Abu Malik al-Ash‘ari said:I must tell you how God’s Messenger conducted prayer. He said that he had the iqama announced, drew the men up in line and drew up the youths behind them, then led them in prayer (mentioning how he conducted it), then said,“Thus is the prayer of. . ,”* ‘Abd al-A‘la said: I think he must have said“my people.”* The wording of the tradition is incomplete. ‘Abd al-A‘la who appears at a later stage in the isnad supplies what he considers the missing word must have been. Abu Dawud transmitted it.