The Book of Prayer - Travellers

كتاب صلاة المسافرين وقصرها

Chapter 42: The virtue of reciting the Qur’an and Surat al-Baqarah

An-Nawwas b. Sam'an said he heard the Apostle (ﷺ) say

On the Day of Resurrection the Qur'an and those who acted according to it will be brought with Surah al-Baqara and AI 'Imran preceding them. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) likened them to three things, which I did not forget afterwards. He (the Holy Prophet) likened them to two clouds, or two black canopies with light between them, or like two flocks of birds in ranks pleading for one who recited them.

Chapter 44: The virtue of Surat al-Kahf and Ayat al-Kursi

Ubayy b. Ka'b said

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: O Abu' al-Mundhir, do you know the verse from the Book of Allah which, according to you, is the greatest? I said: Allah and His Apostle (ﷺ) know best. He again said: Abu'l-Mundhir, do you know the verse from the Book of Allah which, according to you, is the greatest? I said: Allah, there is no god but He, the Living, the Eternal. Thereupon he struck me on my breast and said: May knowledge be pleasant for you, O Abu'l-Mundhir!

Chapter 45: The virtue of reciting Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad

Abu Darda' reported Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) as saying

Is any one of you incapable of reciting a third of the Qur'an in a night? They (the Companions) asked: How could one recite a third of the Qur'an (in a night)? Upon this he (the Holy Prophet) said: "'Say: He is Allah, One' (Qur'an. cxii) is equivalent to a third of the Qur'an."

It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said

Get together. for I am going to recite one-third of the Qur'an before you. And those who could get together gathered there. Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came out and recited:" Say: He, Allah, is One." He then entered (his house). Some of us said to the others: Perhaps there has been some news from the heaven on account of which he has gone Inside (the house). The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) again came out and said: I told you that I was going to recite one-third of the Qur'in; keep in mind, this (Surah Ikhlas) is equivalent to one-third of the Qur'an.

Chapter 46: The virtue of reciting al-Mu`awwidhatain (the two surahs seeking refuge with Allah)

This hadith has been narrated through another chain of transmitters directly from the Companions of Muhammad (ﷺ).

Chapter 47: The virtue of one who acts in accordance with the Qur’an and teaches it. And the virtue of one who learns wisdom from Fiqh or other types of knowledge, then acts upon it and teaches it

Salim son of Abdullah b. 'Umar is reported to have said on the authority of his father that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) observed

Envy is not justified but in case of two persons only: one who, having been given (knowledge of) the Qur'an by Allah, recites it during the night and during the day (and acts upon it), and the person who, having been given wealth by God, gives it in charity during the night and the day.

'Abdullah b. Mas'ud reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

There should be no envy but only in case of two persons: one having been endowed with wealth and power to spend it in the cause of Truth, and (the other) who has been endowed with wisdom and he decides cases with the help of it and teaches it (to others).

'Amir b. Wathila reported that Nafi' b. 'Abd al-Harith met 'Umar at 'Usfan and 'Umar had employed him as collector in Mecca. He (Hadrat 'Umar) said to him (Nafi')

Whom have you appointed as collector over the people of the valley? He said: Ibn Abza. He said: Who is Ibn Abza? He said: He is one of our freed slaves. He (Hadrat 'Umar) said: So you have appointed a freed slave over them. He said: He is well versed In the Book of Allah. the Exalted and Great, and he is well versed In the commandments and injunctions (of the Shari'ah). 'Umar said: So the Prophet (ﷺ) said: By this Book, Allah would exalt some peoples and degrade others.

Chapter 49: Slow, measured pace of recitation (tartil), and to not rush when reciting, and the permissibility of reciting two or more surahs in one rak`ah

Abu Wa'il reported that a person named Nabik b. Sinan came to Abdullah (b. Mas'ud) and said

Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, how do you recite this word (alif) or (ya)? Would you read It as: min ma'in ghaira asin or au min ma'in ghaira ghaira yasin. (al-Qur'an, xlvii. 15)? 'Abdullah said: You (seem to) have memorised the whole of the Qur'an except this. He (again) said: I recite all the mufassal surahs in one rak'ah. Upon this 'Abdullah said: (You must have been reciting It) hastily like the recitation of poetry. Verily. there are people who recite the Qur'an, but it does not go down beyond their collar bones. It is (a fact with the Qur'an) that it is beneficial only when it settles in the heart and is rooted deeply in it. The best of (the acts) in prayer are bowing and prostration. I am quite aware of the occasions when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) combined together two surahs in every rak'ah. 'Abdullah then stood up and went out with 'Alqama following in his footstep. He said Ibn Numair had told him that the narration was like that:" A person belonging to Banu Bajila came to 'Abdullah," and he did not mention (the name of) Nahik b. Sinan.

This hadith has been narrated by A'mash with the same chain of transmitters in which ('Abdullah b. Mas'ud) said

" I know the manners in which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) recited the two surahs in one rak'ah and then twenty surahs in ten rak'ahs."

Chapter 50: Concerning various recitations

Ishaq is reported to have said on the authority of Aswad who quoted on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Mas'ud that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to recite these words as (fahal min muddakir).

Ibrahim reported

'Alqama came to Syria and entered the mosque and prayed there and then went to a (place where people were sitting in a) circle and he sat therein. Then a person came there and I perceived that the people were annoyed and perturbed (on this arrival). and he sat on my side and then said: Do you remember how 'Abdullah used to recite (the Qur'an)? And then the rest of the hadith was narrated.

Chapter 51: The times when it is forbidden to offer salat

Ibn 'Abbas reported

I heard it from so many Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and one among them is 'Umar b. Khattab, and he is most dear to me among them that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prohibited observing of prayer after the dawn prayer till the sun rose and after the 'Asr till the sun set.

Ibn 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

Do not intend to observe prayer at the time of the rising of the sun nor at its setting, for it rises between the horns of Satan.

Uqba b. 'Amir said

There were three times at which Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) forbade us to pray, or bury our dead: When the sun begins to rise till it is fully up, when the sun is at its height at midday till it passes over the meridian, and when the sun draws near to setting till it sets.

Chapter 54: Concerning the two rak`ah that the Prophet (saws) used to pray after `Asr

'A'isha reported

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not abandon at all observing two rak'ahs after the 'Asr in my house.

'A'isha reported

Two are the prayers which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) always observed in my house-openly or secretly-two rak'ahs before the dawn and two rak'ahs after the 'Asr.

Chapter 41: The virtue of reciting the Qur’an in prayer and learning it

'Uqba b. 'Amir reported

When we were in Suffa, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came out and said: Which of you would like to go out every morning to Buthan or al-'Aqiq and bring two large she-camels without being guilty of sin or without severing the ties of kinship? We said: Messenger of Allah, we would like to do it. Upon this he said: Does not one of you go out in the morning to the mosque and teach or recite two verses from the Book of Allah. the Majestic and Glorious? That is better for him than two she-camels, and three verses are better (than three she-camels). and four verses are better for him than four (she-camels), and to on their number in camels.

Chapter 43: The virtue of al-Fatihah and the closing verse of Surat al-Baqarah; and the encouragement to recite the two verses at the end of Surat al-Baqarah

Ibn 'Abbas reported that while Gabriel was sitting with the Apostle (ﷺ) he heard a creaking sound above him. He lifted his head and said

This is a gate opened in heaven today which had never been opened before. Then when an angel descended through it, he said: This is an angel who came down to the earth who had never come down before. He greeted and said: Rejoice in two lights given to you which have not been given to any prophet before you: Fatihat al-Kitab and the concluding verses of Surah al-Baqara. You will never recite a letter from them for which you will not be given (a reward).

It is through another chain of transmitters that this hadith has been reported by Abu Mas'ud from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).