Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat)

In this version, Muhammad ibn Zayd reports from Umm Salamah that she asked the Prophet (ﷺ): ‘May a woman pray in a long garment and a head covering without a lower wrap?’ He replied: ‘If the garment is long enough to cover the tops of her feet.’

Abu Dawud said: Malik ibn Anas, Bakr ibn Mudar, Hafs ibn Ghiyath, Ismaʿil ibn Jaʿfar, Ibn Abi Dhi’b, and Ibn Ishaq all transmitted it from Muhammad ibn Zayd, from his mother, from Umm Salamah, without mentioning the Prophet (ﷺ). They attributed it only to Umm Salamah.

ʿA’ishah reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘Allah does not accept the prayer of a woman who has reached puberty unless she wears a head covering.’ Abu Dawud said: Saʿid, meaning Ibn Abi ʿArubah, transmitted it from Qatadah, from al-Hasan, from the Prophet (ﷺ).

Muhammad reported that ʿA’ishah stayed with Safiyyah, the mother of Talhah al-Talhat, and saw her daughters. ʿA’ishah said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came in while a young girl was in my room. He gave me his waist wrap and said: ‘Tear it into two pieces. Give one half to this girl and the other half to the girl who is with Umm Salamah, for I think she has begun menstruating—or I think both of them have.’ Abu Dawud said: Hisham also transmitted it from Ibn Sirin in the same way.

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade letting a garment hang loosely during prayer and a man covering his mouth. Abu Dawud said: ʿIsl also transmitted it from ʿAta’, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade letting a garment hang loosely during prayer.

Ibn Jurayj said: I most often saw ʿAta’ praying with his garment hanging loosely. Abu Dawud said: This weakens that hadith.

ʿA’ishah said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would not pray in our haircloths—or our quilts. ʿUbaydullah said: My father was uncertain which wording he used.

Saʿid ibn Abi Saʿid al-Maqburi reported from his father that he saw Abu Rafiʿ, the Prophet’s freedman, pass by al-Hasan ibn ʿAli while he was praying standing with his hair tied at the nape. Abu Rafiʿ loosened it. Al-Hasan turned toward him angrily, but Abu Rafiʿ said: ‘Turn your attention to your prayer and do not be angry. I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: “That is the devil’s seat”—meaning the place where the hair is tied.’

Kurayb, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbas, reported that ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbbas saw ʿAbdullah ibn al-Harith praying with his hair tied at the back of his head. Ibn ʿAbbas stood behind him and began to loosen it, and the other man allowed him. When he finished, he turned to Ibn ʿAbbas and said: ‘What have you against my head?’ Ibn ʿAbbas replied: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: “The example of this is like that of someone praying with his hands bound.”’

ʿAbdullah ibn al-Sa’ib said: I saw the Prophet (ﷺ) praying on the day of the Conquest, with his sandals placed to his left.

ʿAbdullah ibn al-Sa’ib said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) led us in the dawn prayer in Mecca and began reciting Surah al-Mu’minun. When he reached the passage mentioning Moses and Aaron—or Moses and Jesus; Ibn ʿAbbad was unsure, or the transmitters differed—the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) began coughing and cut the recitation short, then bowed. ʿAbdullah ibn al-Sa’ib was present.

Abu Saʿid al-Khudri said: While the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was leading his Companions in prayer, he took off his sandals and placed them to his left. When the people saw this, they took off their sandals too. After finishing the prayer, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) asked: ‘What made you take off your sandals?’ They replied: ‘We saw you take yours off, so we took ours off.’ He said: ‘Gabriel came to me and told me there was filth in them.’ He also said: ‘When one of you comes to the mosque, let him inspect his sandals. If he finds filth or something harmful on them, let him wipe it off and pray in them.’

Musa, meaning Ibn Ismaʿil, reported from Aban, from Qatadah, from Bakr ibn ʿAbdullah, from the Prophet (ﷺ), this same report with the wording: ‘There was impurity in them.’ He said: In both places the word was ‘impurity.’

Shaddad ibn Aws reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Differ from the Jews, for they do not pray in their sandals or their leather socks.’

ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb reported from his father, from his grandfather: I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) praying barefoot and wearing sandals.

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘When one of you prays, he should not place his sandals to his right or left so that they end up to the right of someone else, unless there is no one to his left. He should place them between his feet.’

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘When one of you prays and takes off his sandals, he should not harm anyone with them. He should place them between his feet or pray wearing them.’

Maymunah bint al-Harith said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to pray with me beside him while I was menstruating. Sometimes his garment touched me when he prostrated. He used to pray on a small mat.

Anas ibn Malik reported: A man from the Ansar said: ‘Messenger of Allah, I am a large man, and I cannot pray with you.’ He was indeed large. He prepared food and invited the Prophet (ﷺ) to his house, saying: ‘Pray so I can see how you pray and follow you.’ They sprinkled water on one end of a mat they had. The Prophet (ﷺ) stood and prayed two rakʿahs. So-and-so ibn al-Jarud asked Anas ibn Malik: ‘Did he used to pray the forenoon prayer?’ He replied: ‘I did not see him pray it except on that day.’

Anas ibn Malik reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) used to visit Umm Sulaym. Sometimes the time for prayer would come while he was there, and he would pray on a mat of ours. We sprinkled it with water.

ʿUbaydullah ibn ʿUmar ibn Maysarah and ʿUthman ibn Abi Shaybah—both giving the same chain and report—transmitted from Abu Ahmad al-Zubayri, from Yunus ibn al-Harith, from Abu ʿAwn, from his father, from al-Mughirah ibn Shuʿbah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to pray on a mat and on a tanned hide.