Sunan Abi Dawud 860
سنن أبي داود#860Hasanحَدَّثَنَا مُؤَمَّلُ بْنُ هِشَامٍ، حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إِسْحَاقَ، حَدَّثَنِي عَلِيُّ بْنُ يَحْيَى بْنِ خَلاَّدِ بْنِ رَافِعٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عَمِّهِ، رِفَاعَةَ بْنِ رَافِعٍ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم بِهَذِهِ الْقِصَّةِ قَالَ " إِذَا أَنْتَ قُمْتَ فِي صَلاَتِكَ فَكَبِّرِ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى ثُمَّ اقْرَأْ مَا تَيَسَّرَ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ " . وَقَالَ فِيهِ " فَإِذَا جَلَسْتَ فِي وَسَطِ الصَّلاَةِ فَاطْمَئِنَّ وَافْتَرِشْ فَخِذَكَ الْيُسْرَى ثُمَّ تَشَهَّدْ ثُمَّ إِذَا قُمْتَ فَمِثْلَ ذَلِكَ حَتَّى تَفْرُغَ مِنْ صَلاَتِكَ " .
This tradition has also been transmitted by Rifa’ah b Rafi through a different chain of narrators. This version has :When you get up to pray, say the takbir, exalting Allah; then recite the Qur’an as much as it is convenient for you. The version adds: When you sit in the middle of the prayer, do it completely(so that you are at rest) and spread your left thigh; then recite the tashahhud. Then if you get up (again), do in a similar way until you finish your prayer
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave — 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. Each scholar's own wording:
In-book reference: 2:470