Messenger of Allah I may my father and mother be offered as ransom for thee, the same thing overpowered me which overpowered you. He (the Holy Prophet, then) said: Lead the beasts on: so they led their camels to some distance. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then performed ablution and gave orders to Bilal who pronounced the Iqama and then led them in the morning prayer. When he finished the prayer he said: When anyone forgets the prayer, he should observe it when he remembers it, for Allah has said:" And observe the prayer for remembrance of Me" (Qur'an. xx. 14). Yunus said: Ibn Shilab used to recite it like this:" (And observe the prayer) for remembrance."
Hadith Commentary: The Book of Mosques and Places of Prayer
This narration from Sahih Muslim 680a recounts an incident where the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) and his companions overslept and missed the Fajr (dawn) prayer. The companion's statement "the same thing overpowered me which overpowered you" demonstrates profound humility and identification with the Prophet's condition.
Legal Ruling on Missed Prayers
The Prophet's instruction to "observe it when he remembers it" establishes the fundamental Islamic principle that missed obligatory prayers must be made up (qada) when remembered. This ruling applies regardless of whether the prayer was missed due to sleep, forgetfulness, or other valid reasons.
The Quranic verse cited ("And observe the prayer for remembrance of Me" - 20:14) provides the theological basis for this ruling, emphasizing that prayer is fundamentally an act of remembering Allah, which should be fulfilled whenever possible.
Practical Implementation
The Prophet's immediate action upon waking - moving the camels away, performing ablution, and having Bilal give the Iqama - demonstrates the urgency and importance of making up missed prayers promptly.
The narration also shows the flexibility in prayer timing when necessary, as Fajr prayer was performed after its prescribed time had passed, establishing that making up missed prayers takes precedence over adhering to strict time constraints.
Scholarly Interpretation
Classical scholars like Imam Nawawi in his commentary on Sahih Muslim emphasize that this hadith establishes consensus among scholars regarding the obligation to make up missed prayers. The ruling applies to all five daily prayers equally.
The variant reading mentioned by Yunus regarding the Quranic verse highlights the meticulous preservation of textual traditions and the scholars' attention to precise wording in deriving legal rulings.