English Translation

Abu Abdullah al-Hafiz informed us, Abu Amr ibn Matar informed us, Yahya ibn Muhammad narrated to us, Ubaydullah ibn Mu'adh narrated to us, my father narrated to us, Shu'bah narrated to us from Husayn from al-Haytham from Abdullah — he is Ibn Mas'ud — who said: I would rather sit on a burning coal or two than sit cross-legged in prayer. Al-Shafi'i carried this in the book of Ali and Abdullah as an absolute statement and said: It is disliked what Ibn Mas'ud dislikes of a man sitting cross-legged in prayer, while they — meaning the Iraqis — disagree with Ibn Mas'ud and say: The standing position of the seated prayer is cross-legged. Then in the book of al-Buwayti he said: He sits in the standing position cross-legged, or however he is able. It seems he understood it as specific or adopted it based on some of what was mentioned previously. And Allah knows best.