Answer to the first:
I say: al-Bukhārī deferred this ḥadīth because he only cited it as corroboration. It is narrated by Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, that is, Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm al-Tustarī Abū Saʿīd al-Baṣrī, a trustworthy transmitter whose narrations are taken by all the canonical compilers. Criticism, however, has been levelled specifically at his reports from Qatādah. Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān said: “Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm’s narrations from Qatādah are not of that level.” Abū Aḥmad ibn ʿAdī said: “Yazīd’s ḥadīths from all his shaykhs are sound; only a few narrations from Qatādah from Anas have been found objectionable.”
I say: al-Bukhārī has not narrated from him except three ḥadīths. The first is this one, brought merely as corroboration, as we have mentioned. The second is his ḥadīth on the prostration of forgetfulness, from Ibn Sīrīn, from Abū Hurayrah, concerning the story of Dhū ’l-Yadayn, likewise cited as corroboration. The third is his ḥadīth in the Tafsīr of Āl ʿImrān, from Ibn Abī Mulaykah, from al-Qāsim, from ʿĀʾishah, which al-Bukhārī relied upon. The variations in this last ḥadīth were scrutinised by Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in the introduction to Fatḥ al-Bārī.
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said: “Abū Muḥammad Ibn Ḥazm in al-Muḥallā made a manifest and grievous error: he distinguished between Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm al-Tustarī, describing him as trustworthy and reliable, and ‘Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm’, the narrator from Qatādah, declaring him weak. Such a distinction is untenable.”
Answer to the second:
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated the ḥadīth of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah in a connected form in the Musnad. He said: Ḥaddathanā ʿAbd al-Wahhāb from Saʿīd from Qatādah from Anas that the Prophet, ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, said: “Phlegm in the mosque is a misdeed, and its expiation is to bury it.”
I say: The ʿAbd al-Wahhāb who narrates from Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah is ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAṭāʾ al-Khaffāf Abū Naṣr al-ʿIjlī; he is not upon al-Bukhārī’s condition, and Muslim likewise did not cite him through Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah. Both Imām al-Bukhārī and Imām Muslim, therefore, agreed to omit this path.
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar nevertheless brought it in a connected form from various routes, in which occur the words: “When one of you is in prayer he is conversing privately with his Lord, so let none of you spit to his right.” In another wording: “Not in front of him nor to his right, but to his left or beneath his feet.” In yet another: “Nor before his face.”
Answer to the third:
He produced the ḥadīth of Ḥumayd in a connected form in Kitāb al-Wuḍūʾ, Bāb al-Buzāq wa’l-Mukhāṭ wa-Naḥwihi fī ’l-Thawb: “Ḥaddathanā Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf; he said: Ḥaddathanā Sufyān from Ḥumayd from Anas who said: The Prophet, ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, spat in his garment.”
Ibn Abī Maryam lengthened it: “Akhbaranā Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb; he said: Ḥaddathanī Ḥumayd who said: I heard Anas from the Prophet, ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam.”
I say: In neither wording is there mention of private communion; al-Bukhārī merely included it as corroboration, because it explicitly states that Ḥumayd heard from Anas, thereby removing any suspicion of tadlīs.
He also narrated it in Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Bāb Ḥakk al-Buzāq bi’l-Yad min al-Masjid: “Ḥaddathanā Qutaybah; he said: Ḥaddathanā Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar from Ḥumayd from Anas: The Prophet, ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, saw phlegm on the qiblah wall; this burdened him so that it was visible on his face. He arose and scraped it with his own hand, then said, ‘When one of you stands in his prayer, he is conversing privately with his Lord, or his Lord is between him and the qiblah, so none of you must spit towards his qiblah, but to his left or beneath his feet.’ Then he took the edge of his cloak, spat therein, folded part of it over the other, and said, ‘Or do something of this sort.’”
I say: This version contains the wording “he scraped it with his hand”, which most aptly fits the chapter heading.
He narrated it again in Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Bāb Idhā Badarahū ’l-Buzāq Falyakhud Biṭarafi Thawbih: “Ḥaddathanā Mālik ibn Ismāʿīl; he said: Ḥaddathanā Zuhayr; he said: Ḥaddathanā Ḥumayd from Anas: The Prophet, ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, saw phlegm on the qiblah wall, scraped it with his hand; his displeasure or the severity of it was visible upon him. He said, ‘When one of you stands in his prayer, he is only conversing with his Lord, or his Lord is between him and the qiblah, so let him not spit towards his qiblah, but to his left or beneath his foot.’ Then he took the edge of his cloak, spat therein, folded part of it over the other, and said, ‘Or he should do thus.’”
I say: al-Bukhārī sufficed with this report in this chapter. Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar explained how the ḥadīth points to the chapter heading, saying: “He alluded to what appears in some routes of this narration—namely that which Muslim transmits from Jābir: ‘Let him spit to his left or beneath his left foot; if a sudden need overtakes him, then let him do so in his garment thus, and fold part of it over the other.’ Ibn Abī Shaybah and Abū Dāwūd transmit a similar report from Abū Saʿīd, and Abū Dāwūd explicitly explains that he should spit in his garment and fold it over. Both ḥadīths are ṣaḥīḥ, but they do not meet al-Bukhārī’s stringent condition; hence he hinted at them by interpreting narrations that lack detail in the light of those that contain it.”
Thus the ḥadīth of Ḥumayd is more suited to the earlier chapters, yet al-Bukhārī brought it here in suspended form as corroboration of the ḥadīth of Qatādah and to clarify certain distinctions.
Answer to the fourth:
He produced the ḥadīth of Shuʿbah in a connected form in Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Bāb Lā Yabsuqu ʿAn Yamīnihī fī ’l-Ṣalāh: “Ḥaddathanā Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar; he said: Ḥaddathanā Shuʿbah; he said: Akhbaranī Qatādah; he said: I heard Anas who said: The Prophet, ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, said: ‘Let none of you spit before him nor to his right, but to his left or beneath his foot.’”
I say: This text contains no mention of private communion; hence it does not match the present chapter heading.
He likewise narrated it in Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Bāb Liyabsuq ʿAn Yasārihī Aw Taḥt Qadamihī ’l-Yusrā: “Ḥaddathanā Ādam; he said: Ḥaddathanā Shuʿbah; he said: Ḥaddathanā Qatādah; he said: I heard Anas ibn Mālik who said: The Prophet, ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, said: ‘When the believer is in prayer, he is conversing privately with his Lord; let him not spit before him nor to his right, but to his left or beneath his foot.’”
I say: This chapter heading does not accord with the wording of Hishām from Qatādah, for that version lacks “to his left”; accordingly al-Bukhārī cited in that place the ḥadīth of Shuʿbah, not that of Hishām.
He cited it yet again in Kitāb al-ʿAmal fī ’l-Ṣalāh, Bāb Mā Yajūzu Min al-Buzāq wa ’l-Nafkh fī ’l-Ṣalāh: “Ḥaddathanā Muḥammad; Ḥaddathanā Ghundar; Ḥaddathanā Shuʿbah; he said: Samiʿtu Qatādah from Anas, raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu, from the Prophet, ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, who said: ‘When he is in prayer, he is conversing privately with his Lord; therefore let him not spit before him nor to his right, but to his left, beneath his left foot.’”
I say: The ḥadīth of Shuʿbah fits the wording of this chapter best: Hishām says, “Let him not spit,” whereas Shuʿbah says, “Let him not expectorate.”
Note:
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said in Fatḥ al-Bārī, Bāb al-Muṣallī Yunājī Rabbahu: “The narration of Shuʿbah is the most complete of the narrations, but it does not contain mention of private communion.”
I say: The ḥāfiẓ was correct in stating, “The narration of Shuʿbah is the most complete,” yet he erred in saying, “but it does not contain mention of private communion,” for in two of its places the wording “he is conversing privately” does appear, as has become evident from the takhrīj.