/534), through the route of Mansur, from Ibrahim, from Alqama and Aswad, in this manner. Ibn Masud's statement, "This is how the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did it," suggests that it carries the ruling of a raised report (marfu), but some scholars held that only the part about placing one hand over the other (in this arrangement) is what is marfu, and that it was later abrogated.Nawawi said in al-Khulasa (2510), "What is established in Sahih Muslim and elsewhere is that Ibn Masud did that himself. He did not say, 'This is how the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to do it.'" For this reason, most scholars did not accept Ibn Masud's practice as a basis for ruling. Rather, they said that when an imam leads two men in prayer, he should stand ahead of them. They also said that even if the report attributed to the Prophet ﷺ through Ibn Masud's hadith is proven sound, it is possible that he did that once or twice due to lack of space, or that it was abrogated by stronger hadiths.Baghawi said, "The view of most scholars is that when an imam leads two men in prayer, he stands ahead of them. It is reported that Ibn Masud led Alqama and Aswad in prayer, placing one of them on his right and the other on his left, and he attributed this practice to the Prophet ﷺ." End of quote. See "Sharh al-Sunnah" (2/389).Some scholars interpreted Ibn Masud's hadith as referring to something the Prophet ﷺ may have done only once due to lack of space, or they explained it as abrogated. See "Sunan al-Kubra" (3/98).As for what Tirmidhi (233) narrated from the hadith of Samura bin Jundab, who said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded us that when we were three, one of us should stand ahead," this is daif. Tirmidhi narrated it through the route of Ismail bin Muslim, from Hasan, from Samura bin Jundab, who mentioned something similar. Tirmidhi said, "Hasan gharib." I say, rather it is daif, for scholars have criticized Ismail bin Muslim Makki, Abu Ishaq, and Ibn Main, Abu Zura, Abu Hatim, Nasai, and others declared him daif.