Sahih al-Bukhari
Prayer at Night (Tahajjud)
كتاب التهجد
Chapter 1
التَّهَجُّدِ بِاللَّيْلِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that when the Prophet got up at night for Tahajjud, he would say: ‘O Allah, to You belongs all praise. You sustain the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and to You belongs all praise. Yours is the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and to You belongs all praise. You are the Light of the heavens and the earth, and to You belongs all praise. You are the Truth; Your promise is true, meeting You is true, Your word is true, Paradise is true, the Fire is true, the prophets are true, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is true, and the Hour is true. O Allah, to You I submit, in You I believe, upon You I rely, to You I turn in repentance, with Your aid I contend, and to You I refer for judgment. Forgive me what I have done before and what I have left for later, what I have kept secret and what I have made public. You bring forward and You defer. There is no god but You’—or ‘There is no god besides You.’ Sufyan said: ‘Abd al-Karim Abu Umayyah added: ‘There is no might and no power except through Allah.’ Sufyan said: Sulayman ibn Abi Muslim said he heard it from Tawus, from Ibn ‘Abbas, from the Prophet.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
سَمِعَ ابْنَ عَبَّاسٍ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذَا قَامَ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ يَتَهَجَّدُ قَالَ " اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ أَنْتَ قَيِّمُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ،
Qayyim describes Allah as sustaining or maintaining the heavens and earth; the witness renders it ‘Holder.’
Would ‘You sustain/maintain the heavens and the earth’ better convey qayyim here?
Chapter 2
فَضْلِ قِيَامِ اللَّيْلِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Salim reported from his father (may Allah be pleased with him): In the Prophet’s lifetime, whenever someone saw a dream, he would tell it to the Messenger of Allah. I wished to see a dream and tell it to him. I was then a young man and used to sleep in the mosque during the Messenger of Allah’s time. In a dream, I saw two angels seize me and take me to the Fire, which was enclosed like the folded rim of a well and had two sides or posts. I saw people there whom I recognized, and began saying, ‘I seek refuge in Allah from the Fire.’ Then another angel met us and said to me, ‘Do not be afraid.’ I told the dream to Hafsah, and Hafsah related it to the Messenger of Allah. He said, ‘What an excellent man ‘Abdullah is! If only he prayed at night.’ After that, he slept only a little at night.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
وَإِذَا لَهَا قَرْنَانِ،
The Arabic qarnan can be rendered as two horns, projections, or posts; the English witness says poles.
Which rendering best describes the two qarnan in the dream’s well-like enclosure?
Chapter 3
طُولِ السُّجُودِ فِي قِيَامِ اللَّيْلِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah used to pray eleven rak‘ahs; that was his prayer. He would prostrate for as long as one of you might recite fifty verses before raising his head. He would pray two rak‘ahs before Fajr, then lie on his right side until the caller came to summon him to prayer.
Chapter 4
تَرْكِ الْقِيَامِ لِلْمَرِيضِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Jundab said: The Prophet fell ill and did not rise (for night prayer) for a night or two.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Jundab ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Gabriel’s coming to the Prophet was delayed, so a Quraysh woman said, ‘His devil has deserted him.’ Then these verses were revealed: ‘By the morning brightness, and by the night when it grows still: your Lord has neither forsaken you nor detested you.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
فَنَزَلَتْ {وَالضُّحَى * وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى * مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَى}
The Arabic quotes the verses but does not include a surah and verse reference.
Should the English witness’s parenthetical reference be omitted since it is absent from the Arabic text?
Chapter 5
تَحْرِيضِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَلَى صَلاَةِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّوَافِلِ مِنْ غَيْرِ إِيجَابٍ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that one night the Prophet awoke and said: ‘Glory be to Allah! What trials have been sent down tonight, and what treasures have been sent down! Who will wake the women in the chambers? How many women are clothed in this world yet naked in the Hereafter!’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
يَا رُبَّ كَاسِيَةٍ فِي الدُّنْيَا عَارِيَةٍ فِي الآخِرَةِ ".
The Arabic uses a rhetorical construction (‘how many a clothed woman…’) without ‘perhaps.’
Would ‘How many are clothed in this world yet naked in the Hereafter’ better preserve the rhetorical force?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Ali ibn Abi Talib reported that one night the Messenger of Allah came to him and Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter, and said, ‘Will you not pray?’ I replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah, our souls are in Allah’s hand. If He wills to raise us, He will raise us.’ He turned away when we said that and did not respond to me. Then as he was leaving, I heard him strike his thigh and say: ‘But man is ever most contentious.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
ثُمَّ سَمِعْتُهُ وَهْوَ مُوَلٍّ يَضْرِبُ فَخِذَهُ وَهْوَ يَقُولُ "وَكَانَ الإِنْسَانُ أَكْثَرَ شَىْءٍ جَدَلاً}".
The Arabic quotes the verse but gives no chapter or verse reference.
Should the reference (18.54) be omitted because it is not in the Arabic source?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah would sometimes leave an act, although he loved to do it, for fear that people would do it and it would then be made obligatory for them. The Messenger of Allah never performed the forenoon voluntary prayer, but I do perform it.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘A’ishah, Mother of the Believers (may Allah be pleased with her), reported: The Messenger of Allah prayed one night in the mosque, and some people prayed along with him. The following night he prayed again, and more people gathered. Then they gathered on the third or fourth night, but the Messenger of Allah did not come out to them. In the morning he said, ‘I saw what you did. Nothing prevented me from coming out to you except that I feared it might be made obligatory for you.’ This took place in Ramadan.
Chapter 6
قِيَامِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم حَتَّى تَرِمَ قَدَمَاهُ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Al-Mughirah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet would stand in prayer until his feet or legs became swollen. When asked about it, he said, ‘Should I not be a grateful servant?’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
قَالَ سَمِعْتُ الْمُغِيرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ يَقُولُ إِنْ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَيَقُومُ لِيُصَلِّيَ حَتَّى تَرِمُ قَدَمَاهُ أَوْ سَاقَاهُ،
The Arabic presents an alternative, ‘his feet or his lower legs,’ rather than saying both body parts swelled.
Should the translation preserve the Arabic alternative as ‘his feet or his legs became swollen’?
Chapter 7
مَنْ نَامَ عِنْدَ السَّحَرِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that the Messenger of Allah said to him: ‘The prayer most beloved to Allah is the prayer of David, and the fast most beloved to Allah is the fast of David. He would sleep for half the night, rise for a third of it, then sleep for a sixth of it; and he would fast one day and break the fast the next.’
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Masruq said: I asked ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), ‘Which deed was most beloved to the Prophet?’ She said, ‘The one done regularly.’ I asked, ‘When would he rise (at night)?’ She said, ‘He would rise when he heard the caller.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
قُلْتُ مَتَى كَانَ يَقُومُ قَالَتْ يَقُومُ إِذَا سَمِعَ الصَّارِخَ.
The Arabic says al-sārik (the caller/call), while the witness interprets it as a cock’s crow.
Should this be kept as ‘the caller’ or specified as a rooster’s crow, as the witness does?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Al-Ash‘ath said: When he heard the caller, he would rise and pray.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ سَلاَمٍ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو الأَحْوَصِ عَنِ الأَشْعَثِ قَالَ إِذَا سَمِعَ الصَّارِخَ قَامَ فَصَلَّى.
The Arabic does not explicitly repeat the subject in this short report; ‘he’ is implied, and al-sārik literally means the caller. The witness identifies it as the Prophet hearing a cock crow.
Should the implied subject and ‘caller’ be made explicit as the Prophet rising when he hears the call, or should the witness’s rooster-crow interpretation be used?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: At dawn, I found him with me only asleep—meaning the Prophet.
Chapter 8
مَنْ تَسَحَّرَ فَلَمْ يَنَمْ حَتَّى صَلَّى الصُّبْحَ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Qatadah reported from Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet of Allah and Zayd ibn Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) ate the pre-dawn meal together. When they had finished, the Prophet of Allah stood for the prayer and prayed. We asked Anas how long it was between their finishing the meal and beginning the prayer. He replied: About as long as it takes a person to recite fifty verses.
Chapter 9
طُولِ الْقِيَامِ فِي صَلاَةِ اللَّيْلِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: One night I prayed with the Prophet, who continued standing until I considered doing something bad. We asked, ‘What did you consider?’ He replied, ‘I considered sitting down and leaving the Prophet.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
فَلَمْ يَزَلْ قَائِمًا حَتَّى هَمَمْتُ بِأَمْرِ سَوْءٍ.
The Arabic says he considered a bad or improper thing; the following sentence explains that he considered sitting and leaving.
Would ‘I considered doing something bad’ convey the phrase without the awkward ‘ill-thought’?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that whenever the Prophet rose at night for Tahajjud, he would clean his mouth with the siwak.
Chapter 10
كَيْفَ كَانَ صَلاَةُ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَكَمْ كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يُصَلِّي مِنَ اللَّيْلِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that a man asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah, how should the night prayer be performed?’ He replied: ‘Two by two. When you fear dawn is near, pray one rak‘ah as witr.’
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: The Prophet’s prayer was thirteen rak‘ahs—meaning his night prayer.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Masruq said: I asked ‘A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) about the Messenger of Allah’s night prayer. She replied: ‘Seven, nine, or eleven, apart from the two rak‘ahs of Fajr.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
فَقَالَتْ سَبْعٌ وَتِسْعٌ وَإِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ سِوَى رَكْعَتَىِ الْفَجْرِ.
The Arabic lists three figures joined by ‘or’; it is not explicit whether these indicate different reported totals or alternatives in a single practice.
Should the numbers remain a direct list of alternatives, as translated, without supplying an interpretation of their relationship?