placing one of his legs upon the other(1).

This is a good and authentic hadith.

The uncle of ʿAbbād ibn Tamīm is ʿAbdullāh ibn Zayd ibn ʿĀṣim al-Māzinī.

54 - Chapter: What has been reported concerning disapproval of that

2971 - ʿUbayd ibn Asbāṭ ibn Muḥammad al-Qurashī narrated to us, saying: My father narrated to us, saying: Sulaymān al-Taymī narrated to us, from Khidāsh, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "When one of you lies down on his back, placing one of his legs upon the other..."

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(1) Its chain of transmission is authentic, and it was recorded by al-Bukhārī (475), Muslim (2100), Abū Dāwūd (4866), and al-Nasāʾī 2/50. It is also found in al-Musnad (16430) and Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (5552).

This hadith is contradicted by the hadith of Jābir that follows it, and a reconciliation between them is made by what al-Khaṭṭābī mentioned — as transmitted from him by al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in al-Fatḥ 1/563 — namely, that the prohibition reported concerning that is abrogated, or the prohibition is understood where there is fear that the private parts may become exposed, while permissibility applies where one is secure from that.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: The apparent meaning is that his action, peace and blessings be upon him, was to demonstrate permissibility, and that was at a time of rest, not in the presence of a gathering of people, given what is known of his habit of sitting among them with complete dignity, peace and blessings be upon him.

Al-Sindī said in his gloss on al-Musnad: His statement "placing one of his legs upon the other" indicates that what has come concerning the prohibition of that is not absolute, but rather is specific to when one fears exposure thereby; otherwise, there is no harm in it.