Sunan an-Nasa'i
The Book of Salah
كتاب الصلاة
Chapter 22
فَرْضِ الْقِبْلَةِ .
Muhammad ibn Bashshar informed us; he said: Yahya ibn Sa‘id narrated to us; Sufyan narrated to us; he said: Abu Ishaq narrated to us, from al-Bara’, who said: We prayed with the Prophet ﷺ toward Bayt al-Maqdis for about sixteen or seventeen months—Sufyan was uncertain—then he was turned toward the Qiblah.
Translation notes
The Arabic explicitly attributes the uncertainty between sixteen and seventeen months to Sufyan. The English witness mistakenly attributes it to Safwan.
أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ،
The English witness omits the chain.
Confirm the isnad against the Arabic source.
قَالَ صَلَّيْنَا مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم نَحْوَ بَيْتِ الْمَقْدِسِ سِتَّةَ عَشَرَ شَهْرًا أَوْ سَبْعَةَ عَشَرَ شَهْرًا - شَكَّ سُفْيَانُ - وَصُرِفَ إِلَى الْقِبْلَةِ .
The English witness attributes the uncertainty to Safwan, but the Arabic explicitly says Sufyan.
Confirm the correction to Sufyan.
Muhammad ibn Isma‘il ibn Ibrahim informed us; he said: Ishaq ibn Yusuf al-Azraq narrated to us, from Zakariyya ibn Abi Za’idah, from Abu Ishaq, from al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived in Madinah and prayed toward Bayt al-Maqdis for sixteen months. Then he was directed toward the Ka‘bah. A man who had prayed with the Prophet ﷺ passed by a group of the Ansar and said: “I bear witness that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has been directed toward the Ka‘bah.” So they turned toward the Ka‘bah.
Translation notes
The Arabic says the Messenger was directed toward the Ka‘bah; the English witness makes the source of the direction explicit as a command, which is not stated in this block.
أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ،
The English witness omits the chain.
Confirm the full isnad against the Arabic source.
قَالَ قَدِمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم الْمَدِينَةَ فَصَلَّى نَحْوَ بَيْتِ الْمَقْدِسِ سِتَّةَ عَشَرَ شَهْرًا ثُمَّ إِنَّهُ وُجِّهَ إِلَى الْكَعْبَةِ فَمَرَّ رَجُلٌ قَدْ كَانَ صَلَّى مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَلَى قَوْمٍ مِنَ الأَنْصَارِ فَقَالَ أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَدْ وُجِّهَ إِلَى الْكَعْبَةِ .
The English witness says he was commanded to face the Ka‘bah; the Arabic says he was directed/turned toward it.
Confirm that the source’s wording is retained without adding the command.
Chapter 23
الْحَالِ الَّتِي يَجُوزُ فِيهَا اسْتِقْبَالُ غَيْرِ الْقِبْلَةِ .
‘Isa ibn Hammad, Zughbah, Ahmad ibn ‘Amr ibn al-Sarh, and al-Harith ibn Miskin informed us; it was read to them while I listened—and this is the wording of the last of them—from Ibn Wahb, from Yunus, from Ibn Shihab, from Salim, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would perform voluntary prayers while riding, facing whichever direction his mount turned. He would also pray witr on it, but he would not perform the obligatory prayer on it.
Translation notes
The Arabic identifies the transmission as read aloud while the narrator listened and notes that the wording belongs to one of the named transmitters; “the last of them” is used for the closest antecedent.
أَخْبَرَنَا عِيسَى بْنُ حَمَّادٍ،
The English witness omits the isnad and the reading/hearing and wording notes.
Confirm the mode of transmission and which narrator’s wording is identified.
‘Amr ibn ‘Ali and Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna informed us, from Yahya, from ‘Abd al-Malik, who said: Sa‘id ibn Jubayr narrated to us, from Ibn ‘Umar, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would pray on his mount while coming from Makkah to Madinah. Concerning this, the verse was revealed: “Wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah.”
Translation notes
The Arabic contains the quoted verse but not the English witness’s separate verse-reference footnote; that reference has not been imported.
أَخْبَرَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ عَلِيٍّ،
The English witness omits the isnad.
Confirm the full chain against the Arabic source.
Qutaybah ibn Sa‘id informed us, from Malik, from ‘Abdullah ibn Dinar, from Ibn ‘Umar, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would pray on his mount while traveling, facing whichever direction it turned. Malik said: ‘Abdullah ibn Dinar said that Ibn ‘Umar used to do the same.
Translation notes
أَخْبَرَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ،
The English witness omits the chain.
Confirm the isnad against the Arabic source.
Chapter 24
اسْتِبَانَةِ الْخَطَإِ بَعْدَ الاِجْتِهَادِ .
Qutaybah informed us, from Malik, from ‘Abdullah ibn Dinar, from Ibn ‘Umar, who said: While the people were at Quba’, praying Subh, someone came to them and said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ received revelation last night and has been commanded to face the Ka‘bah, so face it.” Their faces had been toward Syria, so they turned toward the Ka‘bah.
Translation notes
أَخْبَرَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ،
The English witness omits the chain.
Confirm the isnad against the Arabic source.