Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat)

Ibrahim ibn Musa narrated to us: ʿIsa narrated to us, from Maʿmar, from Yahya, with its chain and similar wording. It says: ‘until you see me come out.’ Abu Dawud said: No one mentioned ‘come out’ except Maʿmar. Ibn ʿUyaynah narrated it from Maʿmar without the words ‘come out.’

Mahmud ibn Khalid narrated to us: al-Walid narrated to us—Abu ʿAmr said so. And Dawud ibn Rushayd narrated to us: al-Walid narrated to us—this is his wording—from al-Awzaʿi, from al-Zuhri, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah: When the prayer was established for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the people would take their places before the Prophet took his.

Husayn ibn Muʿadh narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Aʿla narrated to us, from Humayd, who said: I asked Thabit al-Bunani about a man speaking after the prayer had been established. He related to me, from Anas ibn Malik, who said: The prayer had been established, and a man came up to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and detained him after it had been established.

Ahmad ibn ʿAli ibn Suwayd ibn Manjuf al-Sadusi narrated to us: ʿAwn ibn Kahmas narrated to us, from his father Kahmas, who said: We stood for prayer at Mina while the imam had not yet come out. Some of us sat down. A shaykh from Kufa said to me: ‘What has made you sit?’ I replied: ‘Ibn Buraydah.’ He said: ‘This is al-sumud.’ The shaykh then said: ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAwsajah narrated to me, from al-Baraʾ ibn ʿAzib, who said: In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), we would stand in rows for a long time before he said the opening takbir. He also said: ‘Allah and His angels bless those nearest to the front rows. No step is more beloved to Allah than a step a person takes to join a row.’

Musaddad narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Warith narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Suhayb, from Anas, who said: The iqamah was given while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was in quiet conversation at the side of the mosque. He did not rise for prayer until the people had fallen asleep.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Ishaq al-Jawhari informed us: Abu ʿAsim informed us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Musa ibn ʿUqbah, from Salim Abu al-Nadr, who said: When the prayer was established in the mosque, if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that they were few, he would sit and not pray; when he saw a congregation, he would pray.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Ishaq informed us: Abu ʿAsim informed us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Musa ibn ʿUqbah, from Nafiʿ ibn Jubayr, from Abu Masʿud al-Zuraqi, from ʿAli ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), with a report like that.

Ahmad ibn Yunus narrated to us: Zaʾidah narrated to us: al-Saʾib ibn Hubaysh narrated to us, from Maʿdan ibn Abi Talhah al-Yaʿmuri, from Abu al-Dardaʾ, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: ‘Whenever three people in a village or the open country fail to establish the prayer among them, Satan has gained mastery over them. So keep to the congregation, for the wolf eats the one that strays apart.’ Zaʾidah said: al-Saʾib explained that “the congregation” means praying in congregation.

ʿUthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us: Abu Muʿawiyah narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘I considered ordering that the prayer be established, appointing a man to lead the people in prayer, then going with men carrying bundles of firewood to those who do not attend the prayer and setting their houses on fire.’

Al-Nufayli narrated to us: Abu al-Malih narrated to us: Yazid ibn Yazid narrated to me: Yazid ibn al-Asamm narrated to me: I heard Abu Hurayrah say that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘I considered ordering some young men to gather bundles of firewood, then going to people who pray in their homes without an excuse and burning their houses over them.’ I said to Yazid ibn al-Asamm: ‘Abu ʿAwf, did he mean the Friday prayer, or another prayer?’ He replied: ‘May my ears be deaf if I did not hear Abu Hurayrah attribute this to the Messenger of Allah. He did not mention Friday or any other prayer.’

Harun ibn ʿAbbad al-Azdi narrated to us: Wakiʿ narrated to us, from al-Masʿudi, from ʿAli ibn al-Aqmar, from Abu al-Ahwas, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud, who said: ‘Maintain these five prayers where their calls are given, for they are among the practices of right guidance. Allah prescribed these practices of guidance for His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). I saw a time when no one stayed away from them except a manifest hypocrite. I saw a man being led between two others, swaying, until he was stood in the row. Every one of you has a place of prayer in his home. If you prayed in your homes and left your mosques, you would abandon the Sunnah of your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); and if you abandoned the Sunnah of your Prophet, you would fall into disbelief.’

Qutaybah narrated to us: Jarir narrated to us, from Abu Janab, from Maghraʾ al-ʿAbdi, from ʿAdi ibn Thabit, from Saʿid ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Whoever hears the caller and is not prevented from following him by an excuse…’ They asked: ‘What is an excuse?’ He replied: ‘Fear or illness.’ ‘His prayer will not be accepted.’ Abu Dawud said: Abu Ishaq also narrated from Maghraʾ.’

Sulayman ibn Harb narrated to us: Hammad ibn Zayd narrated to us, from ʿAsim ibn Bahdalah, from Abu Razin, from Ibn Umm Maktum, who asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): ‘Messenger of Allah, I am blind, my home is far away, and I have a guide who is not suitable for me. Am I allowed to pray in my home?’ He asked: ‘Can you hear the call?’ He replied: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘I find no concession for you.’

Harun ibn Zayd ibn Abi al-Zarqa narrated to us: My father narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAbis, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, from Ibn Umm Maktum, who said: ‘Messenger of Allah, Medina has many vermin and wild beasts.’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Can you hear “Come to prayer, come to salvation”? Then come at once.’ Abu Dawud said: al-Qasim al-Jarmi also narrated it from Sufyan, but his report does not contain the words ‘then come at once.’

Hafs ibn ʿUmar narrated to us: Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Abu Ishaq, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Basir, from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, who said: One day the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) led us in the dawn prayer and said: ‘Is so-and-so present?’ They replied: ‘No.’ He asked again: ‘Is so-and-so present?’ They replied: ‘No.’ He said: ‘These two prayers are the heaviest prayers for hypocrites. If you knew what they contain, you would come to them even crawling on your knees. The first row is like the row of the angels; if you knew its merit, you would race to it. A man’s prayer with another man is purer than his prayer alone, and his prayer with two men is purer than with one. The more there are, the more beloved it is to Allah Most High.’

Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us: Ishaq ibn Yusuf narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from Abu Sahl—meaning ʿUthman ibn Hakim—who said: ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi ʿAmrah narrated to us, from ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Whoever prays the night prayer in congregation is like one who has prayed half the night; and whoever prays the night and dawn prayers in congregation is like one who has prayed the whole night.’

Musaddad narrated to us: Yahya narrated to us, from Ibn Abi Dhiʾb, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Mihran, from ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Saʿd, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: ‘The farther one is from the mosque, the greater the reward.’

ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Nufayli narrated to us: Zuhayr narrated to us: Sulayman al-Taymi narrated to us that Abu ʿUthman related to him, from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, who said: There was a man among the people of Medina who prayed facing the qiblah, and I know of no one whose home was farther from the mosque than his. Yet he never missed a prayer at the mosque. I said: ‘If you bought a donkey, you could ride it in the heat and darkness.’ He replied: ‘I would not like my home to be beside the mosque.’ The report reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who asked him about what he had said. He replied: ‘I wanted my walking to the mosque and my return to my family to be recorded for me.’ He said: ‘Allah has granted you all of that; Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has granted you everything you counted on.’

Abu Tawbah narrated to us: al-Haytham ibn Humayd narrated to us, from Yahya ibn al-Harith, from al-Qasim Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman, from Abu Umamah, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Whoever leaves his home in a state of purification for an obligatory prayer will have a reward like that of a pilgrim in ihram. Whoever leaves for the forenoon glorification prayer (Duha), undertaking it for that purpose alone, will have a reward like that of one performing ʿUmrah. A prayer followed by another prayer, with no idle talk between them, is recorded in ʿIlliyyin.’

Musaddad narrated to us: Abu Muʿawiyah narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘A man’s prayer in congregation exceeds his prayer at home or in the marketplace by twenty-five degrees. This is because when one of you performs ablution and does it well, then comes to the mosque intending nothing but prayer, and is moved by nothing but prayer, each step he takes raises him one degree and removes a sin from him, until he enters the mosque. Once inside, he is in prayer as long as the prayer is what keeps him there. The angels continue invoking blessings for one of you while he remains in the place where he prayed, saying: “O Allah, forgive him; O Allah, have mercy on him; O Allah, accept his repentance,” as long as he does not cause harm there or break his ritual purity.’