Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat)

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) offered prayer. The version of the narrator Ibrahim goes: I do not know whether he increased or decreased (the rak'ahs of prayer).

When he gave the salutation, he was asked: Has something new happened in the prayer, Messenger of Allah? He said: What is it? They said: You prayed so many and so many (rak'ahs). He then relented his foot and faced the Qiblah and made two prostrations. He then gave the salutation. When he turned away (finished the prayer), he turned his face to us and said: Had anything new happened in prayer, I would have informed you. I am only a human being and I forget just as you do; so when I forget, remind me, and when any of you is in doubt about his prayer he should aim at what is correct, and complete his prayer in that respect, then give the salutation and afterwards made two prostrations.

when one of you is in doubt about his prayer (i.e, how much he has prayed), he should throw away his doubt and base his prayer on what he is sure of. When he is sure about the completion of his prayer, he should make two prostrations (at the end of the prayer). If the prayer is complete, the additional rak’ah and the two prostrations will be supererogatory prayer. If the prayer is incomplete, the additional rak’ahs will compensate it, and the two prostrations will be a disgrace for the devil.

The Prophet (ﷺ) led them in prayer and forgot something, so he made prostrations and uttered the tashahhud, then gave the salutation.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The prayer a man offers in his house is more excellent than his prayer in this mosque of mine except obligatory prayer.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday; on it Adam was created, on it he was expelled (from Paradise), on it his contrition was accepted, on it he died, and on it the Last Hour will take place. On Friday every beast is on the lookout from dawn to sunrise in fear of the Last Hour, but not jinn and men, and it contains a time at which no Muslim prays and asks anything from Allah but He will give it to him. Ka'b said: That is one day every year. So I said: It is on every Friday. Ka'b read the Torah and said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has spoken the truth. AbuHurayrah said: I met Abdullah ibn Salam and told him of my meeting with Ka'b. Abdullah ibn Salam said: I know what time it is. AbuHurayrah said: I asked him to tell me about it. Abdullah ibn Salam said: It is at the very end of Friday. I asked: How can it be when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has said: "No Muslim finds it while he is praying...." and this is the moment when no prayer is offered. Abdullah ibn Salam said: Has the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) not said: "If anyone is seated waiting for the prayer, he is engaged in the prayer until he observes it." I said: Yes, it is so.

Abu Dawud said: By sitting is meant sitting on the pulpit.

Usamah attended the Prophet (ﷺ) on the occasion of the treaty of al-Hudaybiyyah on Friday. The rain fell as little as the soles of the shoes of the people were not set. He (the Prophet) commanded them to offer Friday prayer in their dwellings.

Nafi' reported: Ibn Umar made the call to prayer at Dajnan (a place between Mecca and Medina). Then he announced: "Offer prayer in your dwellings:" He then narrated a tradition from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He used to command an announcer who made the call to prayer. He then announced: "Pray in your dwellings" on a cold or rainy night during journey.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been narrated by Hammad b. Salamah from Ayyub and 'Ubaid Allah. In his version he added: During journey on a cold or a rainy night.

Ibn ‘Abbas said to his mu’adhdhin on a rainy day: “when you utter the words ‘ I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” do not say,” Come to prayer” but say “Pray at your homes,” By this (announcement) the people were surprised. He said: One who was better than me has done it. The Friday prayer is an obligatory duty. But I disliked to put you to hardship so that you might walk in mud and rain.

AbdurRahman ibn Ka'b ibn Malik said: When Ka'b ibn Malik heard the call to prayer on Friday, he prayed for As'ad ibn Zurarah. I asked him: What is the matter that when you hear the call to prayer, you pray for As'ad ibn Zurarah? He replied: This is because he held the Friday prayer for the first time for us at Hazm an-Nabit of Harrah belonging to Banu Bayadah in Naqi', called Naqi' al-Khadumat. I asked him: How many were you at that time ? He said: Forty.

The Friday and the ‘id prayers synchronized during the time of Ibn al-Zubair. He said: Two festivals (‘id and Friday) synchronized on the same day. He combined them and offered two rak’ahs in the morning and did not add anything to them until he offered the afternoon prayer.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Two festivals ('Id and Friday) have synchronised on this day. If anyone does not want to offer the Friday prayer, the 'Id prayer is sufficient for him. But we shall offer the Friday prayer.

This tradition has been narrated by 'Umar from Shu'bah.

the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to recite in the morning prayer on Friday Surah Tanzil al-Sajdah (xxxii.) and Surah al-Dahr(lxxi.).

'Umar b. al-Khattab saw a suit of silken cloth being sold in the market. He took it to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and said: Purchase it ad decorate with it on 'id on the occasion of the arrival of delegations. The narrator then narrated the tradition. The former version is complete.

People came to Sahl b. Sa'd al-Sa'idi, when they were doubtful about the kind of wood of the pulpit (in the mosque of the Prophet). They asked him about it. He said: By Allah, I know (the wood) of which it was made; I saw it the first day when it was placed there, and the first day when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sat on it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent for a woman whom Sahl named and asked her: Order your boy, the carpenter, to construct for me a wooden pulpit so that I sit on it when I deliver a speech to the people. So she ordered him and he made a pulpit of a wood called tarfa taken from al-Ghabah (a place at a distance of nine miles from Medina). He brought it to her. She sent it to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He ordered and that was placed here. I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) praying on it: he said: "Allah is most great"; he then bowed while he was on it; then he returned and prostrated in the root of the pulpit; he then returned (to the pulpit). When he finished (the prayer), he addressed himself to the people and said: O people, I did this so that you may follow me and know my prayer.

When the Prophet (ﷺ) became fat, Tamim al-Dari said to him: Should I make for you pulpit, Messenger of Allah, that will bear the burden of your body ? He said: Yes. So he made a pulpit consisting of two steps.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to offer the Friday prayer when the sun declined.

We used to offer the Friday prayer along with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and return (to our homes) while no shade of the walls was seen (at that time).

We had a siesta or lunch after the Friday prayer.

The call to the (Friday) prayer was made at the gate of the mosque in front of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) when he sat on the pulpit, and of Abu Bakr and 'Umar. The narrator then repeated the same tradition as reported by Yunus.