Sunan Abi Dawud

Sunan Abi Dawud 596

Arabic hadith text

حَدَّثَنَا مُسْلِمُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبَانُ، عَنْ بُدَيْلٍ، حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو عَطِيَّةَ، مَوْلًى مِنَّا قَالَ كَانَ مَالِكُ بْنُ حُوَيْرِثٍ يَأْتِينَا إِلَى مُصَلاَّنَا هَذَا فَأُقِيمَتِ الصَّلاَةُ فَقُلْنَا لَهُ تَقَدَّمْ فَصَلِّهْ ‏.‏ فَقَالَ لَنَا قَدِّمُوا رَجُلاً مِنْكُمْ يُصَلِّي بِكُمْ وَسَأُحَدِّثُكُمْ لِمَ لاَ أُصَلِّي بِكُمْ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ‏"‏ مَنْ زَارَ قَوْمًا فَلاَ يَؤُمَّهُمْ وَلْيَؤُمَّهُمْ رَجُلٌ مِنْهُمْ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Translation

Muslim ibn Ibrahim narrated to us: Aban narrated to us, from Budayl, who narrated to me: Abu ʿAtiyyah, a freedman of ours, said: Malik ibn al-Huwayrith used to come to this prayer place of ours. When the prayer was established, we said to him: ‘Go forward and lead us in prayer.’ He replied: ‘Put one of your own men forward to lead you, and I will tell you why I am not leading you: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say, “Whoever visits a people should not lead them in prayer; rather, a man from among them should lead them.”’