Muwatta Malik 543
موطأ مالك#543SahihThese are the words of a Companion, not of the Prophet ﷺ. The chain is graded on its own terms.
حَدَّثَنِي يَحْيَى، عَنْ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّهُ بَلَغَهُ أَنَّ عُثْمَانَ بْنَ عَفَّانَ، وَعَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ عُمَرَ، وَأَبَا، هُرَيْرَةَ كَانُوا يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى الْجَنَائِزِ بِالْمَدِينَةِ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ فَيَجْعَلُونَ الرِّجَالَ مِمَّا يَلِي الإِمَامَ وَالنِّسَاءَ مِمَّا يَلِي الْقِبْلَةَ .
Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Uthman ibn Affan and Abdullah ibn Umar and Abu Hurayra used to pray over the dead, both men and women, in Madina. They would put the men nearer to the imam and the women nearer to the qibla
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: 16:24