The Book of Mosques and Places of Prayer

كتاب الْمَسَاجِدِ وَمَوَاضِعِ الصَّلاَةِ

Chapter 39: The time of `Isha and delaying it

Anas b. Malik reported

We waited for the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon hi n) one night, till it was about midnight. He (the Holy Prophet) came and observed prayer and then turned his face towards us, as it I was seeing the lustre of the silver ring on his finger.

This hadith has been narrated by Qurra with the same chain of transmitters, but therein he did not mention

" He turned his face towards us."

Jabir b. Samura reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) postponed the last 'Isha' prayer.

Abdullah b. 'Umar reported

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Let the bedouin not gain upper hand over you in regard to the name of your prayer. See I (The night prayer should be called) 'Isya' (and the bedouins call it Atama (because) they milk their camels late.

Chapter 40: It is recommended to pray Subh early, at the beginning of its time, when it is still dark; and the length of recitation therein

'A'isha, the wife of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), reported

The believing women observed the morning prayer with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wrapped in their mantles. They then went back to their houses and were unrecognisable, because of the Messenger of Allah's (ﷺ) praying in the darkness before dawn.

'A'isha reported

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to observe the morning prayer, and the women would go back wrapped in their mantles being unrecognisable because of the darkness before dawn. (Ishaq b. Musa) al-Ansari (one of the transmitters in this chain of narration) narrated" wrapped" (only) in his narration. (No mention was made of mantles.)

Muhammad b. 'Amr al-Hasan b. 'All reported

Hajjaj used to delay the prayers, and so we asked Jabir b. 'Abdullah, and the rest of the hadith is the same.

Sayyar b. Salama reported

I heard Abu Barza saying that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not mind some delay in the 'Isha' prayer even up to midnight and he did not like sleeping before (observing it) and talking after it. Shu'ba said: I again met him (Sayyar b. Salama) for the second time and he said: Even up to the third (part) of the night.

Abu Barza b. Aslami is reported to have said

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) delayed the night prayer till a third of the night had passed and he did not approve of sleeping before it, and talking after it, and he used to recite in the morning prayer from one hundred to sixty verses (and completed the prayer at such hours) when we recognised the faces of one another.

Chapter 41: It is disliked to delay the prayers beyond their proper times, and what a person should do if the Imam delays the prayer

Abu Dharr reported

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) struck my thigh and said: How would you act if you survive among the people who would delay prayers beyond their (prescribed) time? He (Abu Dharr) said: What do you command (under this situation)? He (the Holy Prophet) slid: Observe prayer at its prescribed time, then go (to meet) your needs, and if the Iqama is pronounced, and you are present in the mosque, then observe prayer (along with the Jama'at).

Chapter 42: The virtue of prayer in congregation, and clarifying the stern warning against staying away from it, and that it is fard kifayah

A hadith like this has been narrated by Abu Huraira with another chain of transmitters with a very slight change of words.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

Prayer said in a congregation is equivalent to twenty-five (prayers) as compared with the prayer said by a single person.

Ibn 'Umar reported from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as some and twenty (degrees).

Abu Huraira reported

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) found some people absenting from certain prayers and he said: I intend that I order (a) person to lead people in prayer, and then go to the persons who do not join the (congregational prayer) and then order their houses to be burnt by the bundles of fuel. If one amongst them were to know that he would find a fat fleshy bone he would attend the night prayer.

Chapter 43: It is obligatory for the one who hears the call to prayer to come to the masjid

Abu Huraira reported

There came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) a blind man and said: Messenger of Allah, I have no one to guide me to the mosque. He, therefore, asked. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) permission to say prayer in his house. He (tee Holy Prophet) granted him permission. Then when the man turned away he called him and said: Do you hear the call to prayer? He said: Yes. He (the Prophet then) said: Respond to it.

Chapter 45: The prohibition of leaving the masjid once the Mu’adhdhin has called the Adhan

Abu Sha'tha' al-Muharibi reported on the authority of his father, who said

I heard it from Abu Huraira that he saw a person getting out of the mosque after the call to prayer had been announced. Upon this he remarked: This (man) disobeyed Abu'l-Qasim (ﷺ).

Chapter 46: The virtue of praying `Isha and Subh in congregation

This hadith has been narrated by the chain of transmitters by Abu Sahl 'Uthman b. Hakim.

This hadith has been narrated by Jundab b. Sufyan in from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) with the same chain of transmitters, but this has not been mentioned

" He would throw him in fire."

Chapter 47: Concession allowing one to not attend the congregation if there is an excuse

Mahmud b. al-Rabi' reported that 'Ibn b. Malik, who was one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and who participated in the (Battle of) Badr and was among the Ansar (of Medina), told that he came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said

Messenger of Allah, I have lost my eyesight and I lead my people in prayer. When there is a downpour there is then a current (of water) in the valley that stands between me and them and I find it impossible to go to their mosque and lead them in prayer. Messenger of Allah, I earnestly beg of you that you should come and observe prayer at a place of worship (in my house) so that I should then use it as a place of worship. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Well, it God so wills. I would soon do so. 'Itban said: On the following day when the day dawned, the Messenger of Allah (may peace he upon him) came along with Abu Bakr at-Siddiq, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) asked permission (to get into the house). I gave him the permission, and be did not sit after entering the house, when he said: At what place in your house you desire me to say prayer? I ('Itban b. Malik) said: I pointed to a corner in the house, The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stood (at that place for prayer) and pronounced Allah-o-Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) (as an expression for the commencement of prayer). We too stood behind him, and he said two rak'ahs and then pronounced salutation (marking the end of the prayer). We detained him (the Holy Prophet) for the meat curry we had prepared for, him. The people of the neighbouring houses came and thus there was a good gathering in (our house). One of them said: Where is Malik b. Dukhshun? Upon this one of them remarked: He is a hypocrite; he does not love Allah and His Messenger. Thereupon the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Do not say so about him. Don't you see that he utters La ilaha ill-Allah (There is no god but Allah) and seeks the pleasure of Allah through it? They said: Allah and His Messenger know beet. One (among the audience) said: We see his inclination and wellwishing for hypocrites only. Upon this the Messenger of Allah' (ﷺ) again said: Verily Allah has forbidden the Fire for one who says: There is no god but Allah, thereby seeking Allah's pleasure. Ibn Shihab said: I asked Husain b. Muhammad al-Ansar (he was one of the leaders of Banu Salim) about the hadith transmitted by Mahmud b. Rabi' and he testified it.

Chapter 48: It is permissible to offer voluntary prayers in congregation, and to pray on hasir (palm-fiber mats), khumrah (small mats), cloth, and other pure things

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported that he went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and found him observing prayer on a mat and prostrating on that.