Sunan Ibn Majah
Establishing the Prayer and the Sunnah Regarding Them
كتاب إقامة الصلاة والسنة فيها
Chapter 201
مَا جَاءَ فِي كَثْرَةِ السُّجُودِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Ibrahim narrated to us; al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us; Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr Abu Amr al-Awza‘i said: al-Walid ibn Hisham al-Mu‘ayti narrated to me; Ma‘dan ibn Abi Talhah al-Ya‘muri related to him, saying: I met Thawban and said, ‘Tell me a hadith, perhaps Allah will benefit me through it.’ He remained silent. I returned and said the same thing; he remained silent. This happened three times. Then he said to me, ‘Keep to prostration to Allah, for I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “No servant prostrates to Allah once without Allah raising him a degree through it and removing a sin from him.”’ Ma‘dan said: Then I met Abu al-Darda’ and asked him, and he said something similar.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The transmission sequence distinguishes the initial isnad through al-Awza‘i from the embedded report that al-Walid ibn Hisham conveyed to Ma‘dan. The English witness starts with Ma‘dan and omits that earlier chain.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Al-Abbas ibn Uthman al-Dimashqi narrated to us; al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us, from Khalid ibn Yazid al-Murri, from Yunus ibn Maysarah ibn Halbass, from al-Sunabihi, from ‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit, who heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: ‘No servant prostrates to Allah once without Allah recording a good deed for him through it, erasing a bad deed from him through it, and raising him a degree through it. So perform many prostrations.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic specifies three results of each prostration: a good deed is recorded, a bad deed erased, and the servant raised a degree. The English witness begins at ‘Ubadah and omits the chain.
Chapter 202
مَا جَاءَ فِي أَوَّلِ مَا يُحَاسَبُ بِهِ الْعَبْدُ الصَّلاَةُ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah and Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us. They said: Yazid ibn Harun narrated to us, from Sufyan ibn Husayn, from Ali ibn Zayd, from Anas ibn Hakim al-Dabbi, who said: Abu Hurayrah said to me, ‘When you go to the people of your town, tell them that I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The first deed for which a Muslim servant will be called to account on the Day of Resurrection is the obligatory prayer. If he has completed it, then well and good; otherwise, it will be said, ‘See whether he has any voluntary prayers.’ If he has voluntary prayers, the obligatory prayer will be completed from his voluntary prayers. Then the same will be done with the rest of the obligatory deeds.”’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic says ‘the people of your town/country’ (أهل مصرك), rather than naming a particular place. The English witness shortens the chain before Anas ibn Hakim.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ahmad ibn Sa‘id al-Darimi narrated to us; Sulayman ibn Harb narrated to us; Hammad ibn Salamah narrated to us, from Dawud ibn Abi Hind, from Zurara ibn Awfa, from Tamim al-Dari, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). (A second route:) al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sabbah narrated to us; ‘Affan narrated to us; Hammad narrated to us; Humayd informed us, from al-Hasan, from a man, from Abu Hurayrah—and Dawud ibn Abi Hind, from Zurara ibn Awfa, from Tamim al-Dari, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: ‘The first thing for which a servant will be called to account on the Day of Resurrection is his prayer. If he has completed it, it will be recorded for him as an extra. If he has not completed it, Allah, Glorified is He, will say to His angels: “See whether My servant has any voluntary prayers, and complete with them what he neglected of his obligatory prayer.” Then the deeds will be taken up in the same way.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic preserves two routes and an insertion mentioning an unnamed man before Abu Hurayrah in the second. The phrase فَإِنْ أَكْمَلَهَا كُتِبَتْ لَهُ نَافِلَةً is rendered literally as ‘it will be recorded for him as an extra’; the English witness makes the object explicit as voluntary prayers.
Chapter 203
مَا جَاءَ فِي صَلاَةِ النَّافِلَةِ حَيْثُ تُصَلَّى الْمَكْتُوبَةُ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us; Isma‘il ibn ‘Ulayyah narrated to us, from Layth, from Hajjaj ibn Ubayd, from Ibrahim ibn Isma‘il, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: ‘Is any one of you unable, when he has prayed, to move forward, backward, to his right, or to his left?’ That is, to perform a voluntary prayer.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The final gloss explains السُّبْحَة as a voluntary prayer.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to us; Qutaybah narrated to us; Ibn Wahb narrated to us, from Uthman ibn ‘Ata’, from his father, from al-Mughirah ibn Shu‘bah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: ‘An imam should not pray in the place where he performed the obligatory prayer until he moves aside.’ Kathir ibn Ubayd al-Himsi narrated to us; Baqiyyah narrated to us, from Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Tamimi, from Uthman ibn ‘Ata’, from his father, from al-Mughirah ibn Shu‘bah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), with a similar report.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source preserves two transmission routes; both are included. The second route gives a similar wording.
Chapter 204
مَا جَاءَ فِي تَوْطِينِ الْمَكَانِ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ يُصَلِّي فِيهِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us; Waki‘ narrated to us. And Abu Bishr Bakr ibn Khalaf narrated to us; Yahya ibn Sa‘id narrated to us. They both said: Abd al-Hamid ibn Ja‘far narrated to us, from his father, from Tamim ibn Mahmud, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Shibl, who said: ‘The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade three things: pecking like a crow, spreading one’s forearms on the ground like a beast of prey, and a man making a place where he prays his regular spot, as a camel makes its regular resting place.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source gives two transmission routes that converge at Abd al-Hamid ibn Ja‘far; both are preserved. The prohibitions are expressed as three prayer practices.
The English witness renders the second practice as spreading the forearms; the Arabic uses فرشة السبع, an image of a beast of prey lying with its forelegs spread.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ya‘qub ibn Humayd ibn Kasib narrated to us; al-Mughirah ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Makhzumi narrated to us, from Yazid ibn Abi Ubayd, from Salamah ibn al-Akwa‘, that he used to come for the Duha voluntary prayer and head to the pillar near the Mushaf, praying close to it. I said to him, ‘Why do you not pray over here?’ and pointed toward a part of the mosque. He replied, ‘I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) deliberately seeking this place.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report is narrated from Salamah ibn al-Akwa‘; the first-person speaker in the exchange is the narrator reporting his question to Salamah.
Mushaf is retained as the conventional term for a written copy of the Qur’an.
Chapter 205
مَا جَاءَ فِي أَيْنَ تُوضَعُ النَّعْلُ إِذَا خُلِعَتْ فِي الصَّلاَةِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us; Yahya ibn Sa‘id narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Muhammad ibn Abbad, from Abdullah ibn Sufyan, from Abdullah ibn al-Sa’ib, who said: ‘I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) pray on the Day of the Conquest, placing his sandals to his left.’
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Habib and Muhammad ibn Isma‘il narrated to us; they said: Abd al-Rahman al-Muharibi narrated to us, from Abdullah ibn Sa‘id ibn Abi Sa‘id, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Keep your sandals on your feet. If you take them off, place them between your feet. Do not put them to your right, to the right of your companion, or behind you, where they could inconvenience whoever is behind you.’