Chapter Five: The Description of Prayer

باب صِفَةَ الصَّلوة

بَابُ صِفَةِ الصَّلٰوةِ — The Chapter on the Description of the Prayer

This chapter is about the description of prayer.

And Allah Most High said:

وَمَآ اُمِرُوْٓا اِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللّٰهَ مُخْلِصِيْنَ لَهُ الدِّيْنَ

(al-Bayyina 98:5 — printed "Āyat 5, al-Bayyina")

Vocabulary: mukhliṣīn — those possessing ikhlāṣ [sincerity]; umirū — they were commanded (plural form of the past passive).

Translation: And they were commanded to worship Allah with ikhlāṣ (wholeheartedly, with sincerity of heart).

And Allah Most High said:

اِنَّ الصَّلٰوةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ كِتٰبًا مَّوْقُوْتًا

(al-Nisāʾ 4:103 — printed "Āyat 103, al-Nisāʾ")

Vocabulary: kitāban — obligatory; mawqūtan — at fixed times.

Translation: Indeed, prayer is obligatory upon the believers at fixed times.

And Allah Most High said:

يٰاَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْٓا اِذَا قُمْتُمْ اِلَى الصَّلٰوةِ فَاغْسِلُوْا وُجُوْهَكُمْ وَاَيْدِيَكُمْ اِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوْا بِرُءُوْسِكُمْ وَاَرْجُلَكُمْ اِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ

(al-Māʾida 5:6 — printed "Āyat 6, al-Māʾida")

Vocabulary: qumtum — you stood up; marāfiq — elbows; kaʿbayn — the two ankles.

Translation: O you who believe! When you rise (intend [to rise]) for prayer, then (first) wash your faces, and both hands up to the elbows,

… wash, and wipe over your heads, and wash your feet too, up to the ankles.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَاِنْ كُنْتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُوْا

(al-Māʾida 5:6)

Vocabulary: junuban — in a state of major ritual impurity (janāba), impure; fa-ṭṭahharū — become thoroughly purified, bathe.

Translation: And if you are junubī [in a state of major ritual impurity] (impure), then purify yourselves thoroughly (perform ghusl, the full ritual bath).

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَثِيَابَكَ فَطَهِّرْ

(al-Muddaththir 74:4)

Translation: And keep your garments in purity (that is, clean and pure).

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: خُذُوْا زِيْنَتَكُمْ عِنْدَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ

(al-Aʿrāf 7:31)

Vocabulary: zīnatakum — your adornment, your dressing-up, your finery; khudhū — take, put on.

Translation: Whenever you go to the mosque, adorn yourselves.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَلَا يُبْدِيْنَ زِيْنَتَهُنَّ اِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا

(al-Nūr 24:31)

Vocabulary: lā yubdīna — the women should not display; zīnatahunna — the adornment of those women.

Translation: And (those women) should not display their adornment, except those limbs which always remain uncovered.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ

(al-Baqara 2:144)

Vocabulary: fa-walli — so turn (imperative form); shaṭr — direction, side.

Translation: So in prayer turn your face toward the Masjid al-Ḥarām.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنْتُمْ فَوَلُّوْا وُجُوْهَكُمْ شَطْرَهٗ

(al-Baqara 2:143 [reading uncertain])

Translation: And Allah Most High said: "And wherever you may be, turn your faces toward its (the Kaʿba's) direction (at the time of prayer)."

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: اِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَاِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِيْنُ

(al-Fātiḥa 1:4 [reading uncertain])

Vocabulary: ʿabada yaʿbudu ʿibādatan — the worship of Allah, to serve Him as a slave; istiʿānat — to seek help; naʿbudu — we worship; nastaʿīnu — we seek help; iyyāka — You alone, from You alone, to You alone.

Translation: And Allah also said (that you should say, "O Allah!"): We worship, adore and serve You alone, and from You alone we seek help.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَقُوْمُوْا لِلّٰهِ قٰنِتِيْنَ

(al-Baqara 2:238)

Vocabulary: qūmū — stand up, remain standing (imperative plural form); its past and present forms are qāma yaqūmu; qānitīn — silent, quiet, with reverence.

Translation: And the command of Allah Most High is: (whenever you begin the prayer) stand before Allah with reverence.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَرَبَّكَ فَكَبِّرْ

(al-Muddaththir 74:3)

Translation: And the command of the Exalted Creator is: (O addressee!) proclaim the greatness of your Lord.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: فَاِذَا قَرَاْتَ الْقُرْاٰنَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللّٰهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطٰنِ الرَّجِيْمِ

(al-Naḥl 16:98)

Vocabulary: istiʿādha — to seek refuge, to go under someone's protection; shayṭān — Satan. Satan comes stealthily, in the same way as blood runs through the veins of the body. Satan's real name is Iblīs, and his title is Ustādh al-Malāʾika [the teacher of the angels]. The root of shayṭān is shaṭana, whose meanings are a long rope, and to fall far behind or be far away. He is therefore called shayṭān because in an instant he gets thousands of miles away. Even in the state of prayer this wretch tries to gain mastery over minds; he casts ever-new whisperings (waswasa). Therefore Allah Most High gave the command to recite the taʿawwudh ["I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed"]. Especially when one begins to recite the Qurʾān Majīd, it must certainly be recited; this very command is in this verse. If it is not recited, that will be called a failure to carry out an obligation.

Translation: And Allah Most High said (O addressee!): Whenever you recite the noble Qurʾān, ask for the refuge of Allah Most High from the accursed (mardūd) Satan (in order to be saved from his mischief and his whisperings. Because of Satan's mischief he has been called accursed; he was driven out of Paradise by being stoned).

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَذَكَرَ اسْمَ رَبِّهٖ فَصَلّٰى

(al-Aʿlā 87:15)

Translation: And the command of the Exalted is: And he remembered the name of his Lord and prayed. (He recited the tasbīḥ [glorification] and he prayed the ṣalāh.)

Gentlemen! Prayer too is a means of proclaiming the greatness of Allah Most High and of praising and extolling Him. Standing, sitting and lying in prostration, one sings His praise and glory and proclaims His greatness alone: "O my Lord! You are pure, most high and mighty. For You alone is all praise, all servitude, every act of worship." Just as one who recites the Qurʾān can say that he has spoken with Allah, so the one who prays can say that he has performed the ṣalāh. Ṣalāh has all three meanings: to pray the prayer, to recite blessings (durūd) and remembrance (dhikr), and to supplicate (duʿāʾ).

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: اَلَّذِيْنَ يَذْكُرُوْنَ اللّٰهَ قِيٰمًا وَّقُعُوْدًا وَّعَلٰى جُنُوْبِهِمْ

(Āl ʿImrān 3:191)

Translation: And Allah Most High says: (those people) who remember Allah while standing and sitting and upon their sides (while turning over).

Gentlemen! To fall asleep while lying down, or while drifting off to sleep, remembering Allah is a good habit. As the verse says:

"May I fall asleep saying 'Yā Muṣṭafā', / and may my eyes open saying 'Ṣalli ʿalā' [bless (him), O Allah]."

The remembrance of His Messenger too is the remembrance of Allah alone, because every movement of the Messenger was in obedience to the command of Allah. So if we remember the Messenger, he will be remembered along with one or another of his movements, and there every gesture was "kāna khuluquhu al-Qurʾān" [his character was the Qurʾān]. So the remembrance of the Beloved and of the Lover is not separate. Wherever Laylā is mentioned, Majnūn will inevitably remain included along with her.

People of course recite the Qurʾān Majīd while sitting or standing. But reciting the Qurʾān Majīd while lying down would be disrespectful. Reciting from memory (aloud), however, is no harm. Reciting while placing the Qurʾān on the chest, or keeping the arm open [reading uncertain], is included in disrespect.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَلَقَدْ اٰتَيْنٰكَ سَبْعًا مِّنَ الْمَثَانِيْ وَالْقُرْاٰنَ الْعَظِيْمَ

(al-Ḥijr 15:87, Pāra 14)

Vocabulary: sabʿan — seven; mathānī — that which comes again and again, that which is repeated. Sūrat al-Fātiḥa has several names: al-Fātiḥa, Nūr [reading uncertain], Shifāʾ, Ruqya, Shāfiya, Kāfiya, Umm al-Qurʾān. Among them, al-Sabʿ al-Mathānī is also its name. The reason for this is that this sūra is repeated in every rakʿa (unit) of the prayer, it is recited more than other sūras, and everyone remembers it easily. On the occasion of the Bismillāh ceremony [a child's first Qurʾān lesson], too, the child is made to recite this very sūra and the first five verses of Sūrat al-ʿAlaq. Because it is easily remembered and because it is the "summary of the Qurʾān", in the Fātiḥa recitation [for the deceased] Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ three times is included along with Sūrat al-Fātiḥa once. For when Sūrat al-Fātiḥa is recited once, Allah Most High grants the reward of one Qurʾān; and Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ, in which there is only the mention of the Oneness (tawḥīd) of the Creator Most High, earns its reciter the reward of one third (that is, 1/3) of the Qurʾān; therefore reciting it three times earns the reward of one complete Qurʾān. In this way, it is as if the one who recites the Fātiḥa [thus] obtains the reward of two Qurʾāns. From this one can estimate what immense loss abandoning it would cause.

Translation: And Allah Most High said: (O addressee!) We have granted you seven verses out of the verses fit to be recited again and again (the oft-repeated verses), and the Qurʾān of grandeur.

Gentlemen! Let it be remembered that the first addressee of the entire Qurʾān is undoubtedly the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself. In the world, too, the order for the appointment, transfer, suspension or reinstatement, etc., of even a low-ranking employee is not addressed to that employee, but to the official (officer) above him; the first addressee is that official, even though the purpose is to inform the subordinate employee.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: فَاقْرَءُوْا مَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنَ الْقُرْاٰنِ

(al-Muzzammil 73:20)

Vocabulary: iqraʾū — all of you recite (imperative, plural form); tayassara — is available [easy].

Translation: And the command of Allah Most High is: So recite of the Qurʾān whatever is available, that is, whatever is easy.

(The verses or sūras which you remember easily, or can recite easily, or as much as you are able — one juzʾ (pāra), half a pāra, at the least one or two short sūras — in any case, taking into account your business and occupations, do recite some of the Qurʾān. The Qurʾān is not merely for kissing it reverently [ziyārat] and leafing through its pages in a fortieth-day gathering [chehlum]; it is the complete system of practice (niẓām al-ʿamal) for life.)

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: فَاِذَا قُرِئَ الْقُرْاٰنُ فَاسْتَمِعُوْا لَهٗ وَاَنْصِتُوْا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُوْنَ

(al-Aʿrāf 7:204)

Vocabulary: quriʾa — was recited (passive form); istamiʿū — all of you listen (imperative form); anṣitū — remain silent; laʿalla — perhaps; laʿallakum — so that perhaps you; turḥamūn — you all may be shown mercy (passive form).

Translation: And the command of Allah Most High is: So when the Qurʾān is recited, lend your ears (listen attentively) and remain silent. (Let there be no noise or any kind of conversation there at that time.) Perhaps you will be shown mercy.

Gentlemen! In obedience to this verse, Ḥaḍrat Imām-e Aʿẓam Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allah have mercy on him) forbade the followers (muqtadīs) in congregational prayer from reciting Sūrat al-Fātiḥa and the closing [additional] sūra, and made it obligatory for them to stand silently and listen to the recitation of the imām. In this matter there is some difference among the other imāms, but this is incidental. Each one has tried, to the best of his ability, to understand the commands of Allah and the Messenger and to put his understanding (tafaqquh) to work on them.

According to Ḥaḍrat Imām al-Shāfiʿī (may Allah have mercy on him), the recitation of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa is necessary for the followers. Before him was the hadith in which it is said: "lā ṣalāta illā bi-fātiḥati al-kitāb" (there is no prayer without Sūrat al-Fātiḥa).

Ḥaḍrat Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) reconciled the sayings of these two teachers and imāms in this way (taṭābuq, that is, bringing about agreement and mutual harmony): the imām, after reciting Sūrat al-Fātiḥa, pauses a little, and in the meantime the followers recite Sūrat al-Fātiḥa.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: يٰٓاَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوا ارْكَعُوْا وَاسْجُدُوْا وَاعْبُدُوْا رَبَّكُمْ

(al-Ḥajj 22:77)

[reading uncertain]

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: رَحْمَتُ اللّٰهِ وَبَرَكٰتُهٗ عَلَيْكُمْ اَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ ؕ اِنَّهٗ حَمِيْدٌ مَّجِيْدٌ

(Hūd 11:73)

Translation: And the decree of Allah Most High is: (O household of Ibrāhīm!) The mercy of Allah and His blessings are upon you. (Do you wonder at the power and wisdom of Allah?) Without doubt He is most worthy of praise and of great majesty.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: رَبِّ اجْعَلْنِيْ مُقِيْمَ الصَّلٰوةِ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِيْ ۖ رَبَّنَا وَتَقَبَّلْ دُعَآءِ

(Ibrāhīm 14:40)

Vocabulary: ijʿalnī — make me; muqīm — one who establishes; dhurriyya — children, offspring, descendants.

Translation: And Allah said (on the tongue of Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him): O my Lord! Make me and my offspring establishers of the prayer (those who perform it regularly and as it ought to be performed). O our Lord! And accept my supplication.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لِيْ وَلِوَالِدَيَّ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ يَوْمَ يَقُوْمُ الْحِسَابُ

(Ibrāhīm 14:41)

Translation: Allah says (on the tongue of Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him): O our Lord! On the Day of Resurrection forgive me, my mother and father, and all the believers.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: فَسَلِّمُوْا عَلٰٓى اَنْفُسِكُمْ تَحِيَّةً مِّنْ عِنْدِ اللّٰهِ مُبٰرَكَةً طَيِّبَةً

(al-Nūr 24:61)

Translation: So say salām to your own people, as a supplication, which from Allah is a cause of blessing and goodness.

عَنْ اَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ "اِذَا قُمْتَ اِلَى الصَّلٰوةِ فَاَسْبِغِ الْوُضُوْءَ ثُمَّ اسْتَقْبِلِ الْقِبْلَةَ فَكَبِّرْ"

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: the Noble Prophet ﷺ said: "When you rise for the prayer, perform wuḍūʾ (ritual ablution) well, then turn your face toward the qibla, then say the takbīr [Allāhu akbar]."

(Al-Bukhārī and Muslim reported it.)

عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَرْفَعُ يَدَيْهِ حَذْوَ مَنْكِبَيْهِ اِذَا افْتَتَحَ الصَّلٰوةَ

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) (it is reported) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, at the time he began the prayer (that is, at the time of the takbīr al-taḥrīma, the opening takbīr), would raise both his hands level with his two shoulders. (The Shaykhayn, that is al-Bukhārī and Muslim, reported it.)

عَنْ مَالِكِ بْنِ الْحُوَيْرِثِ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ اِذَا كَبَّرَ رَفَعَ يَدَيْهِ حَتّٰى يُحَاذِيَ بِهِمَا اُذُنَيْهِ ـ وَفِيْ رِوَايَةٍ حَتّٰى يُحَاذِيَ بِهِمَا فُرُوْعَ اُذُنَيْهِ

(Reported by Muslim.) ☆

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Mālik ibn Ḥuwayrith (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported) that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said the takbīr (for the prayer), he would raise both his hands in line with (level with) his ears; and in one narration it is: until he brought both hands in line with (level with) the upper part of the ears. (Muslim reported it.)

عَنْ عَلْقَمَةَ بْنِ وَائِلِ بْنِ حُجْرٍ عَنْ اَبِيْهِ قَالَ: رَاَيْتُ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَضَعُ يَمِيْنَهٗ عَلٰى شِمَالِهٖ تَحْتَ السُّرَّةِ

(Reported by Ibn Abī Shayba; its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Translation: Ḥaḍrat ʿAlqama ibn Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr (reports) from his father; he said: I saw the Prophet ﷺ placing his right hand upon his left hand below the navel.

(Ibn Abī Shayba reported it; its chain of narration [isnād] is sound.)

عَنْ نُعَيْمٍ الْمُجْمِرِ قَالَ صَلَّيْتُ وَرَاءَ اَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ فَقَرَاَ "بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ" ثُمَّ قَرَاَ بِاُمِّ الْقُرْاٰنِ حَتّٰى اِذَا بَلَغَ "غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوْبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّآلِّيْنَ" فَقَالَ "اٰمِيْن" فَقَالَ النَّاسُ "اٰمِيْن" وَيَقُوْلُ كُلَّمَا سَجَدَ اَللّٰهُ اَكْبَرُ وَاِذَا قَامَ مِنَ الْجُلُوْسِ فِي الْاِثْنَتَيْنِ قَالَ اَللّٰهُ اَكْبَرُ وَاِذَا سَلَّمَ قَالَ وَالَّذِيْ نَفْسِيْ بِيَدِهٖ اِنِّيْ لَاَشْبَهُكُمْ صَلٰوةً بِرَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

(Reported by al-Nasāʾī, al-Ṭaḥāwī, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn al-Jārūd, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ḥākim and al-Bayhaqī; and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

☆ [Footnote:] And the way of reconciling the two hadiths, that is, those of Ibn ʿUmar and Mālik ibn Ḥuwayrith, is that the one praying raises both his hands level with the shoulders in such a way that the tips of his fingers are level with the upper ends of both ears, his thumbs opposite the earlobes, and his palms level with the shoulders. So there is no difference between us and the Shāfiʿīs. And know that raising the hands at the changes between the pillars (arkān) of the prayer, after raising them for the takbīr al-taḥrīma, is established by a separate hadith, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ later abandoned it and did not act upon it. Further, it is not established from the Companions that they did so, and some of them forbade it. The hadith narrated by Tamīm ibn Ṭarafa from Jābir ibn Samura (may Allah be pleased with him) proves this. (al-Majhūd fī Ḥall Abī Dāwūd [reading uncertain])

Vocabulary: umm al-Qurʾān — Sūrat al-Fātiḥa (among its several other names, this too is one); julūs — the sitting posture; kullamā — whenever; ashbahu — more resembling; ithnatayn — the number two (meaning two rakʿas).

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Nuʿaym al-Mujmir (it is reported); he said: "I prayed behind Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him). He recited bismi'llāhi al-raḥmāni al-raḥīm, then recited Sūrat al-Fātiḥa, until, when he reached 'ghayri al-maghḍūbi ʿalayhim wa-lā al-ḍāllīn', he said Āmīn; then the people also said Āmīn. And whenever he went into prostration he would say 'Allāhu akbar', and when he rose from the sitting after two rakʿas he said 'Allāhu akbar'. And when he turned for the salām [to end the prayer] he said: 'By the One in whose hand is my life, without doubt, among you, I am the most similar in prayer to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.'"

(Al-Nasāʾī, al-Ṭaḥāwī, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn al-Jārūd, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ḥākim and al-Bayhaqī reported it, and its chain is sound.)

عَنِ الْاَسْوَدِ بْنِ يَزِيْدَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ رَاَيْتُ عُمَرَ بْنَ الْخَطَّابِ حِيْنَ افْتَتَحَ الصَّلٰوةَ كَبَّرَ ثُمَّ قَالَ "سُبْحٰنَكَ اللّٰهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ وَتَبَارَكَ اسْمُكَ وَتَعَالٰى جَدُّكَ وَلَا اِلٰهَ غَيْرُكَ"، ثُمَّ يَتَعَوَّذُ

(Reported by al-Dāraquṭnī, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Aswad ibn Yazīd (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: I saw ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) that when he began the prayer he would say the takbīr (that is, Allāhu akbar — the takbīr al-taḥrīma), then he would say "subḥānaka'llāhumma wa-bi-ḥamdika wa-tabāraka'smuka wa-taʿālā jadduka wa-lā ilāha ghayruka" [Glory be to You, O Allah, and with Your praise; blessed is Your name, exalted is Your majesty, and there is no god other than You], then "aʿūdhu bi'llāhi mina al-shayṭāni al-rajīm". (Al-Dāraquṭnī reported it, and its chain is sound.)

عَنْ اَنَسٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ صَلَّيْتُ خَلْفَ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَاَبِيْ بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمْ فَلَمْ اَسْمَعْ اَحَدًا مِّنْهُمْ يَجْهَرُ "بِبِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ"

(Reported by al-Nasāʾī and others.)

Vocabulary: khalfa — behind; lam asmaʿ — I did not hear; yajharu — recites aloud.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: I have prayed behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Abū Bakr, ʿUmar and ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with them). I did not hear any of them reciting "bismi'llāhi al-raḥmāni al-raḥīm" aloud. (Al-Nasāʾī and others reported it.)

عَنْ اَبِيْ سَعِيْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ اُمِرْنَا اَنْ نَّقْرَاَ بِفَاتِحَةِ الْكِتَابِ وَمَا تَيَسَّرَ

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd, Aḥmad, Abū Yaʿlā and Ibn Ḥibbān, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Abū Saʿīd (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: We have been commanded to recite "Fātiḥat al-Kitāb" (that is, Sūrat al-Fātiḥa) and (besides it) whatever is easy.

(Abū Dāwūd, Imām Aḥmad, Abū Yaʿlā and Ibn Ḥibbān reported it, and its chain is sound.)

رَوٰى اَبُوْ هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ "مَنْ صَلّٰى صَلٰوةً لَمْ يَقْرَاْ فِيْهَا بِاُمِّ الْقُرْاٰنِ فَهِيَ خِدَاجٌ، غَيْرُ تَمَامٍ" فَقَالَ لَهٗ حَامِلُ الْحَدِيْثِ اِنِّيْ اَكُوْنُ اَحْيَانًا وَّرَاءَ الْاِمَامِ قَالَ اقْرَاْ بِهَا فِيْ نَفْسِكَ

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)

Vocabulary: umm — mother, the greatest thing; umm al-Qurʾān — the greatest and most important thing in the Qurʾān (that is, Sūrat al-Fātiḥa); khidāj — incomplete, deficient; ḥāmil — one who carries a load, who lifts it; ḥāmil al-ḥadīth — one who narrates a hadith, the narrator; aḥyānan — sometimes, by chance.

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever prays a prayer and does not recite Sūrat al-Fātiḥa in it, it is deficient, not complete." The narrator (who narrated from Abū Hurayra) said to him: "Sometimes I am behind the imām" (that is, should Sūrat al-Fātiḥa be recited even in such a situation?). (Abū Hurayra) said: "In such a situation recite it in your heart." (Al-Tirmidhī reported it.)

عَنْ جَابِرٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ "مَنْ كَانَ لَهٗ اِمَامٌ فَقِرَاءَةُ الْاِمَامِ لَهٗ قِرَاءَةٌ" ☆

(Reported by Ibn Manīʿ, and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan in al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, and al-Ṭaḥāwī and al-Dāraquṭnī; and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Whoever has an imām, the recitation of the imām is his recitation."

(Ibn Manīʿ, and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan in the Muwaṭṭaʾ, and al-Ṭaḥāwī and al-Dāraquṭnī reported it, and its chain is sound.)

☆ [Footnote:] رَوَاهُ اَبُوْ حَنِيْفَةَ وَسُفْيَانُ وَشَرِيْكٌ عَنْ مُوْسَى ابْنِ اَبِيْ عَائِشَةَ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ شَدَّادٍ عَنْ جَابِرٍ مَرْفُوْعًا

Translation: This hadith was narrated by Imām Abū Ḥanīfa, Sufyān and Sharīk from Mūsā ibn Abī ʿĀʾisha, and he from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shaddād, and he from Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him), as marfūʿ.

Marfūʿ: a hadith is so called which reaches the Noble Prophet ﷺ with an unbroken chain of narrators.

Mawqūf: a hadith which reaches as far as a Companion; that is, a Companion has related some saying or action of the Prophet ﷺ on his own account [reading uncertain].

Maqṭūʿ: one that ends at a Successor (tābiʿī); that is, the first narrator is some tābiʿī. A tābiʿī is one who was blessed with the company of some Companion, and one who obtained the company of some tābiʿī is called a tabʿ-e tābiʿī [Successor of the Successors].

Let it not remain hidden that, with respect to the standard [of authenticity] of hadiths, the jurists have laid down approximately forty-one (41) categories of their technical names, the details of which have been given in the introduction to this very book. (See Ad-Dīn, Part One, Kitāb al-ʿIlm.)

عَنْ اَبِيْ مُوْسٰى رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ عَلَّمَنَا رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ـ قَالَ اِذَا قُمْتُمْ اِلَى الصَّلٰوةِ فَلْيَؤُمَّكُمْ اَحَدُكُمْ وَاِذَا قَرَاَ الْاِمَامُ فَاَنْصِتُوْا

(Reported by Aḥmad and Muslim, and it is a ṣaḥīḥ hadith.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ taught us. He said: "When you stand for the (obligatory, farḍ) prayer, let one of you lead you as imām, and when the imām recites (reads), then you remain silent." (Imām Aḥmad and Muslim reported it, and this hadith is sound.)

عَنْ وَائِلِ ابْنِ حُجْرٍ قَالَ صَلّٰى بِنَا رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَلَمَّا قَرَاَ "غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوْبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّآلِّيْنَ" قَالَ "اٰمِيْن" وَاَخْفٰى بِهَا صَوْتَهٗ وَوَضَعَ يَدَهُ الْيُمْنٰى عَلٰى يَدِهِ الْيُسْرٰى وَسَلَّمَ عَنْ يَّمِيْنِهٖ وَعَنْ يَّسَارِهٖ

(Reported by Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd, al-Ṭayālisī, al-Dāraquṭnī and al-Ḥākim.)

Vocabulary: fa-lammā — so when; akhfā — he made it light, lowered it; akhfā bihā ṣawtahu — he lowered his voice with it; waḍaʿa — he placed; yaduhu al-yumnā — his right hand; yamīn — right; yasār — left; yamīn wa-yasār — right and left.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ led us in prayer. Then when he recited "ghayri al-maghḍūbi ʿalayhim wa-lā al-ḍāllīn", he said "Āmīn", and with it he lowered his voice. And he placed his right hand upon his left hand, and he gave the salām toward his right side (first) (and then afterwards) toward his left side. (Imām Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd, al-Ṭayālisī, al-Dāraquṭnī and al-Ḥākim reported it.)

عَنِ الْحَسَنِ عَنْ سَمُرَةَ بْنِ جُنْدُبٍ قَالَ سَكْتَتَانِ حَفِظْتُهُمَا عَنْ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَاَنْكَرَ ذٰلِكَ عِمْرَانُ بْنُ حُصَيْنٍ فَكَتَبَا اِلٰى اُبَيِّ بْنِ كَعْبٍ بِالْمَدِيْنَةِ ـ فَكَتَبَ اُبَيٌّ اَنْ حَفِظَ سَمُرَةُ قَالَ سَعِيْدٌ مَا هَاتَانِ السَّكْتَتَانِ؟ قَالَ اِذَا دَخَلَ فِي الصَّلٰوةِ وَاِذَا فَرَغَ مِنَ الْقِرَاءَةِ ثُمَّ قَالَ بَعْدَ ذٰلِكَ وَاِذَا قَرَاَ "وَلَا الضَّآلِّيْنَ" قَالَ وَكَانَ يُعْجِبُهٗ اِذَا فَرَغَ مِنَ الْقِرَاءَةِ اَنْ يَّسْكُتَ حَتّٰى يَتَرَادَّ اِلَيْهِ نَفَسُهٗ

[reading uncertain]

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)

Vocabulary: sakta — a pause, a stop, to be silent; saktatān — two pauses; ḥafiẓtuhumā — I memorised both of them, retained them in memory; ankara — he denied, did not accept; ḥattā yatarādda — until it returns.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Ḥasan (may Allah have mercy on him), by way of Ḥaḍrat Samura ibn Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported) that he said: I had retained in memory two pauses from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn (may Allah be pleased with him) denied them (declared it mistaken). So both of them (that is, Samura ibn Jundub and ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn) wrote a letter to Ḥaḍrat Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allah be pleased with him), who was in Madīna. Ḥaḍrat Ubayy (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote in reply that Samura had remembered (correctly). Saʿīd said: we said to Qatāda (may Allah have mercy on him): "What are these two pauses?" He said: when he entered the prayer (that is, after beginning the prayer), one pause (the Prophet ﷺ would make; and the other) when he finished the recitation. Then after that (Qatāda) said: "and when he recited 'wa-lā al-ḍāllīn'." He

said: He ﷺ liked that, when he finished the recitation, he would remain silent until his breath returned to him (that is, until he began to breathe at ease). (Al-Tirmidhī reported it.)

Gentlemen! Let this matter be clear: these pauses are not the pauses of tajwīd (the art of correct Qurʾānic recitation); rather they are pauses made in the state of prayer. Ḥaḍrat Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allah be pleased with him) is among those five Companions from whom the transmission of tajwīd — that is, reciting the Qurʾān Majīd in the correct manner — has come down. Otherwise, many Companions (may Allah's good pleasure be upon them all) heard the Qurʾān Majīd according to correct principles from our master Muḥammad al-Muṣṭafā ﷺ; but the chain of the recitation (qirāʾa) of the Word of Allah that generally spread is from the following five Companions.

[Chart — chain of transmission of the recitation:]

Ḥaḍrat Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ

← from him: Sayyidunā ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him), 35 AH; Sayyidunā ʿAlī al-Murtaḍā (may Allah be pleased with him), 40 AH; Sayyidunā ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him), 32 AH; Sayyidunā Zayd ibn Thābit (may Allah be pleased with him), 45 AH; Sayyidunā Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allah be pleased with him), 19 AH.

← from them: Sayyidunā ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb al-Sulamī (may Allah be pleased with him) — arrows to all five Companions; Sayyidunā Zirr ibn Ḥubaysh al-Asadī (may Allah be pleased with him) — arrow to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd; Sayyidunā Saʿd ibn Iyās al-Shaybānī — arrow to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd.

← from these three: Sayyidunā ʿĀṣim al-Kūfī (may Allah have mercy on him), 127 AH.

← from him: Sayyidunā Ḥafṣ (may Allah have mercy on him), 180 AH.

From this chart it is evident that the chain of tajwīd spread throughout the whole world from these five Companions.

There are seven imāms of this science of tajwīd. Each one of them has two narrators or students. All these imāms are as follows:

(1) Ḥaḍrat Nāfiʿ al-Madanī. He was the slave of Ḥaḍrat Aslam (may Allah be pleased with him), the son of Ḥaḍrat ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) [reading uncertain], but he is the first master (ustādh) of the science of tajwīd, and he was a muḥaddith (hadith scholar) and a practising scholar of his time. His burial place too is in Jannat al-Baqīʿ; he rests right beside the grave of Ḥaḍrat Imām Mālik. He was also the teacher of Ḥaḍrat Imām Mālik. His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat "Qālūn" and his second narrator is "Warsh".

(2) The second imām is Ḥaḍrat Ibn Kathīr al-Makkī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat "Bazzī" and his second narrator is "Qunbul".

(3) The third imām is Ḥaḍrat Abū ʿAmr al-Baṣrī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first successor (khalīfa) is "Dūrī" and his second narrator is "Sūsī Abū Shuʿayb".

(4) The fourth imām is Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿĀmir al-Shāmī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat "Hishām" (may Allah have mercy on him) and his second narrator is Ḥaḍrat Ibn Dhakwān (may Allah have mercy on him).

(5) The fifth imām is Ḥaḍrat ʿĀṣim al-Kūfī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat Shuʿba and his second narrator is Ḥaḍrat Ḥafṣ (may Allah have mercy on him).

(6) The sixth imām is Ḥaḍrat Ḥamza al-Kūfī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat Khalaf and his second narrator is Ḥaḍrat Khallād.

(7) The seventh imām is Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī al-Kisāʾī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat Dūrī Kūfī [reading uncertain] and his second narrator is Ḥaḍrat Abu'l-Ḥārith Layth.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

(8) Ḥaḍrat Abū Jaʿfar Yazīd [ibn] Qaʿqāʿ al-Madanī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat Ibn Wardān and his second narrator is Ḥaḍrat Ibn Jammāz.

(9) Ḥaḍrat Yaʿqūb al-Baṣrī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat Ruways and his second narrator is Ḥaḍrat Rawḥ.

(10) Ḥaḍrat Khalaf al-Kūfī (may Allah have mercy on him). His first narrator is Ḥaḍrat Isḥāq and his second narrator is Ḥaḍrat Idrīs.

In Hindustan and in most Islamic countries it is the recitation (qirāʾa) of Ḥaḍrat ʿĀṣim al-Kūfī (may Allah have mercy on him) that is customary. Ḥaḍrat Imām-e Aʿẓam Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allah have mercy on him) himself was also his student. The vowel and diacritical marks (iʿrāb wa-ḥarakāt) on the printed Qurʾān Majīd currently available have in general been placed according to the narration (riwāya) of Ḥaḍrat Ḥafṣ (may Allah have mercy on him), the second narrator of Ḥaḍrat ʿĀṣim al-Kūfī (may Allah have mercy on him). And it is his chain of recitation that is most widespread and generally current.

This faqīr [the author, referring to himself] too completed tajwīd in this same chain from his younger maternal uncle, Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā Sayyid ʿUmar Ṣāḥib Qibla (may Allah have mercy on him), and every year in the month of Ramaḍān, at the rate of one pāra daily, has his students complete the whole Qurʾān according to this same narration, and also gives them a sanad (certificate of transmission). The science of tajwīd reached this faqīr from Ḥaḍrat Ḥafṣ (may Allah have mercy on him) through (27) intermediaries [reading uncertain].

For the details of this science: for the seven readings (qirāʾāt sabʿa), "Matn al-Shāṭibiyya fi'l-Qirāʾāt al-Sabʿ" of Mawlānā Abū Muḥammad Qāsim al-Shāṭibī (may Allah have mercy on him) in Arabic; and for the ten readings (qirāʾāt ʿashara), (1) "al-Nashr fi'l-Qirāʾāt al-ʿAshr" and (2) "Muqaddimat al-Jazarī" by Mawlānā Abu'l-Khayr Muḥammad Shams al-Dīn al-Jazarī, in the Arabic language, are famous and accepted books. In Persian, Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq Muḥaddith Dihlawī's (may Allah have mercy on him) "Sharḥ-e Jazarī"; and Mawlānā Qārī Karāmat ʿAlī Jaunpūrī's (may Allah have mercy on him) "Sharḥ-e Jazarī" in both Persian and Urdu; and Mawlānā Maḥmūd ibn Ṣibghat Allāh Madrāsī's "Sharḥ-e Shāṭibiyya" in Urdu, are very well known.

Among the people of Hyderabad, Qārī Mīr Rawshan ʿAlī Ṣāḥib wrote two brief but comprehensive treatises under the name "Ḥirz al-Ṣibyān fī Ṭalab Tajwīd al-Qurʾān" [reading uncertain], and Qārī Munīr ʿAlī Ṣāḥib wrote a book under the name "Khulāṣat al-Tajwīd". Now books on this art are being written everywhere and in every language, and some enthusiasm is growing among people for reading the Qurʾān Sharīf in the correct manner. The manner of reading the Qurʾān Majīd that is commonly current is incorrect, and in some places, by changing the meaning and sense, it turns into kufr (unbelief).

In tajwīd it is necessary to observe the following five matters:

(1) Makhārij al-ḥurūf [the points of articulation of the letters]: each letter has a particular point of articulation (makhraj) and manner of pronunciation. Through a slight change the meanings sometimes change.

(2) Ṣifāt al-ḥurūf [the characteristics of the letters]: while being pronounced from the point of articulation, the letters leave the mouth after certain further matters have been observed. The characteristics of the letters are

(17) in number.

(3) How should these letters be begun?

(4) How should their waṣl, that is their mutual joining, be done?

(5) Waqf [stopping]: which matters must be observed when stopping?

Recitation is generally done in three ways; this is called its pace (raftār). (1) Tartīl: pronouncing each letter at ease and joining it to the next letter, and observing the composition of the word — joining [the letters] together. (2) Tadwīr: reading at a fast pace, but with adherence to the principles and rules. — "ḥattā yatarādda nafasuhu": until the breath returns, that is, until breath begins to come at ease. (3) Taḥdīr: that is, reading slowly. [reading uncertain]

In tajwīd, "sakta" is the name for stopping for a little while, without taking breath, during the recitation of the Word of Allah. In the whole of the Qurʾān Majīd the places of explicit sakta are only four.

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ مَسْعُوْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ كَانَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يُكَبِّرُ فِيْ كُلِّ خَفْضٍ وَّرَفْعٍ وَّقِيَامٍ وَّقُعُوْدٍ وَّاَبُوْ بَكْرٍ وَّعُمَرُ

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)

Vocabulary: kabira yakbaru kibaran — to grow older in age; kabura yakburu kubran — to be great in body, in stature or in rank; kabbara yukabbiru takbīran — to say Allāhu akbar; kāna yukabbiru — he used to say the takbīr (continuous past); khafḍ — ease, comfort, lowness; rafʿ — height; qiyām wa-quʿūd — rising and sitting (in the prayer).

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to say the takbīr (in the prayer) at every lowering and raising and at the time of rising and sitting, and in the same way Abū Bakr and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them) also used to do. (Al-Tirmidhī reported it.)

عَنْ مَالِكِ بْنِ الْحُوَيْرِثِ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّهٗ رَاَى النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ رَفَعَ يَدَيْهِ فِيْ صَلٰوتِهٖ وَاِذَا رَكَعَ وَاِذَا رَفَعَ رَاْسَهٗ مِنَ الرُّكُوْعِ وَاِذَا سَجَدَ وَاِذَا رَفَعَ رَاْسَهٗ مِنَ السُّجُوْدِ يُحَاذِيْ بِهِمَا فُرُوْعَ اُذُنَيْهِ

(Reported by al-Nasāʾī, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Vocabulary: rafaʿa yarfaʿu rafʿan — to lift, to raise; rafuʿa yarfuʿu rifāʿatan — to be high in worth or rank, to be elevated; rafaʿa yadayhi — he raised both his hands; yuḥādhī bihimā — bringing the two of them level with; udhunayhi — both his ears.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Mālik ibn Ḥuwayrith (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported) that he saw the Prophet ﷺ raising both his hands in his prayer, and when he went into rukūʿ (bowing), and when he raised his head from rukūʿ, and when he prostrated, and when from prostration

he raised his head (that is, he saw him raising his hands at these changes of posture too), until he brought them (that is, both hands) level with the upper part of his ears. (Al-Nasāʾī reported it, and its chain is sound.)

عَنْ عَلْقَمَةَ قَالَ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللّٰهِ بْنُ مَسْعُوْدٍ اَلَا اُصَلِّيْ بِكُمْ صَلٰوةَ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ؟ فَصَلّٰى فَلَمْ يَرْفَعْ يَدَيْهِ اِلَّا فِيْ اَوَّلِ مَرَّةٍ

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī, and it is a ṣaḥīḥ hadith.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat ʿAlqama (it is reported); he said that Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Shall I not lead you in the prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?" Then he prayed, and he did not raise both his hands except the first time. ☆ (Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī reported it, and it is a sound hadith.)

☆ [Footnote:] حَكَى ابْنُ عُيَيْنَةَ اَنَّ اَبَا حَنِيْفَةَ اجْتَمَعَ مَعَ الْاَوْزَاعِيِّ بِمَكَّةَ فِيْ دَارِ الْحَنَّاطِيْنَ فَقَالَ الْاَوْزَاعِيُّ مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَرْفَعُوْنَ اَيْدِيَكُمْ عِنْدَ الرُّكُوْعِ وَعِنْدَ الرَّفْعِ فَقَالَ لِاَنَّهٗ لَمْ يَصِحَّ عَنْ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِيْهِ شَيْءٌ ـ فَقَالَ الْاَوْزَاعِيُّ كَيْفَ لَمْ يَصِحَّ وَقَدْ حَدَّثَنِي الزُّهْرِيُّ عَنْ سَالِمٍ عَنْ اَبِيْهِ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ يَرْفَعُ يَدَيْهِ اِذَا افْتَتَحَ الصَّلٰوةَ وَعِنْدَ الرُّكُوْعِ وَعِنْدَ الرَّفْعِ مِنْهُ فَقَالَ اَيْ اَبُوْ حَنِيْفَةَ حَدَّثَنَا حَمَّادٌ عَنْ اِبْرَاهِيْمَ عَنْ عَلْقَمَةَ وَالْاَسْوَدِ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ ابْنِ مَسْعُوْدٍ اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ لَا يَرْفَعُ يَدَيْهِ اِلَّا عِنْدَ افْتِتَاحِ الصَّلٰوةِ ثُمَّ لَا يَعُوْدُ لِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ ذٰلِكَ فَقَالَ الْاَوْزَاعِيُّ اُحَدِّثُكَ عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ عَنْ سَالِمٍ عَنْ اَبِيْهِ وَتَقُوْلُ حَدَّثَنِيْ حَمَّادٌ عَنْ اِبْرَاهِيْمَ ـ فَقَالَ اَبُوْ حَنِيْفَةَ كَانَ حَمَّادٌ اَفْقَهَ مِنْ سَالِمٍ وَعَلْقَمَةُ لَيْسَ بِدُوْنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ فِي الْفِقْهِ وَاِنْ كَانَ لِابْنِ عُمَرَ فَضْلُ صُحْبَةٍ وَلِلْاَسْوَدِ فَضْلٌ كَثِيْرٌ وَعَبْدُ اللّٰهِ عَبْدُ اللّٰهِ ـ

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿUyayna related that Ḥaḍrat Abū Ḥanīfa met al-Awzāʿī in Makka, in the house of the wheat merchants. Al-Awzāʿī said: "What has happened to you that you do not raise your hands at rukūʿ and after rising from rukūʿ?" Ḥaḍrat Abū Ḥanīfa said: "Because that is not established from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ." Al-Awzāʿī said: "Why is it not established, when al-Zuhrī, narrating from Sālim and (he) from his father (ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him) [reading uncertain], told me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when he began the prayer, and when he went into rukūʿ, and on rising from it, used to raise his hands?" Then he [Abū Ḥanīfa] said that Ḥammād (narrated) from Ibrāhīm, and (he) from ʿAlqama and Aswad, and they from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, that the Prophet ﷺ did not raise his hands except at the beginning of the prayer, and thereafter he did not repeat it at any point. Then al-Awzāʿī said: "I am narrating a hadith to you on the authority of al-Zuhrī, Sālim and his father, and you are narrating to me the hadith of Ḥammād and Ibrāhīm?" Then Abū Ḥanīfa, having heard this, answered: "Ḥammād was more learned in jurisprudence than Sālim, and ʿAlqama too was not less than Ibn ʿUmar (that is, Ḥaḍrat Sālim) [reading uncertain] in fiqh. And although Ibn ʿUmar had the virtue of being a Companion, Aswad had very great virtue (by reason of being older in age than Sālim), and ʿAbd Allāh (ibn Masʿūd) was, after all, ʿAbd Allāh." (That is, there is no answer to him [none can equal him].)

Gentlemen! In the month of fasting [Ramaḍān] of 1348 AH [reading uncertain] this faqīr travelled to Baghdad Sharīf in connection with the Ḥajj and the visitation (ziyāra) of the sacred places. There, in the mosque of the shrine (rawḍa) of Ḥaḍrat Ghawth al-Aʿẓam [Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī], the Ḥanafīs performed the obligatory prayer behind the Ḥanafī imām and the Ḥanbalīs behind the Ḥanbalī imām, separately. In the Maghrib prayer (since its recitation is aloud), when the following (iqtidāʾ) of two imāms went on separately, it was generally difficult to know which takbīr was the Ḥanafī imām's and which the Ḥanbalī imām's. I felt extreme amazement and sorrow that Muslims hold so much difference over small matters and minor (juzʾī) issues, whereas it is an agreed issue of fiqh that whether one is Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, Mālikī or Ḥanbalī, one can perform the prayer following any one imām.

Gentlemen! These four imāms were, each in his own era, extremely pious and upright, honest, learned and jurists (faqīh). It is the favour of these gentlemen that, after examining the issues of religion and matching them against the Qurʾān, hadith and the practice of the Companions, they made clear those difficulties of which the generality of Muslims were unaware. The accusation against these imāms that any one of them decided anything by his own opinion is baseless. Ḥāshā kallā — never did such a thing happen! The faqīr has explained these disputed issues with some clarity in his short treatise "Ikhtilāfāt-e Aʾimma" [The Differences of the Imāms].

The fact is that the Noble Prophet ﷺ, in some matters, gave some particular command having regard to the circumstances of the time, and whichever of these imāms came upon the hadith in his research, he acted upon it. And sometimes, in the meaning and sense of the Qurʾānic words, they had regard to their own environment. Here, by way of example, I will briefly mention "masḥ-e raʾs" (wiping the head) and "lams-e nisāʾ" (touching women). In the Qurʾān it is:

اِذَا قُمْتُمْ اِلَى الصَّلٰوةِ فَاغْسِلُوْا وُجُوْهَكُمْ وَاَيْدِيَكُمْ اِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوْا بِرُءُوْسِكُمْ وَاَرْجُلَكُمْ اِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ

(al-Māʾida 5:6, Pāra 6)

(Translation: Whenever you stand for the prayer (that is, get ready, then before that) wash your faces, and your hands along with (including) the elbows, and wipe the head, and wash the feet including the ankles.) In obedience to this command all four imāms perform the wiping (masḥ); however, as to up to how much of the head the wiping should be done, each imām has used his own understanding (tafaqquh). Ḥaḍrat Imām Mālik (may Allah have mercy on him) considers touching the whole head necessary. Ḥaḍrat Imām-e Aʿẓam (may Allah have mercy on him) declared the wiping of a quarter of the head farḍ (obligatory), but the wiping of the whole head sunna. Ḥaḍrat Imām al-Shāfiʿī (may Allah have mercy on him), interpreting masḥ in the general sense of touching, held that touching any part of the head with wet hands is necessary. Well, let someone tell me: who denies the wiping of the head? However, in "taʿyīn-e ḥiṣṣa-e sar" (fixing the portion of the head) each one's point of view is different.

The issue of "lams-e nisāʾ" is likewise. In the Qurʾān it is:

اَوْ جَآءَ اَحَدٌ مِّنْكُمْ مِّنَ الْغَآئِطِ اَوْ لٰمَسْتُمُ النِّسَآءَ

(al-Nisāʾ 4:43, Pāra 5)

(Translation: Or one of you comes from the privy, or touches women …) The literal meaning of "lams-e nisāʾ" is touching women. In the sense of this touching, Ḥaḍrat Imām al-Shāfiʿī (may Allah have mercy on him) declared that a non-maḥram man's touching a woman is a cause of the nullification of wuḍūʾ. [But] the meaning of "lams-e nisāʾ" is intimacy. In our language, Urdu, too, the sense of "laying a hand on" is intimacy or intercourse. If some man has relations with a woman, she will not say that the man had intercourse; rather she will say that so-and-so laid a hand on me. Having regard to this sense, Ḥaḍrat Imām-e Aʿẓam (may Allah have mercy on him) made intercourse the condition, whether there is emission or not. Before him were those

hadiths too, that the Noble Prophet ﷺ would be praying and Bībī ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her) would touch him with her hand. Bībī ʿĀʾisha would be resting in her chamber and the Noble Prophet ﷺ would be performing the tahajjud prayer. The space in the room was small. When the Master ﷺ had to prostrate, he would move Bībī ʿĀʾisha's foot slightly aside with his hand, and Bībī [ʿĀʾisha] would draw in her feet. In the hadiths it also comes that the Master ﷺ, while fasting, on his way to the mosque, would sometimes kiss one of his wives and go on, and perform the prayer in the mosque (and would not perform any fresh wuḍūʾ). Since Ḥaḍrat Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) is a student of Ḥaḍrat Imām al-Shāfiʿī (may Allah have mercy on him), and Imām al-Shāfiʿī a student of Ḥaḍrat Imām Muḥammad (may Allah have mercy on him), and the teacher of Ḥaḍrat Imām Muḥammad is Ḥaḍrat Imām-e Aʿẓam Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allah have mercy on him), therefore Ḥaḍrat Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) tried to link together and bring closer such issues where there is some difference between the Ḥanafīs and the Shāfiʿīs. Thus in the issue of "lams-e nisāʾ" he made this condition necessary as well: that a man's touching a woman with desire (shahwa) is "nullifying of wuḍūʾ". In the same way he brought about agreement in the issue of "masḥ-e raʾs" too. In short, the differences of these imāms are in secondary matters (furūʿī); they do not affect the obligatory (farāʾiḍ) and necessary (wājibāt) acts. Every imām declared the fulfilment of the farḍ necessary.

Some modernist people follow one imām in one issue, and in another issue adopt the taqlīd (following) of another imām. This too is improper. The meaning of taqlīd is that, of the imām whose taqlīd is done, one's certainty in him should first be complete; otherwise it will not be taqlīd — it becomes a "mutual-aid society". Just as in a lawsuit people appoint only one advocate, and for the treatment of a patient they turn to a practitioner (doctor or ṭabīb) of one single method of treatment, in the same way taqlīd too should be of one imām only. Wa-mā tawfīqī illā bi'llāh [and my success is only through Allah].

عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ سَمُرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَ خَرَجَ عَلَيْنَا رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ مَا لِيْ اَرَاكُمْ رَافِعِيْ اَيْدِيْكُمْ كَاَذْنَابِ خَيْلٍ شُمُسٍ ـ اُسْكُنُوْا فِي الصَّلٰوةِ

(Reported by Muslim; and likewise Aḥmad recorded it in his Musnad, and al-Nasāʾī.)

Vocabulary: adhnāb — plural of dhanab, tail; ka-adhnāb — like tails; khayl — troop, group, herd of horses; khayl shums — the horses of the tribe of Shums; shums — a tribe of the Arabs; uskunū — be still, remain at ease.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Jābir ibn Samura (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out to us, then said: "What is the matter with me (that is, what is the reason) that I see you raising your hands like the tails of horses? Remain still in the prayer."

(Muslim reported it, and Imām Aḥmad in his Musnad and al-Nasāʾī recorded it in the same way.)

عَنْ اَبِيْ اِسْحَاقَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ كَانَ اَصْحَابُ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ وَاَصْحَابُ عَلِيٍّ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ لَا يَرْفَعُوْنَ اَيْدِيَهُمْ اِلَّا فِي افْتِتَاحِ الصَّلٰوةِ قَالَ وَكِيْعٌ ثُمَّ لَا يَعُوْدُوْنَ

(Reported by Ibn Abī Shayba, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Translation: From Abū Isḥāq (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said that those who kept company with Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd Allāh (may Allah be pleased with him) and those who kept company with Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) did not raise their hands except at the beginning of the prayer. Wakīʿ said: then they did not do it again (that is, they did not repeat or redo "rafʿ al-yadayn" [raising the hands] except at the beginning).

(Ibn Abī Shayba reported it, and its chain is sound.)

عَنْ مُصْعَبِ بْنِ سَعْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ صَلَّيْتُ اِلٰى جَنْبِ اَبِيْ فَطَبَّقْتُ بَيْنَ كَفَّيَّ ثُمَّ وَضَعْتُهُمَا بَيْنَ فَخِذَيَّ فَنَهَانِيْ اَبِيْ وَقَالَ كُنَّا نَفْعَلُهٗ فَنُهِيْنَا عَنْهُ وَاُمِرْنَا اَنْ نَّضَعَ اَيْدِيَنَا عَلَى الرُّكَبِ

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah.)

Vocabulary: janb — side, arm; abī — my father; ṭabbaqtu — I joined together, I placed one upon the other; kaff — palm of the hand; fakhidh — thigh; nahānī — he forbade me; nuhīnā — we were forbidden; umirnā — we were commanded; rukab — knees.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: I prayed beside my father, and I placed my palms one upon the other and put them between my thighs. Then my father forbade me and said: "We (formerly) used to do so; then we were forbidden from it, and we were commanded to place our hands upon the knees." (Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah reported it.)

عَنْ حُذَيْفَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ صَلَّيْتُ مَعَ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَرَكَعَ فَقَالَ فِيْ رُكُوْعِهٖ "سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْعَظِيْمِ" وَفِيْ سُجُوْدِهٖ "سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْاَعْلٰى"

(Reported by al-Nasāʾī and others, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Ḥudhayfa (may Allah be pleased with him) (it is reported); he said: I prayed with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He went into rukūʿ and in his rukūʿ he said "subḥāna rabbiya al-ʿaẓīm" (that is, my Lord, the Possessor of Grandeur, is pure [of every defect]), and in his prostration he said "subḥāna rabbiya al-aʿlā" (that is, my Lord, the Most High, is pure). (Al-Nasāʾī and others reported it, and its chain is sound.)

عَنْ عُقْبَةَ بْنِ عَامِرٍ قَالَ لَمَّا نَزَلَتْ "فَسَبِّحْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الْعَظِيْمِ" قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ "اجْعَلُوْهَا فِيْ رُكُوْعِكُمْ" فَلَمَّا نَزَلَتْ "سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْاَعْلٰى" قَالَ اجْعَلُوْهَا فِيْ سُجُوْدِكُمْ

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd.)

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿUqba ibn ʿĀmir (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that when this verse came down, "fa-sabbiḥ bi-smi rabbika al-ʿaẓīm" (O addressee! Declare the glory of your Lord, the Possessor of Majesty),⁽¹⁾ the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Do this [tasbīḥ — declaring Allah's glory] in your rukūʿ [the bowing]" (that is, take it up there). Then, when this verse came down, "sabbiḥi isma rabbika al-aʿlā" (O addressee! Declare the glory of your Lord, the Most High),⁽²⁾ he said, "Do this [tasbīḥ] in your sajda [prostration]" (take it up there).

(Abū Dāwūd reported it.)

(1) "fa-sabbiḥ bi-smi rabbika al-ʿaẓīm" — the last verse of Sūrat al-Wāqiʿa.

(2) "sabbiḥi isma rabbika al-aʿlā" — the first verse of Sūrat al-Aʿlā.

عَنْ اَبِی هُرَیْرَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ قَالَ "اِذَا قَالَ الْاِمَامُ سَمِعَ اللّٰهُ لِمَنْ حَمِدَهٗ" فَقُوْلُوْا "اَللّٰهُمَّ رَبَّنَا لَکَ الْحَمْدُ" فَاِنَّهٗ مَنْ وَافَقَ قَوْلُهٗ قَوْلَ الْمَلٰٓئِکَةِ غُفِرَلَهٗ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهٖ۔

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "When the imām says 'samiʿa Allāhu li-man ḥamidah' (Allah has heard the one who praised Him), then you (that is, the muqtadī — those praying behind the imām) say 'Allāhumma rabbanā laka al-ḥamd' (O Allah, our Lord! All praise belongs to You alone); for the one whose saying coincides with the saying of the angels, all the sins he has committed before are covered over (they are forgiven)."

(The two Shaykhs, al-Bukhārī and Muslim, reported it.)

عَنْ وَائِلِ بْنِ حُجْرٍ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ رَاَیْتُ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ اِذَا سَجَدَ وَضَعَ رُکْبَتَیْهِ قَبْلَ یَدَیْهِ وَ اِذَا نَهَضَ رَفَعَ یَدَیْهِ قَبْلَ رُکْبَتَیْهِ۔

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn Ḥibbān and Ibn al-Sakan, who graded it ḥasan.)

Vocabulary: rukba — knee; rukbatayhi — his two knees; waḍaʿa — he placed.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — when he prostrated he placed his knees before his hands, and when he rose he lifted his hands before his knees.

(Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah, Ibn Khuzayma and Ibn al-Sakan reported it, and he called it "ḥasan" [a good, sound hadith].)

عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ "اُمِرْتُ اَنْ اَسْجُدَ

عَلٰی سَبْعَةِ اَعْظُمٍ عَلَی الْجَبْهَةِ وَاَشَارَ بِیَدِهٖ اِلٰی اَنْفِهٖ وَالْیَدَیْنِ وَالرُّکْبَتَیْنِ وَاَطْرَافِ الْقَدَمَیْنِ وَلَا نَکْفُتَ الثِّیَابَ وَ الشَّعْرَ۔

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Vocabulary: ʿaẓm — bone, plural ʿiẓām and aʿẓum; jabha — forehead; anf — nose; lā nakfita — we should not gather up, should not hold back; thiyāb — plural of thawb, clothes; shaʿr — hair.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "I have been commanded to prostrate on seven bones (joints): on the forehead" — and he pointed with his hand towards his nose — "and the two hands, the two knees and the edges of the two feet (that is, the toes); and [I have been commanded] that we should not hold back (not gather up) our clothes and hair" (that is, we should not become occupied with arranging our clothes and hair). ☆

(The two Shaykhs reported it.)

☆ وَفِی الْخِزَانَةِ، وَکَانَتِ السُّنَّةُ فِی السُّجُوْدِ وَضْعُ الْجَبْهَةِ وَالْاَنْفِ جَمِیْعًا وَلَوْ وَضَعَ اَحَدَهُمَا، اِنْ کَانَ مِنْ عُذْرٍ لَا یُکْرَهُ وَ اِنْ کَانَ مِنْ غَیْرِ عُذْرٍ اَنْ وَضَعَ جَبْهَتَهٗ دُوْنَ اَنْفِهٖ جَازَ وَ یُکْرَهُ اِنْ وَضَعَ اَنْفَهٗ دُوْنَ جَبْهَتِهٖ، کَذٰلِکَ عِنْدَ اَبِیْ حَنِیْفَةَ وَقَالَا لَا یَجُوْزُ۔ وَرَوٰی اَسَدٌ عَنْهُ اَنَّهٗ لَا یَجُوْزُ اِلَّا مِنْ عُذْرٍ وَعَلَیْهِ الْفَتْوٰی۔ قَالَ فِی الْبَدَائِعِ اَلْاَمْرُ یَتَعَلَّقُ بِالسُّجُوْدِ مُطْلَقًا مِنْ غَیْرِ تَعْیِیْنِ عُضْوٍ ثُمَّ انْعَقَدَ الْاِجْمَاعُ عَلٰی تَعْیِیْنِ بَعْضِ الْوَجْهِ فَلَا یَجُوْزُ تَعْیِیْنُ غَیْرِهٖ، وَلَا یَجُوْزُ تَقْیِیْدُ مُطْلَقِ الْکِتَابِ بِخَبَرِ الْوَاحِدِ، فَنَحْمِلُهٗ عَلٰی بَیَانِ السُّنَّةِ عَمَلًا بِالدَّلِیْلَیْنِ۔ اِنْتَهٰی۔ وَفِیْ بَذْلِ الْمَجْهُوْدِ وَلَوْ سَجَدَ وَلَمْ یَضَعْ قَدَمَیْهِ عَلَی الْاَرْضِ لَا یَجُوْزُ سُجُوْدُهٗ وَلَوْ وَضَعَ اِحْدَاهُمَا جَازَ کَمَا لَوْ قَامَ عَلٰی قَدَمٍ وَاحِدَةٍ۔ اِنْتَهٰی

Translation: And in al-Khizāna it is stated thus: in sajda, placing both the forehead and the nose [on the ground] is sunna (an established practice of the Prophet ﷺ). If someone placed only one of them and did so because of some excuse, there is no karāha [it is not disliked]; and if this was done without an excuse, then placing only the forehead while leaving out the nose is permissible, and if he left out the forehead and placed only the nose it will be makrūh [disliked]. This is so according to Imām-e Aʿẓam Ḥaḍrat Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allah have mercy on him). And the Imām's two students (Imām Muḥammad and Imām Abū Yūsuf) said that it is not permissible; and Asad narrated from the Imām that without an excuse it is not permissible, and the fatwā [the ruling acted upon] is on this. In al-Badāʾiʿ it is written that the "command" (the instruction) relates to sajda in absolute terms, without specifying a limb. Then there was ijmāʿ [consensus] on specifying part of the face. So specifying anything other than that is not permissible. Nor is it permissible to restrict the unrestricted [command of the] Book (that is, the obligatory ruling contained in the Qurʾān Karīm) by means of a khabar al-āḥād [a report transmitted by single narrators]. So it will be taken as an explanation of the sunna, so that action remains upon both proofs. (The statement of al-Badāʾiʿ ends here.) In "Badhl al-Majhūd" (the commentary on Abū Dāwūd) it is written that if someone prostrated and did not place both feet on the ground, his sajda will not be valid; and if he placed even one of the two, it will be valid — just as if someone stood on one foot (it is valid, in the same way). (End.)

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا قَالَتْ کَانَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ یَفْرُشُ رِجْلَهُ الْیُسْرٰی وَیَنْصِبُ رِجْلَهُ الْیُمْنٰی وَکَانَ یَنْهٰی عَنْ عَقَبَةِ الشَّیْطٰنِ۔

(Muslim recorded it.) [reading uncertain]

Vocabulary: kāna yafrushu — he, a man, used to spread out (if "kāna" is placed before a past-tense verb, its meaning becomes the remote past, e.g. kāna faʿala — that one man had done [in the remote past]; and if "kāna" is placed before a present-tense verb [fiʿl muḍāriʿ], its meaning becomes the continuous past, i.e. the action continuing in past time, e.g. kāna yafʿalu — that one man used to do); farasha yafrushu farshan wa firāshan — to spread a floor-covering or a bed; firāsh — bed; farāsh — moth, butterfly; rijl — foot; al-rijl al-yusrā — the left foot; al-rijl al-yumnā — the right foot; rajul — man; ʿaqab — behind, mountain pass; kāna yanhā — he used to forbid; ʿaqabat al-shayṭān — Satan's mountain pass; naṣaba yanṣibu naṣban — to set upright.

Translation: [It is reported] from Umm al-Muʾminīn [Mother of the Believers] Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her). She says: Ḥuḍūr, the Messenger of God ﷺ, (in the qaʿda [sitting] of the prayer) used to lay down his left foot and keep his right foot set upright, and he used to forbid the "pass of Satan." (That is, if both feet are kept upright, the space that remains open between the two feet is Satan's pass; therefore one should not sit on the backs of the heels with both feet set up in this way, resting only on the toes.)

(Muslim (may Allah have mercy on him) reported this hadith.)

عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا مَرْفُوْعًا اِذَا جَلَسَتِ الْمَرْاَةُ فِی الصَّلٰوةِ وَضَعَتْ فَخِذَهَا عَلٰی فَخِذِهَا الْاُخْرٰی فَاِذَا سَجَدَتْ اَلْصَقَتْ بَطْنَهَا عَلٰی فَخِذَیْهَا کَانَ سَتْرَ مَا یَکُوْنُ لَهَا۔ فَاِنَّ اللّٰهَ یَنْظُرُ اِلَیْهَا، یَقُوْلُ یَا مَلٰٓئِکَتِیْ اُشْهِدُکُمْ اَنِّیْ غَفَرْتُ لَهَا۔ [reading uncertain]

(Reported by al-Bayhaqī, and by Ibn ʿAdī in al-Kāmil.)

Vocabulary: marfūʿ — in technical usage, a hadith whose chain of narration a Companion or a Successor [tābiʿī] carries up to Ḥuḍūr, the Noble Prophet ﷺ. So the narrator of this hadith too is Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both), and he has attributed the ruling of this narration to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; waḍaʿat — she placed; fakhidh — thigh (plural afkhādh); alṣaqa yulṣiqu ilṣāqan — to stick, press close; satara yasturu satran — to hide, cover, cover the ʿawra [the parts that must be concealed]; sutira — it was hidden, it was covered; mā yakūnu lahā — as far as is possible for that woman; kāna sutira — so that she is hidden (the covering is achieved).

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) in marfūʿ form (that is, while relating this matter he is attributing it to Ḥuḍūr, the Mercy to the Two Worlds) — that Ḥuḍūr said thus: When a woman sits in the prayer (in the jalsa [the sitting between the two prostrations]), she should place one of her thighs upon her other thigh, and when she prostrates she should [press] her belly

on her thighs in such a way that her covering is achieved — as far as is possible for her; for Allah Most High looks at her [and] says, "O My angels! I make you witnesses that I have covered this woman over (forgiven her)."

(Al-Bayhaqī reported it, and Ibn ʿAdī in al-Kāmil.)

عَنْ اَبِی هُرَیْرَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ کَانَ النَّبِیُّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ یَنْهَضُ فِی الصَّلٰوةِ عَلٰی صُدُوْرِ قَدَمَیْهِ۔

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)

Vocabulary: nahaḍa yanhaḍu nahḍan wa nuhūḍan — to stand up, to rise; ʿalā qadamayhi — on his two feet; ṣudūr — plural of ṣadr, the upper part.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that the Noble Prophet ﷺ used to rise in the prayer on the fronts of his feet [panjon par — on the balls of the feet and toes].

(Al-Tirmidhī reported it.)

عَنْ مَالِکِ بْنِ الْحُوَیْرِثِ اَنَّهٗ رَاٰی رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ یُصَلِّیْ فَکَانَ اِذَا کَانَ فِیْ وِتْرٍ مِنْ صَلٰاتِهٖ لَمْ یَنْهَضْ حَتّٰی یَسْتَوِیَ جَالِسًا۔ ☆

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Mālik ibn Ḥuwayrith (may Allah be pleased with him) that he saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ praying. When he was in the odd (rakʿas) of his prayer, he would not stand up all at once, until he had sat down properly.

(Al-Tirmidhī reported it.)

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ مَسْعُوْدٍ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ عَلَّمَنَا رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ اِذَا قَعَدْنَا فِی الرَّکْعَتَیْنِ اَنْ نَقُوْلَ "اَلتَّحِیَّاتُ لِلّٰهِ وَالصَّلَوٰتُ وَالطَّیِّبَاتُ۔ اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَیْکَ اَیُّهَا النَّبِیُّ وَرَحْمَةُ اللّٰهِ وَبَرَکَاتُهٗ۔ اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَیْنَا وَ عَلٰی عِبَادِ اللّٰهِ الصّٰلِحِیْنَ۔ اَشْهَدُ اَنْ لَّا اِلٰهَ اِلَّا اللّٰهُ وَاَشْهَدُ اَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهٗ وَ رَسُوْلُهٗ"۔

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)

☆ قَالَ الْاِمَامُ شَمْسُ الْاَئِمَّةِ الْحَلْوَانِیُّ، اَلْخِلَافُ فِی الْاَفْضَلِ حَتّٰی لَوْ فَعَلَ الْمُصَلِّیْ کَمَا هُوَ مَذْهَبُنَا لَا بَاْسَ بِهٖ عِنْدَ الشَّافِعِیِّ وَ اِنْ فَعَلَ کَمَا هُوَ مَذْهَبُهٗ لَا بَاْسَ بِهٖ عِنْدَنَا فِی الظَّهِیْرِیَّةِ۔

Translation: Imām Shams al-Aʾimma Ḥaḍrat Ḥalwānī said that the disagreement over rising in this way is [only] about superiority in practice. So much so that if the one praying does it as our madhhab [school] holds, there is no harm in it according to Imām al-Shāfiʿī (may Allah have mercy on him); and if someone does it as the madhhab of Imām al-Shāfiʿī (may Allah have mercy on him) holds (that is, sitting first and then rising when getting up), then there is no harm in it according to us. So it is written in al-Ẓahīriyya.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ taught us that when we sit in [the course of] two rakʿas (that is, in the qaʿda after two rakʿas) we should say: "al-taḥiyyātu li-llāhi wa-l-ṣalawātu wa-l-ṭayyibāt. al-salāmu ʿalayka ayyuhā al-nabiyyu wa-raḥmatu-llāhi wa-barakātuh. al-salāmu ʿalaynā wa-ʿalā ʿibādi-llāhi al-ṣāliḥīn. ashhadu an lā ilāha illā-llāhu wa-ashhadu anna Muḥammadan ʿabduhu wa-rasūluh." (All acts of worship performed by the tongue (dhikr, adhkār and the like), all acts of worship performed by the body, and all acts of worship performed by means of wealth (ṣadaqa, charitable gifts, zakāh and the like) are for Allah alone. O Prophet! Peace be upon you — peace be [upon you], and may the mercies of Allah descend and blessings be included. Peace be upon all of us and upon the righteous servants of Allah. I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship besides Allah Most High, and I also bear witness that Muḥammad (ﷺ) is the servant of Allah and His Messenger.) (Al-Tirmidhī reported this hadith.)¹

"Ṣalāh" means "qurb" [nearness]. How will Allah bring about His nearness? Through mercy. What is the servant's nearness? Presence in His court. And what is its form? How does Allah's granting nearness to His servant become manifest? Through mercy. If the servant wants Allah's nearness, then how? Through duʿāʾ [supplication] and through worship. "Yaṣlā nāran" means "he came near the fire." Mercy and duʿāʾ are not the meanings of "ṣalāh"; rather, they are the forms in which nearness becomes manifest.

عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ کَانَ اِذَا قَعَدَ فِی التَّشَهُّدِ وَضَعَ یَدَهُ الْیُسْرٰی عَلٰی رُکْبَتِهِ الْیُسْرٰی وَوَضَعَ یَدَهُ الْیُمْنٰی عَلٰی رُکْبَتِهِ الْیُمْنٰی وَعَقَدَ ثَلَاثًا وَخَمْسِیْنَ وَاَشَارَ بِالسَّبَّابَةِ۔ ²

(Reported by Muslim.)

¹ وَمَعْنَی التَّحِیَّاتُ، اَلْعِبَادَاتُ الْقَوْلِیَّةُ۔ وَالصَّلَوٰتُ الطَّاعَاتُ الْبَدَنِیَّةُ۔ وَالطَّیِّبَاتُ، اَلْخَیْرُ الْمَالِیَّةُ۔

Translation: al-Taḥiyyāt means acts of worship of the tongue and of speech; al-ṣalawāt means bodily acts of worship; and al-ṭayyibāt means financial acts of worship, that is, spending wealth in the way of Allah.

² صُوْرَةُ ثَلٰثَةٍ وَخَمْسِیْنَ اَنْ یَعْقِدَ الْخِنْصَرَ وَالْبِنْصَرَ وَالْوُسْطٰی وَیُرْسِلَ الْمُسَبِّحَةَ وَیَضُمَّ الْاِبْهَامَ اِلٰی اَصْلِ الْمُسَبِّحَةِ وَتَلْفُقُهَا فِیْ کَیْفِیَّتِهٖ وُجُوْهٌ اِحْدَاهَا هٰذَا وَالثَّانِیْ اَنْ یَضُمَّ الْاِبْهَامَ اِلَی الْوُسْطَی الْمَقْبُوْضَةِ کَالْقَابِضِ ثَلٰثًا وَعِشْرِیْنَ فَاِنَّ ابْنَ الزُّبَیْرِ رَوَاهُ کَذٰلِکَ وَالثَّالِثُ تَقْبِضُ الْخِنْصِرُ وَالْبِنْصِرُ وَیُرْسِلُ الْمُسَبِّحَةَ وَیُحَلِّقُ الْاِبْهَامَ وَالْوُسْطٰی کَمَا رَوَاهُ وَائِلُ ابْنُ حُجْرٍ وَهُوَ الْمُخْتَارُ عِنْدَهٗ۔ وَالظَّاهِرُ اَنَّ جَمِیْعَ الْوُجُوْهِ صَنَعَهَا صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ۔ فَفَعَلَ مَرَّةً هٰکَذَا وَمَرَّةً هٰکَذَا۔ [reading uncertain]

Translation: The way of showing the number fifty-three (53) is that the little finger, the finger beside it and the middle finger are closed, the index finger [angusht-e shahādat, the "finger of witness"] is left open, and the thumb is joined to the root of the index finger. This is one form. The second form is that the thumb is joined to the closed middle finger, as is done for the number twenty-three (23); Ibn al-Zubayr's (may Allah be pleased with him) narration is like this. The third form is that the little finger and the finger beside it are closed, a ring is made with the middle finger and the thumb, and the index finger is left open — as Wāʾil ibn Ḥujr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated. And that is "mukhtār" (the chosen [position]) with us. Apparently it seems that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ acted in every way — sometimes thus and sometimes thus.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat in the "tashahhud," he would place his left hand on his left knee and his right hand on his right knee, and make the knot of fifty-three (53) (that is, close the fingers in the shape of [the number] 53).

(Muslim reported it.)

عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمٰنِ بْنِ اَبِیْ لَیْلٰی، قَالَ لَقِیَنِیْ کَعْبُ بْنُ عُجْرَةَ فَقَالَ اَلَا اُهْدِیْ لَکَ هَدِیَّةً سَمِعْتُهَا مِنَ النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ، فَقُلْتُ بَلٰی فَاَهْدِهَا لِیْ، فَقَالَ سَاَلْنَا رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَقُلْنَا یَا رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ (صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ) کَیْفَ الصَّلٰوةُ عَلَیْکُمْ اَهْلَ الْبَیْتِ۔ فَاِنَّ اللّٰهَ قَدْ عَلَّمَنَا کَیْفَ نُسَلِّمُ عَلَیْکَ۔ قَالَ قُوْلُوْا اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلٰی مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلٰی اٰلِ مُحَمَّدٍ کَمَا صَلَّیْتَ عَلٰی اِبْرَاهِیْمَ وَعَلٰی اٰلِ اِبْرَاهِیْمَ اِنَّکَ حَمِیْدٌ مَّجِیْدٌ۔ اَللّٰهُمَّ بَارِکْ عَلٰی مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَلٰی اٰلِ مُحَمَّدٍ کَمَا بَارَکْتَ عَلٰی اِبْرَاهِیْمَ وَعَلٰی اٰلِ اِبْرَاهِیْمَ اِنَّکَ حَمِیْدٌ مَّجِیْدٌ۔

(Reported by al-Bukhārī.)

Vocabulary: laqiyanī — he met me; laqiya yalqā liqāʾan wa liqāʾatan wa laqāyatan — to meet; a-lā uhdī laka — shall I not give you a gift (hadiyya)?; ahl al-bayt — the people of the house, the household, the wife and children whose maintenance is the responsibility of the head of the house. That is, young children too are included in the ahl al-bayt. The Noble Prophet ﷺ took Sayyida Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ, Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī Mushkil-Kushā [the Remover of Difficulties], Sayyidunā Imām Ḥasan and Sayyidunā Imām Ḥusayn with him, spread a checkered [chau-khāna-dār] sheet over all of them and said, "hāʾulāʾi ahlu baytī" — that is, "These too are my ahl al-bayt." Therefore these four noble persons too are "ahl al-bayt."

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā (may Allah have mercy on him). He said: Kaʿb ibn ʿUjra (may Allah be pleased with him) met me and said, "Shall I not give you a gift which I heard from the Noble Prophet ﷺ?" I said, "Why not! Do give me that gift." So he said: We asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. We said, "O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)! How should durūd [the invocation of blessings] be sent upon you people, O special people (of the house of nobility)! For Allah has certainly taught us how we should send salām upon you." He (Ḥuḍūr) said, "Say (thus): Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā Muḥammadin wa-ʿalā āli Muḥammadin kamā ṣallayta … to the end." (O Allah! Send durūd (send down mercy) upon Muḥammad and upon the family of Muḥammad, just as You sent durūd (sent down mercy) upon Ibrāhīm and upon the family of Ibrāhīm. Truly You are worthy of praise and of great glory. O Allah! Send down blessings upon Muḥammad and upon the family of Muḥammad, just as You sent down blessings upon Ibrāhīm and upon the family of Ibrāhīm.

Truly You are the Praised One, possessing every (kind of) loftiness.)

(Imām al-Bukhārī reported this hadith.)

عَنْ نُعَیْمِ الْمُجْمِرِ عَنْ اَبِیْ هُرَیْرَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّهُمْ قَالُوْا یَا رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ کَیْفَ نُصَلِّیْ عَلَیْکَ۔ قَالَ قُوْلُوْا اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلٰی مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلٰی اٰلِ مُحَمَّدٍ کَمَا صَلَّیْتَ عَلٰی اِبْرَاهِیْمَ وَعَلٰی اٰلِ اِبْرَاهِیْمَ اِنَّکَ حَمِیْدٌ مَّجِیْدٌ۔

(Reported by al-Sarrāj, and its chain of narration is ṣaḥīḥ.) [reading uncertain]

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Nuʿaym al-Mujmir (may Allah have mercy on him), through Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), that (people) said, "O Messenger of Allah! How should we recite durūd upon you?" He said, "Say (thus): Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā Muḥammadin wa-ʿalā āli Muḥammadin … to the end." O Allah! Send down mercy upon Muḥammad and upon the family of Muḥammad, just as You sent down mercy and blessing upon Ibrāhīm and upon the family of Ibrāhīm. Truly You are worthy of praise and possessed of majesty.

(Sarrāj reported it, and its chain of narration is ṣaḥīḥ [sound].)

عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُوْدٍ اَنَّ النَّبِیَّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ کَانَ یُسَلِّمُ عَلٰی یَمِیْنِهٖ وَیَسَارِهٖ اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَیْکُمْ وَ رَحْمَةُ اللّٰهِ۔ اَلسَّلَامُ عَلَیْکُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللّٰهِ حَتّٰی یُرٰی بَیَاضُ خَدِّهٖ۔

(Reported by Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah; al-Tirmidhī graded it ṣaḥīḥ.)

Vocabulary: yamīn — right; yasār — left; ḥattā — until; bayāḍ — whiteness, a blank book or notebook; bayḍa — egg, helmet, war-cap — its plural is bayḍ, buyūḍ, bayḍāt; khadd — cheek.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ used to turn [his face giving] the salām to the right and to the left, saying "al-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatu-llāh, al-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatu-llāh" — may peace and the mercy of Allah be upon you, may peace and the mercy of Allah be upon you — until (he turned his face so far that) the fairness of his blessed cheek was seen (that is, those praying with him could see it).

(Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah reported it, and al-Tirmidhī called it ṣaḥīḥ.)

عَنْ ثَوْبَانَ قَالَ کَانَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ اِذَا انْصَرَفَ عَنْ صَلٰوتِهٖ اِسْتَغْفَرَ ثَلٰثًا وَقَالَ اَللّٰهُمَّ اَنْتَ السَّلَامُ وَ مِنْکَ السَّلَامُ تَبَارَکْتَ یَا ذَا الْجَلَالِ وَالْاِکْرَامِ۔

(Reported by the Jamāʿa [the main compilers] except al-Bukhārī.)

Vocabulary: inṣarafa — (from Bāb al-Infiʿāl) to turn away; inṣirāf — to turn back, to return.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Thawbān (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned from the prayer (that is, gave the salām), he would recite istighfār [seeking forgiveness] three times and recite "Allāhumma anta al-salāmu wa-minka al-salāmu tabārakta yā dhā al-jalāli wa-l-ikrām" — O Allah! You alone are Salām [Peace], and from You alone comes peace [safety]; O Possessor of majesty and greatness, You are full of blessing.

(A group [jamāʿa] reported this hadith, except al-Bukhārī.)

عَنْ کَعْبِ بْنِ عُجْرَةَ عَنْ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ۔ قَالَ "مُعَقِّبَاتٌ لَا یَخِیْبُ قَائِلُهُنَّ اَوْ فَاعِلُهُنَّ دُبُرَ کُلِّ صَلَاةٍ مَکْتُوْبَةٍ ثَلٰثًا وَّ ثَلٰثِیْنَ تَسْبِیْحَةً" وَ ثَلٰثًا وَّ ثَلٰثِیْنَ تَحْمِیْدَةً وَاَرْبَعًا وَّ ثَلٰثِیْنَ تَکْبِیْرَةً"۔

(Reported by Muslim.)

Vocabulary: muʿaqqibāt — [words] coming one after another; muʿaqqib — one who comes after; ʿaqib — heel, behind; khāba khayban — to fail, to be disappointed, to remain deprived; qāʾiluhunna — the one who says these things; dubur — after, behind, back; ṣalāt maktūba — obligatory [farḍ] prayer; thalāthan wa-thalāthīn — 33; arbaʿan wa-thalāthīn — 34.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Kaʿb ibn ʿUjra (may Allah be pleased with him), through the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: (There are some) words that come one after another, after every obligatory prayer, whose sayer or doer is not left deprived: (reciting) "subḥāna-llāh" 33 times, "al-ḥamdu li-llāh" 33 times and "Allāhu akbar" 34 times.

(Muslim reported it.)

عَنْ سَلْمَانَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ "اِنَّ رَبَّکُمْ حَیِیٌّ کَرِیْمٌ یَسْتَحْیِیْ مِنْ عَبْدِهٖ اِذَا رَفَعَ یَدَیْهِ اَنْ یَرُدَّهُمَا صِفْرًا"۔

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah and al-Tirmidhī, who graded it ḥasan; and al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Fatḥ that its chain is jayyid [good].)

Vocabulary: yastaḥyī — he feels shy (Bāb al-Istifʿāl, from istiḥyāʾ); ṣifran — empty (plural ṣifār, aṣfār); al-Ḥāfiẓ — by "Ḥāfiẓ" the narrator means the Imām of hadith, Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar, and by "Fatḥ" his book "Fatḥ al-Bārī"; karīm — this is said of one who, when there are small sins, forgives them; who gives the reward of even the smallest good deed. One meaning is that when he sets out to give, he gives without [the recipient's] entitlement.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Salmān (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: Ḥuḍūr, the accepted Messenger ﷺ, said that your Lord is full of modesty [ḥayāʾ] and generous; He feels shy before His servant that when he raises his two hands (towards Him

for duʿāʾ), He should turn them back empty.

(Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah and al-Tirmidhī reported this hadith, and he called it "ḥasan"; and Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book "Fatḥ al-Bārī" that its chain of narration is "jayyid" [good].)

Ṣāḥibo! [Friends!] Allah Most High is very pleased with His servants when they express their helplessness and present their longing in the court of their Master, and He accepts their duʿāʾ. Yes — if some duʿāʾ does not appear to be fulfilled immediately and fully, this by no means signifies that it has been rejected. Rather, if certain duʿāʾs were accepted immediately, their reaction would be harsh on the one asking. Therefore every duʿāʾ is certainly accepted; that is, whatever duʿāʾ is not being accepted here, its reward is certainly granted. A rubāʿī [quatrain]:

You are my God, I am Your servant; the need is in me, and in You is self-sufficiency [ghinā]. Since the manifestation of perfection is the attribute of [Your] Essence — let me go on asking, and You go on giving. (Ḥasrat)

[reading uncertain]

عَنِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ عَلِیٍّ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ "مَنْ قَرَاَ اٰیَةَ الْکُرْسِیِّ فِیْ دُبُرِ الصَّلٰوةِ الْمَکْتُوْبَةِ کَانَ فِیْ ذِمَّةِ اللّٰهِ اِلَی الصَّلَاةِ الْاُخْرٰی"۔

(Reported by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr; and al-Haythamī said its chain is ḥasan.)

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Sayyidunā Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Whoever recites Āyat al-Kursī [the Verse of the Throne] after every obligatory prayer is in the protection of Allah Most High until the next prayer.

(Al-Ṭabarānī reported it in his "Muʿjam al-Kabīr"; al-Haythamī said that its chain of narration is ḥasan.)

Ṣāḥibo! Imām Ḥasan (may Allah be pleased with him) was not a grown man [at that time], but because he was a person of understanding — he used to speak more intelligently than even an intelligent adult speaks — therefore his narration was accepted.

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا قَالَتْ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ "مَنْ ثَابَرَ عَلَی اثْنَتَیْ عَشْرَةَ رَکْعَةً مِنَ السُّنَّةِ بَنَی اللّٰهُ لَهٗ بَیْتًا فِی الْجَنَّةِ اَرْبَعَ رَکَعَاتٍ قَبْلَ الظُّهْرِ وَرَکْعَتَیْنِ بَعْدَهَا وَرَکْعَتَیْنِ بَعْدَ الْمَغْرِبِ وَرَکْعَتَیْنِ بَعْدَ الْعِشَاءِ وَرَکْعَتَیْنِ قَبْلَ الْفَجْرِ"۔

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)

Vocabulary: thābara — he kept to it regularly; ithnā ʿashara — twelve; rakʿatayn — two rakʿas.

Translation: [It is reported] from Umm al-Muʾminīn Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her). She said that the accepted Messenger ﷺ said: Whoever regularly keeps to twelve rakʿas of sunna, Allah builds a house for him in Paradise: four rakʿas before Ẓuhr (the farḍ), two rakʿas after it (Ẓuhr), two rakʿas after Maghrib, two rakʿas after ʿIshāʾ, and

two rakʿas before Fajr.

(Al-Tirmidhī reported it.)

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا عَنِ النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ قَالَ "اِجْعَلُوْا اٰخِرَ صَلٰاتِکُمْ بِاللَّیْلِ وِتْرًا"۔

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Translation: And [it is reported] from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both), through Ḥuḍūr, the Prophet ﷺ, that he said: Make your last prayer at night the "witr" [the odd-numbered prayer].

(The two Shaykhs reported it.)

عَنْ زُرَارَةَ بْنِ اَبِیْ اَوْفٰی عَنْ سَعْدِ بْنِ هِشَامٍ اَنَّ عَائِشَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا حَدَّثَتْهُ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَسَلَّمَ کَانَ لَا یُسَلِّمُ فِیْ رَکْعَتَیِ الْوِتْرِ۔

(Reported by al-Nasāʾī and others, and its chain is ṣaḥīḥ.)

Vocabulary: ḥaddatha — he spoke, related; ḥaddathathu — that woman said to that man; lā yusallimu — he does not give the salām.

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Zurāra ibn Abī Awfā (narrates) from Saʿd ibn Hishām that ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her) related to him that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not give the salām in the two rakʿas of witr.

(Al-Nasāʾī and others reported it; its chain of narration is ṣaḥīḥ.)

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ اَبِیْ قَیْسٍ قَالَ سَاَلْتُ عَائِشَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا بِکَمْ کَانَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ یُوْتِرُ؟ قَالَتْ بِاَرْبَعٍ وَّ ثَلَاثٍ وَسِتٍّ وَّ ثَلَاثٍ وَثَمَانٍ وَّ ثَلَاثٍ وَعَشْرَةٍ وَ ثَلَاثٍ وَلَمْ یَکُنْ یُوْتِرُ بِاَکْثَرَ مِنْ ثَلَاثَ عَشْرَةَ وَلَا اَنْقَصَ مِنْ سَبْعٍ۔

(Reported by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd and al-Ṭaḥāwī, and its chain is ḥasan.)

Vocabulary: bi-kam — how many?; kāna yūtiru — he used to pray witr; akthar — more; anqaṣ — less.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Qays. He said: I asked Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her), "How many (rakʿas) of witr did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ pray?" (Bībī ṣāḥiba [the lady] (may Allah be pleased with her)) said: four and three, and six and three, and eight and three, and ten and three; and he did not pray more than thirteen in witr, nor less than seven.

(Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd and al-Ṭaḥāwī reported it, and its chain of narration is ḥasan.)

وَعَنْ عَاصِمٍ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ سَاَلْتُ اَنَسَ بْنَ مَالِکٍ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ عَنِ الْقُنُوْتِ فَقَالَ قَدْ کَانَتِ الْقُنُوْتُ قُلْتُ قَبْلَ الرُّکُوْعِ اَوْ بَعْدَهٗ؟ قَالَ قَبْلَهٗ قَالَ فَاِنَّ فُلَانًا اَخْبَرَنِیْ عَنْکَ اَنَّکَ قُلْتَ بَعْدَ الرُّکُوْعِ فَقَالَ کَذَبَ قَنَتَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ بَعْدَ الرُّکُوْعِ شَهْرًا اُرَاهُ

کَانَ بَعَثَ قَوْمًا یُقَالُ لَهُمُ الْقُرَّاءُ زُهَاءَ سَبْعِیْنَ رَجُلًا اِلٰی قَوْمٍ مُشْرِکِیْنَ دُوْنَ اُولٰٓئِکَ وَکَانَ بَیْنَهُمْ وَبَیْنَ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ عَهْدٌ فَقَنَتَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ شَهْرًا یَدْعُوْ عَلَیْهِمْ۔

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. In one narration: يَدْعُوْ عَلٰى رِعْلٍ وَذَكْوَانَ۔ وَيَقُوْلُ عُصَيَّةُ عَصَتِ اللّٰهَ; and in one narration: يَدْعُوْ عَلٰى اُنَاسٍ قَتَلُوْا اُنَاسًا مِنْ اَصْحَابِهٖ يُقَالُ لَهُمُ الْقُرَّاءُ; and in the narration of al-Ṭaḥāwī: فَلَمَّا ظَفَرَ عَلَيْهِمْ تَرَكَ الْقُنُوْتَ.) [reading uncertain]

Vocabulary: qunūt — the duʿāʾ of qunūt [the supplication recited standing in the witr]; qanata — he recited the duʿāʾ of qunūt; urāhu — my thought is that; al-qurrāʾ — reciters of the Qurʾān, ḥāfiẓs of the Qurʾān; zuhāʾa — about (approximately); yadʿū ʿalayhim — invoking [Allah] against them; ʿuṣayya — a disobedient group; ẓafara — he gained victory. [reading uncertain]

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿĀṣim (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that I asked Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) about the duʿāʾ of qunūt. He said that the duʿāʾ of qunūt used to be recited. I asked, "Before rukūʿ or after?" He said, "Before rukūʿ." The narrator asked Ḥaḍrat Anas, "So-and-so heard from you and told [me] that you said it was after rukūʿ." He replied, "He spoke falsely. It is only this much: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited (the duʿāʾ of qunūt) after rukūʿ for one month — I think (this was because) he had sent some people who were called 'qurrāʾ' (ḥāfiẓs of the Qurʾān), and who numbered about seventy (70), to the mushrikīn [idolaters] other than those [mentioned] (in order to stay there for teaching and conveying the message), and (on this matter) there was a pact between the mushrikīn and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited the duʿāʾ of qunūt for one month, invoking [Allah] against them."

(Al-Bukhārī and Muslim reported this hadith. And in one narration it is [stated] that he recited it invoking against Riʿl and Dhakwān (names of tribes of the mushrikīn), about whom it was said that they were a gravely disobedient group which disobeyed Allah. And in one narration it is [stated] that [he recited it] invoking against those people who had killed some of his Companions who were called "qurrāʾ." ☆ And in a narration of al-Ṭaḥāwī it is [stated] that when he gained victory over those (mushrikīn), he gave up the duʿāʾ of qunūt (that is, reciting it after rukūʿ).)

☆ [Note: This event is known in history by the name of Sariyya Biʾr Maʿūna [the expedition of the Well of Maʿūna]. Abū Barāʾ ʿĀmir practised deceit: he came into the service of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and requested that, for the teaching and training of the land of Najd, some callers (people who would convey the message) be sent with him. ʿĀmir's nephew was the chief of Najd. ʿĀmir gave assurance of these people's safety. Ḥuḍūr (ﷺ) sent seventy "qurrāʾ" (ḥāfiẓs and scholars) with him under Mundhir ibn ʿAmr al-Anṣārī. When they reached the territory of the Banū ʿĀmir, Biʾr Maʿūna, [a man] was sent with Ḥuḍūr's blessed letter to Ṭufayl, the ruler. He had first the envoy, and then all the remaining Muslims, killed. It is also reported that the tribes of Riʿl and Dhakwān deceived [them] and killed [them] at the ruler's signal. (Addition.)] [reading uncertain]

عَنْ اَبِی الْحَوْرَاءِ۔ قَالَ قَالَ الْحَسَنُ بْنُ عَلِیٍّ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ عَلَّمَنِیْ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ۔ کَلِمَاتٍ اَقُوْلُهُنَّ فِیْ قُنُوْتِ الْوِتْرِ "اَللّٰهُمَّ اهْدِنِیْ فِیْ مَنْ هَدَیْتَ وَعَافِنِیْ فِیْ مَنْ عَافَیْتَ وَتَوَلَّنِیْ فِیْ مَنْ تَوَلَّیْتَ۔ وَبَارِکْ لِیْ فِیْمَا اَعْطَیْتَ وَقِنِیْ شَرَّ مَا قَضَیْتَ۔ فَاِنَّکَ تَقْضِیْ وَلَا یُقْضٰی عَلَیْکَ وَ اِنَّهٗ لَا یَذِلُّ مَنْ وَّالَیْتَ تَبَارَکْتَ رَبَّنَا وَتَعَالَیْتَ"۔ وَزَادَ فِیْ رِوَایَةٍ۔ "اَسْتَغْفِرُکَ وَاَتُوْبُ اِلَیْکَ"۔

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah and al-Dārimī.)

Vocabulary: ʿallamanī — he taught me; tawallanī — become my Guardian [kārsāz — the one who manages my affairs]; qaḍayta — You have decreed; wālayta — You have befriended [helped].

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Abu-l-Ḥawrāʾ. He said that Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ taught me words which I recite in the duʿāʾ of qunūt of the witr: O Allah! Guide me along with those whom You have guided; grant me well-being along with those to whom You have granted well-being; and be my Guardian along with those of whom You have become the Guardian. Put blessing for me in what You have granted me, and protect me from the evil of what You have decreed. For You alone decree, and no decision can be made against You. Truly, the one whom You have befriended is not disgraced. O our Lord, You alone are full of blessing and greatness. (And in one narration this much is added:) I ask You for forgiveness and I turn back to You.

(Al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah and al-Dārimī reported it.)

عَنْ عَلِیٍّ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ اِنَّ النَّبِیَّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ کَانَ یَقُوْلُ فِیْ اٰخِرِ وِتْرِهٖ "اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنِّیْ اَعُوْذُ بِرِضَاکَ مِنْ سَخَطِکَ وَبِمُعَافَاتِکَ مِنْ عُقُوْبَتِکَ وَاَعُوْذُبِکَ مِنْکَ لَا اُحْصِیْ ثَنَاءً عَلَیْکَ اَنْتَ کَمَا اَثْنَیْتَ عَلٰی نَفْسِکَ"۔

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah.)

Vocabulary: sakhaṭik — Your displeasure; ʿuqūbatik — Your punishment; lā uḥṣī — it is not possible for me; athnayta — You have praised.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that the Prophet ﷺ used to say at the end of his witr: O Allah! I take refuge in Your good pleasure from Your displeasure, and in Your pardons from Your punishment, and I take refuge in You from You. Your praise (glorification) is not possible for me. You are as You

have praised Yourself.

(Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah reported it.)

وَعَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا مَضٰی فِیْ نَوَاقِضِ الْوُضُوْءِ۔ [reading uncertain]

Translation: And [it is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her). (This hadith has already passed in the chapter on the things that break wuḍūʾ [ritual ablution].)

عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمٰنِ بْنِ اَبْزٰی قَالَ صَلَّیْتُ خَلْفَ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ الصُّبْحَ فَلَمَّا فَرَغَ عَنِ السُّوْرَةِ فِی الرَّکْعَةِ الثَّانِیَةِ قَالَ قَبْلَ الرُّکُوْعِ "اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنَّا نَسْتَعِیْنُکَ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُکَ وَنُثْنِیْ عَلَیْکَ الْخَیْرَ کُلَّهٗ۔ وَلَا نَکْفُرُکَ وَنَخْلَعُ وَنَتْرُکُ مَنْ یَّفْجُرُکَ اَللّٰهُمَّ اِیَّاکَ نَعْبُدُ وَلَکَ نُصَلِّیْ وَنَسْجُدُ وَ اِلَیْکَ نَسْعٰی وَنَحْفِدُ وَنَرْجُوْ رَحْمَتَکَ وَنَخْشٰی عَذَابَکَ اِنَّ عَذَابَکَ بِالْکُفَّارِ مُلْحِقٌ"۔

(Reported by Ibn Abī Shayba and Ibn al-Ḍurays in Faḍāʾil al-Qurrāʾ, and by al-Bayhaqī, who graded it ṣaḥīḥ.) [reading uncertain]

Vocabulary: ṣallaytu — I prayed; nuthnī — we praise; nakhlaʿu — we separate ourselves, or will separate ourselves; yafjuruka — will disobey You; nasʿā — we run [hasten]; naḥfidu — we serve; narjū — we hope; mulḥiq — one that reaches [overtakes].

Translation: [It is reported] from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abzā. He said that I prayed the morning prayer (Fajr) behind ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him). When he finished the sūra (that is, the recitation of the added sūra [ḍamm-e sūra]) in the second rakʿa, then before rukūʿ he said (recited this duʿāʾ): O Allah! We ask You for help, we seek forgiveness from You, we declare Your praise with every kind of excellence, and we are not ungrateful to You; and we separate ourselves from and abandon whoever disobeys You. O Allah! You alone we worship, to You alone we pray and prostrate, towards You alone we run and serve; we hope for Your mercy and fear Your punishment. Truly Your punishment is going to reach the unbelievers.

(Ibn Abī Shayba and Ibn al-Ḍurays reported it in the chapter of "Faḍāʾil al-Qurrāʾ," and al-Bayhaqī too reported it and called it ṣaḥīḥ.)

عَنْ رِفَاعَةَ بْنِ رَافِعٍ الْاَنْصَارِیِّ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ بَیْنَمَا هُوَ جَالِسٌ فِی الْمَسْجِدِ یَوْمًا قَالَ رِفَاعَةُ وَنَحْنُ مَعَهٗ اِذْ جَآءَ رَجُلٌ کَالْبَدَوِیِّ فَصَلّٰی فَاَخَفَّ صَلَاتَهٗ ثُمَّ انْصَرَفَ فَسَلَّمَ عَلَی النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَقَالَ النَّبِیُّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ "وَعَلَیْکَ"

فَارْجِعْ فَصَلِّ فَاِنَّکَ لَمْ تُصَلِّ فَفَعَلَ ذٰلِکَ مَرَّتَیْنِ اَوْ ثَلَاثًا کُلُّ ذٰلِکَ یَاْتِی النَّبِیَّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَیُسَلِّمُ عَلَی النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَیَقُوْلُ "وَعَلَیْکَ" فَارْجِعْ فَصَلِّ فَاِنَّکَ لَمْ تُصَلِّ فَعَافَ النَّاسُ وَکَبُرَ عَلَیْهِمْ اَنْ یَّکُوْنَ مَنْ اَخَفَّ صَلَاتَهٗ لَمْ یُصَلِّ فَقَالَ الرَّجُلُ فِیْ اٰخِرِ ذٰلِکَ فَاَرِنِیْ وَعَلِّمْنِیْ فَاِنَّمَا اَنَا بَشَرٌ اُصِیْبُ وَاُخْطِیُٔ فَقَالَ "اَجَلْ اِذَا قُمْتَ اِلَی الصَّلٰوةِ فَتَوَضَّاْ کَمَا اَمَرَکَ اللّٰهُ بِهٖ ثُمَّ تَشَهَّدْ فَاَقِمْ اَیْضًا فَاِنْ کَانَ مَعَکَ قُرْاٰنٌ فَاقْرَاْ وَاِلَّا فَاحْمِدِ اللّٰهَ وَکَبِّرْهُ وَهَلِّلْهُ ثُمَّ ارْکَعْ فَاطْمَئِنَّ رَاکِعًا ثُمَّ اعْتَدِلْ قَائِمًا ثُمَّ اسْجُدْ فَاعْتَدِلْ سَاجِدًا ثُمَّ اجْلِسْ فَاطْمَئِنَّ جَالِسًا۔ فَاِذَا فَعَلْتَ ذٰلِکَ فَقَدْ تَمَّتْ صَلَاتُکَ وَاِنِ انْتَقَصْتَ مِنْهُ شَیْئًا انْتَقَصْتَ مِنْ صَلَاتِکَ شَیْئًا"۔ قَالَ وَکَانَ هٰذَا اَهْوَنَ عَلَیْهِمْ مِنَ الْاُوْلٰی۔ وَاِنَّهٗ مَنِ انْتَقَصَ مِنْ ذٰلِکَ شَیْئًا اِنْتَقَصَ مِنْ صَلَاتِکَ وَلَمْ یَذْهَبْ کُلُّهَا۔ [reading uncertain]

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī and Abū Dāwūd.)

Vocabulary: baynamā — while, in the state that; akhaffa — he made [it] short, lightened it; fa-rjiʿ — so go back; lam tuṣalli — you have not prayed; ʿāfa al-nās — the people disliked it, it was unpleasant [to them]; kabura ʿalayhim — it weighed heavily on them; uṣību wa-ukhṭiʾu — I do right and I also make mistakes; ajal — very well, right; fa-qraʾ — so recite; fa-ṭmaʾinna — become settled [at rest]; tammat — it became complete; intaqaṣta — you made a deficiency, fell short; ahwan — easier.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Rifāʿa ibn Rāfiʿ al-Anṣārī (may Allah be pleased with him) that one day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting in the mosque. Rifāʿa said: We too were with him when a man, apparently a bedouin, came and prayed. He made the prayer very short, then came back from the prayer and gave salām to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said, "And upon you too be peace. Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." He went back, prayed, came and gave salām to him. He said, "And upon you too be peace. Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." He did this two or three times. Each time he would come before the Prophet ﷺ and give salām, and he would say, "And upon you too be peace. Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." The people began to dislike this, and it weighed heavily on them that the man who had made his prayer short had not prayed. After that, the man said, "Tell me and teach me. I am only a human being — I do things right, and I also make mistakes." So he (Ḥuḍūr) said: Very well. When you get up for the prayer, then make wuḍūʾ just as Allah has commanded it, then come back, establish the prayer; if you remember some Qurʾān, recite it; otherwise declare the praise of Allah, say the takbīr [Allāhu akbar] and recite "lā ilāha illa-llāh." Then perform rukūʿ

with stillness [iṭmīnān]; then stand up straight; then prostrate. Prostrate evenly (properly); then sit with stillness again. When you do this, your prayer is complete; and if you made some deficiency or shortfall in it, then a deficiency has come into your prayer too. The narrator said: This was easier for these people than the first. So, truly, whoever made any deficiency in it made a deficiency in his prayer and did not [lose it] completely. [reading uncertain]

(Al-Tirmidhī and Abū Dāwūd reported it.) ☆

عَنْ زَیْدِ بْنِ اَرْقَمَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ کُنَّا نَتَکَلَّمُ فِی الصَّلٰوةِ یُکَلِّمُ الرَّجُلُ صَاحِبَهٗ وَهُوَ اِلٰی جَنْبِهٖ فِی الصَّلٰوةِ حَتّٰی نَزَلَتْ: "وَقُوْمُوْا لِلّٰهِ قٰنِتِیْنَ"۔ فَاُمِرْنَا بِالسُّکُوْتِ۔

(Reported by al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī, but not Ibn Mājah; Muslim and Abū Dāwūd added: وَنُهِيْنَا عَنِ الْكَلَامِ.) [The verse quoted is al-Baqara 2:238; the page gives no reference.]

Vocabulary: natakallamu — we speak; ṣāḥibahu — with his companion; umirnā — we were commanded.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat Zayd ibn Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that we used to talk in the prayer: a man would talk with the one next to him, and he would talk with the one beside him, in the prayer — until the command "wa-qūmū li-llāhi qānitīn" [and stand before Allah in devout obedience] was revealed. Then we were commanded to remain silent.

(Al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī — all except Ibn Mājah — reported this hadith; and Muslim and Abū Dāwūd added this much: "and we were forbidden to talk.")

☆ اَلطُّمَانِیْنَةُ وَاجِبَةٌ عِنْدَ اَبِیْ حَنِیْفَةَ وَ مُحَمَّدٍ کَذَا ذَکَرَهُ الْکَرْخِیُّ حَتّٰی لَوْ تَرَکَهَا سَاهِیًا یَلْزَمُهٗ سُجُوْدُ السَّهْوِ لِاَنَّ الطُّمَانِیْنَةَ مِنْ بَابِ اِکْمَالِ الرُّکْنِ وَاِکْمَالُ الرُّکْنِ وَاجِبٌ کَاِکْمَالِ الْقِرَاءَةِ بِالْفَاتِحَةِ اَلَا تَرٰی اَنَّ النَّبِیَّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ اَلْحَقَ صَلٰوةَ الْاَعْرَابِیِّ بِالْعَدَمِ وَالصَّلٰوةُ اِنَّمَا یُقْضٰی عَلَیْهَا بِالْعَدَمِ اِمَّا لِاِنْعِدَامِهَا بِتَرْکِ الرُّکْنِ اَوْ بِانْتِقَاصِهَا بِتَرْکِ الْوَاجِبِ لِتَصِیْرَ عَدَمًا مِنْ وَجْهٍ فَاَمَّا تَرْکُ السُّنَّةِ فَلَا یَلْحَقُ بِالْعَدَمِ لِاَنَّهٗ لَا یُوْجِبُ نُقْصَانًا فَاحِشًا وَلِهٰذَا یُکْرَهُ تَرْکُهَا اَشَدَّ الْکَرَاهَةِ حَتّٰی رُوِیَ عَنْ اَبِیْ حَنِیْفَةَ اَخْشٰی اَنْ لَا یَجُوْزَ صَلٰوتُهٗ۔ (بذل المجهود)

Translation: According to Imām Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allah have mercy on him) and Imām Muḥammad (may Allah have mercy on him), iṭmīnān [stillness, settling in each posture] is wājib [necessary]. Karkhī (may Allah have mercy on him) has mentioned this. So much so that if someone abandons it, that is, the iṭmīnān, even through forgetfulness, the sajda of sahw [the prostration of forgetfulness] becomes necessary for him. For rest and stillness belong to the completion of the rukn [the essential pillar], and completing the rukn is wājib just like the recitation of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa. Have you not seen that the Prophet ﷺ declared the bedouin's prayer non-existent, and the ruling of non-existence was applied to the prayer? But we do not count forgetfulness as the abandoning of a rukn, nor the deficiency of a rukn as the abandoning of a wājib, such that the prayer would become non-existent because of it. So the abandoning of a sunna does not come to count as non-existence, because it does not cause any serious deficiency. Therefore abandoning it is severely makrūh — so much so that Ḥaḍrat Abū Ḥanīfa (may Allah have mercy on him) said, "I fear that his prayer is not valid." (Badhl al-Majhūd, the commentary on Abū Dāwūd.) [reading uncertain]

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا عَنِ النَّبِیِّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ اَنَّهٗ قَالَ: "اِذَا وُضِعَ الْعَشَاءُ وَاُقِیْمَتِ الصَّلٰوةُ فَابْدَءُوْا بِالْعَشَاءِ"۔

(Recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Vocabulary: al-ʿashāʾ — the night meal, supper; fa-bdaʾū — so begin.

Translation: Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her) [reported] from the Prophet ﷺ that he said, "When the night meal has been set out and the prayer has begun [its iqāma has been called], then begin with the night meal (that is, eat it)."

(Al-Bukhārī and Muslim reported it.)

وَعَنْ عِمْرَانَ بْنِ حُصَیْنٍ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ کَانَتْ بِیْ بَوَاسِیْرُ فَسَاَلْتُ النَّبِیَّ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَقَالَ "صَلِّ قَائِمًا فَاِنْ لَّمْ تَسْتَطِعْ فَعَلٰی جَنْبِکَ"۔

(Reported by the Jamāʿa except Muslim. Al-Nasāʾī added: فَاِنْ لَّمْ تَسْتَطِعْ فَمُسْتَلْقِيًا — "لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللّٰهُ نَفْسًا اِلَّا وُسْعَهَا".)

Vocabulary: fa-in lam tastaṭiʿ — if you cannot manage it; ʿalā janbika — on your side (lying down); mustalqiyan — lying on the back.

Translation: [It is reported] from Ḥaḍrat ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that I had piles [bawāsīr]. So I asked the Prophet ﷺ, and he said, "Pray standing. If you cannot manage it, then [pray] lying on your side (turned over)."

(A group reported it, except Muslim, and al-Nasāʾī added this much:) "And if you cannot manage it, then lying on your back. Allah does not burden anyone beyond his capacity."

وَعَنْ اَبِیْ قَتَادَةَ الْاَنْصَارِیِّ رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ یَقُوْلُ رَاَیْتُ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ یُصَلِّیْ لِلنَّاسِ وَ اُمَامَةُ بِنْتُ اَبِی الْعَاصِ وَفِیْ رِوَایَةٍ وَاُمُّهَا زَیْنَبُ بِنْتُ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ عَلٰی عُنُقِهٖ فَاِذَا سَجَدَ وَضَعَهَا۔ ☆

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd.)

☆ قَالَ بَعْضُهُمُ الْعَمَلُ الْکَثِیْرُ مَا یَحْتَاجُ فِیْهِ اِلَی اسْتِعْمَالِ الْیَدَیْنِ وَالْقَلِیْلُ لَا یَحْتَاجُ فِیْهِ اِلٰی ذٰلِکَ وَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ کُلُّ عَمَلٍ لَوْ نَظَرَ النَّاظِرُ اِلَیْهِ مِنْ بَعِیْدٍ لَا یَشُکُّ اَنَّهٗ فِیْ غَیْرِ الصَّلٰوةِ فَهُوَ کَثِیْرٌ۔ وَکُلُّ عَمَلٍ لَوْ نَظَرَ اِلَیْهِ النَّاظِرُ رُبَّمَا یُشْتَبَهُ اِلَیْهِ اَنَّهٗ فِیْ صَلٰوةٍ فَهُوَ قَلِیْلٌ وَهُوَ الْاَصَحُّ۔ وَقَالَ فِی الْبَدَائِعِ ثُمَّ هٰذَا الصَّنِیْعُ لَمْ یُکْرَهْ مِنْهُ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ لِاَنَّهٗ کَانَ مُحْتَاجًا اِلٰی ذٰلِکَ لِعَدَمِ مَنْ یَحْفَظُهَا اَوْ لِبَیَانِهِ الشَّرْعَ بِالْفِعْلِ۔ اِنَّ هٰذَا غَیْرُ مُوْجِبٍ فَسَادَ الصَّلٰوةِ وَمِثْلُ هٰذَا فِیْ زَمَانِنَا اَیْضًا لَا یُکْرَهُ لِوَاحِدٍ مِنَّا اِنْ فَعَلَ ذٰلِکَ عِنْدَ الْحَاجَةِ اَمَّا بِدُوْنِ الْحَاجَةِ فَمَکْرُوْهٌ۔ (بذل المجهود۔ شرح ابی داؤد)

(See the translation on page 98.) [reading uncertain]

Vocabulary: ʿunuqihi — his neck; waḍaʿahā — he set her down.

Translation: And from Ḥaḍrat Abū Qatāda al-Anṣārī (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported]; he says that I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ leading the people in prayer while Umāma bint Abī al-ʿĀṣ (the granddaughter of the Prophet ﷺ) — and in one narration it is [stated] that her mother was Zaynab, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — was on his neck. Then, when he prostrated, he set her down.

(Abū Dāwūd has reported it.)

قَالَ اَبُوْ ذَرٍّ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ لَا يَزَالُ اللّٰهُ عَزَّوَجَلَّ مُقْبِلاً عَلَى الْعَبْدِ وَهُوَ فِي صَلَاتِهِ مَالَمْ يَلْتَفِتْ وَانْصَرَفَ عَنْهُ ۔ ☆

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd.)

Vocabulary: lā yazālu — always [continues]; muqbilan — turned towards [with His face]; lam yaltafit — has not turned this way and that; inṣarafa — he finished [and turned away].

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Abū Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported]: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, remains turned towards His servant who is in his prayer, so long as he does not turn his attention this way and that and does not finish [i.e. turn away from] the prayer. (Abū Dāwūd has reported it.)

(Continued from page 93) Translation: Some have said that "much action" (ʿamal kathīr) is that in which both hands are used, and in "little" [action] this is not necessary. And some have said that every action such that one who sees it from afar has no doubt that he [the doer] is not in prayer is "much"; and every action such that the one who sees it does doubt whether he is in prayer is "little" — and this is the more correct [view]. And in "al-Badāʾiʿ" it is [stated] that this action of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was not disliked (makrūh), because he had need of it: there was no one to look after this girl, or [else] the purpose was to explain a sharʿī ruling by an action. Without doubt this does not entail the invalidation of the prayer (i.e. the prayer does not become void), and likewise in our own time too it is not disliked for any one of us if we do so out of need; but without need it is disliked. (Badhl al-Majhūd Sharḥ Abī Dāwūd)

☆ اَلْاِلْتِفَاتُ فِي الصَّلٰوةِ عَلٰى ثَلٰثَةِ اَوْجُهٍ ۔ اَوَّلُهَا بِطَرَفِ الْوَجْهِ فَهُوَ مَكْرُوْهٌ ۔ اَلثَّانِيْ بِطَرَفِ الْعَيْنِ فَلَا بَاْسَ بِهٖ ۔ وَالثَّالِثُ بِحَيْثُ يَتَحَوَّلُ صَدْرُهٗ عَنِ الْقِبْلَةِ فَصَلٰوتُهٗ بَاطِلَةٌ ۔

(Badhl al-Majhūd fī Sharḥ Abī Dāwūd)

Translation: Turning this way and that (iltifāt) in prayer is of three kinds. One: by turning the face — this is disliked. Second: by turning the eye — there is no harm in this. Third: in such a way that one turns his chest away from the qibla — then his prayer is void. (Badhl al-Majhūd)

بَابٌ فِيْ صَلَاةِ الْجَمَاعَةِ — Chapter on Prayer in Congregation

(This chapter is about prayer in congregation [ṣalāh bi'l-jamāʿa].)

(فِي سورة الفاتحة: اِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَ اِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِيْنُ)

(al-Fātiḥa 1:5) [reading uncertain]

In Sūrat al-Fātiḥa it is [stated]: "You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help."

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى فِيْ صَلٰوةِ الْخَوْفِ : وَاِذَا كُنْتَ فِيْهِمْ فَاَقَمْتَ لَهُمُ الصَّلٰوةَ فَلْتَقُمْ طَآئِفَةٌ مِّنْهُمْ مَّعَكَ وَلْيَاْخُذُوْٓا اَسْلِحَتَهُمْ ۔

(al-Nisāʾ 4:102)

Translation: And Allah Most High says concerning the Prayer of Fear (ṣalāt al-khawf): "And when you, O Prophet, are among them and you establish the prayer for them, then let one group (half) of them pray with you, and let them keep their weapons with them."

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ اِنْ كَانَ بِكُمْ اَذًى مِّنْ مَّطَرٍ اَوْ كُنْتُمْ مَّرْضٰٓى اَنْ تَضَعُوْٓا اَسْلِحَتَكُمْ ۔

(al-Nisāʾ 4:102)

Translation: "And there is no sin upon you, if you are troubled by rain or you are ill, that you put down your weapons."

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : وَارْكَعُوْا مَعَ الرّٰكِعِيْنَ ۔

(al-Baqara 2:43)

Translation: "And pray along with those who pray."

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ قَالَ " صَلَاةُ الْجَمَاعَةِ تَفْضُلُ صَلَاةَ الْفَذِّ بِسَبْعٍ وَّ عِشْرِيْنَ دَرَجَةً ۔

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Vocabulary: tafḍulu — is superior, exceeds; al-fadhdh — alone, single.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported] that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The prayer in congregation exceeds and is superior to the prayer of one alone by twenty-seven (27) degrees."

عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ قَالَ " مَنْ سَمِعَ النِّدَاءَ فَلَمْ يَاْتِهٖ فَلَا صَلٰوةَ لَهٗ اِلَّا مِنْ عُذْرٍ ۔

(Reported by Ibn Mājah, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Dāraquṭnī and al-Ḥākim, and its chain (isnād) is sound (ṣaḥīḥ) — al-Nīmawī.)

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Prophet ﷺ that he said: "Whoever heard the call to prayer (adhān) and did not come to the prayer, his prayer is not [valid/complete], except on account of some excuse."

(Ibn Mājah, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Dāraquṭnī and al-Ḥākim have reported it, and its chain of transmission is sound.)

وَعَنْ اَبِيْ مَسْعُوْدِ الْاَنْصَارِيِّ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ كَانَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ يَمْسَحُ مَنَاكِبَنَا فِي الصَّلٰوةِ يَقُوْلُ " اِسْتَوُوْا وَلَا تَخْتَلِفُوْا فَتَخْتَلِفَ قُلُوْبُكُمْ لِيَلِيَنِيْ مِنْكُمْ اُولُوا الْاَحْلَامِ وَالنُّهٰى ثُمَّ الَّذِيْنَ يَلُوْنَهُمْ قَالَ اَبُوْ مَسْعُوْدٍ فَاَنْتُمُ الْيَوْمَ اَشَدُّ اخْتِلَافًا ۔

(Reported by Muslim.)

Vocabulary: yamsaḥu — he would touch, lay his hand on; manākibanā — our shoulders; istawū — be level [in line]; li-yaliyanī — let them certainly be nearest to me; ulu'l-aḥlāmi wa'l-nuhā — people of intelligence and understanding; yalūnahum — those near to them.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Abū Masʿūd al-Anṣārī (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported]; he said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in the prayer (i.e. at the time of establishing the prayer), would lay his hand on our shoulders and say: "Be level and do not be uneven (do not stand ahead or behind), otherwise discord will enter your hearts. Let those of you who are people of intelligence and understanding certainly stay near to me, then those who are nearest to them (in intelligence and understanding), then those who are nearest to them." Ḥaḍrat Abū Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "So today you people are in severe discord with one another." (Muslim has reported it.)

عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُوْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ يَؤُمُّ الْقَوْمَ اَقْرَؤُهُمْ لِكِتَابِ اللّٰهِ تَعَالٰى فَاِنْ كَانُوْا فِي الْقِرَاءَةِ سَوَآءً فَاَعْلَمُهُمْ بِالسُّنَّةِ فَاِنْ كَانُوْا فِي السُّنَّةِ سَوَاءً فَاَقْدَمُهُمْ فِي الْهِجْرَةِ فَاِنْ كَانُوْا فِي الْهِجْرَةِ سَوَاءً فَاَقْدَمُهُمْ سِنًّا وَلَا يَؤُمَّنَّ الرَّجُلُ الرَّجُلَ فِيْ سُلْطَانِهٖ وَلَا يَقْعُدْ فِيْ بَيْتِهٖ عَلٰى تَكْرِمَتِهٖ اِلَّا بِاِذْنِهٖ ۔

(Reported by Muslim.)

Vocabulary: yaʾummu — should lead the prayer [as imām]; aʿlamuhum — the most knowledgeable of them; sawāʾ — equal; aqdamuhum — the foremost of them, the earliest; sinnan — in respect of age, in years; lā yaʾummanna — let him not lead [the prayer]; fī sulṭānihi — in his domain, in a place under his authority; takrimatihi — his cushion, his seat of honour (masnad).

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported]; he said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Let the one among the people who reads the Book of Allah the most (and most correctly) lead them in prayer. If they are all equal in recitation, then let the one among them who knows the Sunna best lead. Then if they are all equal in the Sunna, let the one among them who emigrated (made hijra) first lead; and if they are all equal in hijra, let the eldest of them in age lead. No man should lead another man

in prayer in a place under the latter's authority, nor sit in his house on his cushion (i.e. on his masnad, or seat of honour), except with his permission." (Muslim has reported it.)

عَنْ اَنَسٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ اِسْتَخْلَفَ ابْنَ اُمِّ مَكْتُوْمٍ يَؤُمُّ النَّاسَ وَهُوَ اَعْمٰى ۔

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd, and its chain is ḥasan [good].)

Vocabulary: istakhlafa — he made [him] his deputy (khalīfa), stood [him] in his place; yaʾummu'l-nāsa — that he should lead the people in prayer; aʿmā — blind.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported] that the Prophet ﷺ made Ibn Umm Maktūm his deputy in his place to lead the people's prayer as imām, though he was blind.

(Abū Dāwūd has reported it, and its chain is "ḥasan".)

[People say that splashes of urine and the like fly about which he cannot see, so how could such a person (i.e. a blind man) be made imām? (Ḥaḍrat Baḥr al-ʿUlūm (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned this objection of people nowadays.) Let it be clear that being mindful of purity (ṭahāra) is necessary even for the follower (muqtadī) who does not lead the prayer, and every sound Muslim takes care of it according to his own capacity. This very point was probably in the view of the Prophet ﷺ. — Addition.)]

عَنْ رِيْطَةَ الْحَنَفِيَّةِ اَنَّ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا اَمَّتْهُنَّ فَقَامَتْ بَيْنَهُنَّ فِيْ صَلَاةٍ مَّكْتُوْبَةٍ ۔

(Reported by ʿAbd al-Razzāq, and its chain is sound — al-Nīmawī.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Rayṭa al-Ḥanafiyya [it is reported]; she says that Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her) led them (the women) in prayer, standing in their midst while leading the obligatory (farḍ) prayer.

(ʿAbd al-Razzāq has reported it and its chain is sound — Nīmawī.)

عَنْ عُبَيْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ عُتْبَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَ دَخَلْتُ عَلٰى عَائِشَةَ فَقُلْتُ اَلَا تُحَدِّثِيْنِيْ عَنْ مَرَضِ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ قَالَتْ بَلٰى (وَفِيْهِ) ثُمَّ اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَجَدَ مِنْ نَفْسِهٖ خِفَّةً فَخَرَجَ بَيْنَ رَجُلَيْنِ اَحَدُهُمَا الْعَبَّاسُ لِصَلٰوةِ الظُّهْرِ وَاَبُوْبَكْرٍ يُصَلِّيْ بِالنَّاسِ فَلَمَّا رَاٰهُ اَبُوْبَكْرٍ ذَهَبَ لِيَتَاَخَّرَ فَاَوْمَاَ اِلَيْهِ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ بِاَنْ لَّا يَتَاَخَّرَ قَالَ " اَجْلِسَانِيْ اِلٰى جَنْبِهٖ " فَاَجْلَسَاهُ اِلٰى جَنْبِ اَبِيْ بَكْرٍ قَالَ فَجَعَلَ اَبُوْبَكْرٍ يُصَلِّيْ وَهُوَ قَائِمٌ بِصَلَاةِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَالنَّاسُ بِصَلَاةِ اَبِيْ بَكْرٍ وَالنَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ قَاعِدٌ ۔

(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Vocabulary: alā tuḥaddithīnī — will you not tell me?; khiffa — easing of the illness; fa-awmaʾa — so he signalled; an lā yataʾakhkhara — that he should not step back; ajlisānī — seat me; qāʿid — sitting.

Translation: From ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba (may Allah be pleased with them both) [it is reported]; he said that I went to Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her), then said: "Will you not tell me about the illness of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?" She said: "Very well" (and further on in this same hadith it is [stated]): "Then the Prophet ﷺ felt some easing in his illness and went out between two men (supported by them) — one of the two was ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) — for the ẓuhr prayer, and Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was leading the people in prayer. So when Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) saw him, he began to step back; then the Prophet ﷺ signalled to him not to step back. He said: 'Seat me at his (Abū Bakr's) side.' So the two of them seated him at the side of Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). Then Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), standing, began to pray along with the Prophet ﷺ, and the people with Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) (i.e. in following him [iqtidāʾ]), while the Prophet ﷺ was seated." (The two Shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) have reported it.)

[The Shīʿa gentlemen claim (say) that Bībī ʿĀʾisha was on bad terms with Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī; that is why (i.e. for this very reason) she did not take his name — (i.e. she took only the name of ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him)). But it is not so. They were taking turns: sometimes ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him), sometimes someone else. Some people claim (say) that Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) had begun the prayer, and some say that he was about to begin when the Master [Sarkār, i.e. the Prophet ﷺ] arrived. In some narrations it is [stated] that Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) uttered some words; therefore it is also understood from this that he was about to begin. (Baḥr al-ʿUlūm (may Allah have mercy on him) spoke Dakhanī, so the words have been written down just as they came from his tongue.) (Academy)]

وَعَنْ جَابِرٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَامَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَقُمْتُ عَنْ يَّسَارِهٖ فَاَخَذَ بِيَدِيْ فَاَدَارَنِيْ حَتّٰى اَقَامَنِيْ عَنْ يَّمِيْنِهٖ ثُمَّ جَاءَ جَبَّارُ بْنُ صَخْرٍ فَقَامَ عَنْ يَّسَارِ رَسُوْلِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَاَخَذَ بِاَيْدِيْنَا جَمِيْعًا حَتّٰى اَقَامَنَا خَلْفَهٗ ۔

(Reported by Muslim.)

Vocabulary: qāma — stood up for prayer; ʿan yasārihi — to his left; fa-adāranī — so he turned me round.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported]; he said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up for prayer. So I stood on his left side (alone). He took my hand and turned me round until he made me stand on his right. Then Jabbār ibn Ṣakhr (may Allah be pleased with him) came and stood on his left side; then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took the hands of both of us until he made us stand behind him (while he was still about to pray). (Muslim has reported it.)

وَعَنْ مُعَاذِ بْنِ رِفَاعَةَ عَنْ سُلَيْمٍ رَجُلٍ مِنْ بَنِيْ سَلِمَةَ اَنَّهٗ اَتَى النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ! اِنَّ مُعَاذَ بْنَ جَبَلٍ يَاْتِيْنَا بَعْدَ مَا نَنَامُ وَنَكُوْنُ فِيْ اَعْمَالِنَا فِي النَّهَارِ فَيُنَادِيْ

بِالصَّلٰوةِ فَنَخْرُجُ اِلَيْهِ فَيُطَوِّلُ عَلَيْنَا فَقَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ " يَا مُعَاذُ! لَا تَكُنْ فَتَّانًا اِمَّا اَنْ تُصَلِّيَ مَعِيْ وَ اِمَّا اَنْ تُخَفِّفَ عَلٰى قَوْمِكَ " ۔

(Reported by Aḥmad and al-Ṭaḥāwī.)

Vocabulary: atā — came; yaʾtīnā — comes to us; nanāmu — we go to sleep; nakūnu — we remain; yunādī — he calls; fattānan — one who stirs up trouble (fitna), one who puts [people] to trial; tukhaffifu — you should lighten and shorten [it].

Translation: From Muʿādh ibn Rifāʿa, through a man of Banū Salima, Sulaym, [it is reported] that he came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "O Messenger of Allah, Muʿādh ibn Jabal comes to us after we have gone to sleep (at night), and in the day we remain busy in our work; then he calls [us] to the prayer. We go out to him and he makes it (the prayer) very long." The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "O Muʿādh! Do not become a stirrer-up of trouble. Either pray with me, or lighten and shorten [the prayer] for your people." (Aḥmad and al-Ṭaḥāwī have reported it.)

عَنْ اَبِيْ سَعِيْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّ رَجُلًا دَخَلَ الْمَسْجِدَ وَقَدْ صَلّٰى رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ بِاَصْحَابِهٖ فَقَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ : " مَنْ يَّتَصَدَّقُ عَلٰى ذَا " فَيُصَلِّيَ مَعَهٗ فَقَامَ رَجُلٌ مِّنَ الْقَوْمِ فَصَلّٰى مَعَهٗ ۔

(Reported by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, who graded it ḥasan, and by al-Ḥākim, who said: sound (ṣaḥīḥ) on the condition of Muslim.)

Vocabulary: yataṣaddaqu — will give charity (ṣadaqa), will do a good deed; fa-yuṣalliya — so that he prays.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Abū Saʿīd (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported] that a man came into the mosque when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had already prayed with his Companions. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Who will do a kindness to this man and pray with him?" (From [the words] "ṣadaqa", doing a good deed, it is learnt that the obligatory (farḍ) [prayer] is not [performed] a second time.) So one of those people stood up and prayed with this man (he was Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him)).

(Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī have reported it, and he [al-Tirmidhī] called it ḥasan; al-Ḥākim too has reported it and said that it is sound on the condition of Muslim.)

عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ قَالَ : " اِذَا صَلَّيْتَ فِيْ اَهْلِكَ ثُمَّ اَدْرَكْتَ فَصَلِّهَا اِلَّا الْفَجْرَ وَالْمَغْرِبَ ۔

(Transmitted by al-Dāraquṭnī.)

Vocabulary: ṣallayta — you prayed; adrakta — you found [it, i.e. the congregation].

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) [it is reported] that the Prophet ﷺ said: "When you have prayed in your house

and then you found (the congregation of the prayer), then pray it [again], except fajr and maghrib." ☆

(Al-Dāraquṭnī has reported it.)

عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ يَسَارٍ قَالَ اَتَيْتُ ابْنَ عُمَرَ عَلَى الْبَلَاطِ وَهُمْ يُصَلُّوْنَ فَقُلْتُ اَلَا تُصَلِّيْ مَعَهُمْ قَالَ قَدْ صَلَّيْتُ اِنِّيْ سَمِعْتُ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ ، يَقُوْلُ لَا تُصَلُّوْا صَلٰوةً فِيْ يَوْمٍ مَّرَّتَيْنِ ۔

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd.)

Vocabulary: al-balāṭ — the name of a place of stony ground, a stone pavement; yuṣallūna — they are praying.

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Sulaymān ibn Yasār (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported]; he said: I came to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, and the people were praying at the place [called] al-Balāṭ. I said: "Do you not pray with them?" He said: "I have already prayed. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: 'Do not pray any prayer twice in one and the same day.'" [reading uncertain]

(Abū Dāwūd has reported it.)

عَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ صَلّٰى صَلٰوةً فَقَرَاَ فِيْهَا فَلُبِسَ عَلَيْهِ فَلَمَّا انْصَرَفَ قَالَ لِاُبَيٍّ " اَصَلَّيْتَ مَعَنَا " قَالَ نَعَمْ " قَالَ فَمَا مَنَعَكَ "۔

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd and al-Ṭabarānī — and he added: اَنْ تَفْتَحَ عَلَيَّ "that you prompt me" — and its chain is ḥasan.)

Vocabulary: lubisa ʿalayhi — [the recitation] became confused for him, he was in doubt; inṣarafa — he finished; an taftaḥa ʿalayya — that you should help me (give me a prompt [luqma]).

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) [it is reported] that the Prophet ﷺ prayed a prayer and recited in it. Then in it (in the recitation) he became confused. When he finished the prayer, he said to Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allah be pleased with him):

☆ مذهب الحنفية في ذلك انه اذا صلى احد صلوة ثم ادرك جماعة يصليها ۔ فقالوا يدخل فيها الا في الفجر والعصر والمغرب ۔ اذ لا يجوز التنفل بعد صلوة الفجر والعصر ۔ و اما المغرب فهو وتر ۔ ولا وتر في التنفل ۔ ولان حديث النهي عن النفل بعد العصر والصبح مقدم لزيادة قوته ۔ لان المانع مقدم ۔ اويحمل على ما قبل النهي في الاوقات المعلومة جمعا بين الادلة ۔

Translation: The position of the Ḥanafī school on this is that when a person has prayed a prayer and then finds some congregation praying that prayer, they [the Ḥanafīs] said that he should join it, except for fajr, ʿaṣr and maghrib. This is because after the fajr and ʿaṣr prayers a voluntary (nafl) prayer is not permissible; and maghrib is odd-numbered (witr), and among voluntary prayers there is no odd-numbered one (otherwise one of his prayers could have been voluntary). And because the hadith forbidding voluntary prayer after ʿaṣr and fajr takes precedence on account of being stronger — for a prohibition takes precedence. Or else, reconciling all the proofs, it [the hadith permitting repetition] will be taken to refer to the ruling [that applied] before [the prohibition of] the known forbidden times.

"Did you pray with us?" He said: "Yes." He said: "Then what held you back?" (Abū Dāwūd and al-Ṭabarānī have reported it, and he [al-Ṭabarānī] added this much:) "that you should have helped me" (i.e. what stopped you from giving me a prompt?). ☆ (Its chain is ḥasan.)

وَعَنْ اَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ ۔ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ ۔ " اِذَا جِئْتُمْ اِلَى الصَّلٰوةِ وَنَحْنُ سُجُوْدٌ فَاسْجُدُوْهَا ۔ وَلَا تَعُدُّوْهَا شَيْئًا ۔ وَمَنْ اَدْرَكَ الرَّكْعَةَ فَقَدْ اَدْرَكَ الصَّلٰوةَ " ۔

(Reported by Abū Dāwūd.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported]; he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When you come to the prayer and we are in prostration, then join in the prostration of that prayer, and do not count it [as anything] (i.e. that rakʿa has not been gained); and whoever gains the rakʿa [i.e. joins in the bowing] has gained the prayer." (Abū Dāwūd has reported it.)