Sunan Abi Dawud 61

سنن أبي داود#61Sahih

حَدَّثَنَا عُثْمَانُ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَقِيلٍ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ ابْنِ الْحَنَفِيَّةِ، عَنْ عَلِيٍّ، رضى الله عنه قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ مِفْتَاحُ الصَّلاَةِ الطُّهُورُ وَتَحْرِيمُهَا التَّكْبِيرُ وَتَحْلِيلُهَا التَّسْلِيمُ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib: The key to prayer is purification; its beginning is takbir and its end is taslim

Scholarly Authentication

The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave, each scholar counted once — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. When they judged only its chain of narrators (“Isnaad”), the label says “Sound chain”. Each scholar's own wording:

Al-AlbaniHasan Sahih
Zubair Ali ZaiHasan

Our source also lists this ruling under Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid, the editor of the printed edition it was taken from. It is al-Albani's ruling printed again, so it is counted once.

In-book reference: 1:61