Asim ibn Humayd said: I asked Aisha: By what words the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would begin his supererogatory prayer at night?
She replied: You ask me about a thing of which no one asked me before you. When he stood up, be uttered the takbir (Allah is most great) ten times, and uttered "Praise be to Allah" ten times, and uttered "Glory be to Allah " ten times, and uttered "There is no god but Allah" ten times, and sought forgiveness ten times, and said: O Allah, forgive me, and guide me, and give me sustenance, and keep me well, and he sought refuge in Allah from the hardship of standing before Allah on the Day of Judgment.
Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been narrated by Khalid b. Ma'dan from Rab'iah al-Jarashi on the authority of 'Aishah.
I asked ‘A’ishah: By what words the Prophet(ﷺ) used to begin his prayer when he stood up at night (to offer tahajjud prayer). She said: When he stood up at night, he began his prayer by saying: O Allah, Lord of Jibra’il, Lord of Mik’ail, and Lord of Israfil, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, the Knower of what is seen and of what is unseen; Thou decides between Thy servants in which they used to differ. Guide me to the truth where there is a difference of opinion by Thy permission. Thou guidest anyone Thou wishes to the right path.
Chapter 272: The Supplication With Which The Prayer Should Be Started - كتاب الصلاة
حَدَّثَنَا الْقَعْنَبِيُّ، عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ نُعَيْمِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْمُجْمِرِ، عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ يَحْيَى الزُّرَقِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ رِفَاعَةَ بْنِ رَافِعٍ الزُّرَقِيِّ، قَالَ كُنَّا يَوْمًا نُصَلِّي وَرَاءَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَلَمَّا رَفَعَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم رَأْسَهُ مِنَ الرُّكُوعِ قَالَ " سَمِعَ اللَّهُ لِمَنْ حَمِدَهُ " . قَالَ رَجُلٌ وَرَاءَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَا وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ حَمْدًا كَثِيرًا طَيِّبًا مُبَارَكًا فِيهِ فَلَمَّا انْصَرَفَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " مَنِ الْمُتَكَلِّمُ بِهَا آنِفًا " . فَقَالَ الرَّجُلُ أَنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ . فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " لَقَدْ رَأَيْتُ بِضْعَةً وَثَلاَثِينَ مَلَكًا يَبْتَدِرُونَهَا أَيُّهُمْ يَكْتُبُهَا أَوَّلَ " .
Rifa’ah b. Rafi’ said:
One day we were praying behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) raised his head after bowing, he said: Allah listened to him who praised Him. A man behind the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) said: O Allah, Our Lord, and to Thee be praise, much praise, good and blessed. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished his prayer, he asked: Which of you if the one who spoke (the words) just now. The man said: I (uttered) these words, Prophet of Allah. The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) said: I saw more than thirty angels racing against one another to be the one to write them first.
When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stood up for praying at midnight, he said: o Allah, be praise to Thee, Thou art the light of the heavens and the earth; and to Thee be praise; Thou are the maintainer of the heavens and the earth; and to Thee be praise, Thou art the heavens and the earth and what is between them; Thou art the truth, and Thy statement is truth; and Thy promise is the truth; and the visitation with Thee is true; and the Paradise is true and the Hell-fire is true and the Hour is true; O Allah, to Thee I turned my attention, and by Thee I disputed, and to Thee I brought forth my case, so forgive me my former and latter sins, and my secret and open sins, Thou art my deity, there is no deity but Thou.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say in his tahajjud prayer(i.e. supererogatory prayer offered in or after the midnight) after he said the takbir; he then narrated the tradition to the same effect.
I offered prayer behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Rifa'ah sneezed. The narrator Qutaybah did not mention the name Rifa'ah (but he said: I sneezed). So I said: Praise be to Allah, praise much, good and blessed therein, blessed thereupon, as our Lord likes and is pleased. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished his prayer, he turned and said: Who was the speaker in prayer? He then narrated the rest of the tradition like that of Malik and completed it.
A young man from the Ansar sneezed behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) while he was praying. He then said: Praise be to Allah, much, good, blessed, till our Lord is pleased (with us) in the affairs relating to this world and to the other world. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished his prayer, he said: Who was the speaker of these words (in prayer)? The young man kept silence. He again asked: Who was the speaker of these words? He did not say wrong. He said: Messenger of Allah, I said these (words). I did not intend by them but good. He said: These words did not stay below the Throne of the Compassionate (Allah).
When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) got up to pray at night (for tahajjud prayer) he uttered the takbir and then said: "Glory be to Thee, O Allah," and "Praise be to Thee" and "Blessed is Thy name," and Exalted is Thy greatness." and "There is no god but Thee." He then said: "There is no god but Allah" three times; he then said: "Allah is altogether great" three times: "I seek refuge in Allah, All-Hearing and All-Knowing from the accursed devil, from his evil suggestion (hamz), from his puffing up (nafkh), and from his spitting (nafth)" He then recited (the Qur'an).
Abu Dawud said: It is said that this tradition has been narrated by 'Ali b. 'Ali from al-Hasan omitting the name of the Companion of the Prophet (ﷺ). The misunderstanding occurred on the part of Ja'far.
When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) began his prayer, he said: "Glory be to Thee, O Allah," and "Praise be to Thee" and "Blessed is Thy name, and Exalted is Thy greatness, sand there is no god but Allah."
Abu Dawud said: This tradition is not well known from 'Abd al-Salam b. Harb. No one narrated this except Talq b. Ghannam. A group of narrators reported the description of prayer from (the narrator) Budail; they did not mention therein this supplication.
I remember two period of silence in prayer, one when the imam said the takbir; and one when he finished reciting the Fatihah and the surah when he was about to bow. But Imran ibn Husayn took it as something strange. So they wrote about it to Ubayy (ibn Ka'b) in Medina. He verified the statement of Samurah.
Abu Dawud said: Humaid also narrated in this tradition the words "and one period silence when he finished the recitation (of the Qur'an)"
Chapter 274: Remaining Silent After The Beginning Of The Prayer - كتاب الصلاة
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ خَلاَّدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدُ بْنُ الْحَارِثِ، عَنْ أَشْعَثَ، عَنِ الْحَسَنِ، عَنْ سَمُرَةَ بْنِ جُنْدُبٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنَّهُ كَانَ يَسْكُتُ سَكْتَتَيْنِ إِذَا اسْتَفْتَحَ وَإِذَا فَرَغَ مِنَ الْقِرَاءَةِ كُلِّهَا . فَذَكَرَ مَعْنَى حَدِيثِ يُونُسَ .
Samurah b. Jundub said:
The Prophet(ﷺ) had two periods of silence; when he began his prayer and when he finished the recitation (of the Qur’an). He then narrated the tradition like the version of Yunus.
Samurah ibn Jundub and Imran ibn Husayn had a discussion (about the periods of silence in prayer). Samurah then said that he remembered two periods of silence from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ); one when he uttered the takbir and the other when he finished reciting: "Not of those with whom Thou art angry, nor of those who go astray" (i.7).
Samurah remembered that, but Imran ibn Husayn rejected it.
Then they wrote about it to Ubayy ibn Ka'b. He wrote a letter to them and gave a reply to them that Samurah remembered correctly.
I remember from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) two periods of silence. Sa'id said: We asked Qatadah: What are those two periods of silence? He said: (one) when he began his prayer, and (one) when he finished the recitation. Then he added: When he finished reciting (the closing verse of the Fatihah): "Not of those with whom Thou art angry, nor of who go astray."
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) kept silence between the takbir and the recitation of Qur’an. So I asked him, for whom I would give my father and mother as ransom: What do you say during you period of silence between the takbir and the recitation? He replied (that he said): O Allah, purify me from sins as a white garment is purified from filth. O Allah, wash away my sings with snow, water and hail.
The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) began prayer with the takbir (Allah is most great) and with reciting “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe”. And when he bowed, he neither raised up nor lowered down his head, but kept it between the two (conditions). And when he raised his head after bowing, he did not prostrate himself until he stood up straight; and when he raised his head after prostration, he did not prostrate (the second time) until he sat down properly; and he recited al-tahiyyat after every pair of rak’ahs; and when he sat, he spread out his left foot and raised his right. He forbade to sit like the sitting of the devil, and to spread out to hands (on the ground in prostration) like animals. He used to finish prayer with uttering the salutation.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: A surah has just been revealed to me. He then recited:”In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Lo! We have given thee Abundance” until he finished it. Then he asked: Do you know what Abundance (al-Kawthar) is? They replied: Allah and His Apostle know it better. He said: It is a river of which my Lord, the Exalted, the Majestic has promised me to give in Paradise.
‘Urwah reported on the authority of ‘A’ishah mentioning the incident of slander. She said:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sat and unveiled his face and said: “I take refuge in Allah, All-Hearing, All-Knowing from the accursed devil. Lo! They who spread the slander are a gang among you.”
Abu Dawud said: This is a rejected (munkar) tradition. A group of narrators have reported this tradition from al-Zuhri; but did not mention this detail. I am afraid the phrase concerning “seeking refuge in Allah” is the statement of Humaid.
:
Yazid al-Farisi said: I heard Ibn Abbas say: I asked Uthman ibn Affan: What moved you to put the (Surah) al-Bara'ah which belongs to the mi'in (surahs) (containing one hundred verses) and the (Surah) al-Anfal which belongs to the mathani (Surahs) in the category of as-sab'u at-tiwal (the first long surah or chapters of the Qur'an), and you did not write "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful" between them?
Uthman replied: When the verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ), he called someone to write them down for him and said to him: Put this verse in the surah in which such and such has been mentioned; and when one or two verses were revealed, he used to say similarly (regarding them). (Surah) al-Anfal is the first surah that was revealed at Medina, and (Surah) al-Bara'ah was revealed last in the Qur'an, and its contents were similar to those of al-Anfal. I, therefore, thought that it was a part of al-Anfal. Hence I put them in the category of as-sab'u at-tiwal (the seven lengthy surahs), and I did not write "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful" between them.
Chapter 276: Those Who Recited It Out Loud - كتاب الصلاة
حَدَّثَنَا زِيَادُ بْنُ أَيُّوبَ، حَدَّثَنَا مَرْوَانُ، - يَعْنِي ابْنَ مُعَاوِيَةَ - أَخْبَرَنَا عَوْفٌ الأَعْرَابِيُّ، عَنْ يَزِيدَ الْفَارِسِيِّ، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ، بِمَعْنَاهُ قَالَ فِيهِ فَقُبِضَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَلَمْ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا أَنَّهَا مِنْهَا . قَالَ أَبُو دَاوُدَ قَالَ الشَّعْبِيُّ وَأَبُو مَالِكٍ وَقَتَادَةُ وَثَابِتُ بْنُ عُمَارَةَ إِنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَمْ يَكْتُبْ { بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ } حَتَّى نَزَلَتْ سُورَةُ النَّمْلِ هَذَا مَعْنَاهُ .
The above mentioned tradition has been reported by ibn abbas through a different chain of narrators to the same effect. This version adds:
The apostle of Allah (ﷺ) died, but he did not mention to us that surah al baraah ins a part of al-anfal.
Abu Dawood said: Al-sha’bl, Abu Malik, Qatadah, and Thabit b. ‘Umarah said: The prophet( may peace be upon him) did not write”In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful” until Surah al-naml was revealed. This is the meaning of what they said. Further, this is a mursal traditional(omitting the name of the companion)
The prophet (ﷺ) did not distinguish between the two surahs until the words “In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the merciful” was revealed to him. These are the words of Ibn al-sarh.
Chapter 278: What Has Been Narrated Concerning The Deficiency Of The Prayer - كتاب الصلاة
حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ حَنْبَلٍ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنْ عَمْرٍو، سَمِعَهُ مِنْ، جَابِرٍ قَالَ كَانَ مُعَاذٌ يُصَلِّي مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم ثُمَّ يَرْجِعُ فَيَؤُمُّنَا - قَالَ مَرَّةً ثُمَّ يَرْجِعُ فَيُصَلِّي بِقَوْمِهِ - فَأَخَّرَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَيْلَةً الصَّلاَةَ - وَقَالَ مَرَّةً الْعِشَاءَ - فَصَلَّى مُعَاذٌ مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم ثُمَّ جَاءَ يَؤُمُّ قَوْمَهُ فَقَرَأَ الْبَقَرَةَ فَاعْتَزَلَ رَجُلٌ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ فَصَلَّى فَقِيلَ نَافَقْتَ يَا فُلاَنُ . فَقَالَ مَا نَافَقْتُ . فَأَتَى رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ إِنَّ مُعَاذًا يُصَلِّي مَعَكَ ثُمَّ يَرْجِعُ فَيَؤُمُّنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَإِنَّمَا نَحْنُ أَصْحَابُ نَوَاضِحَ وَنَعْمَلُ بِأَيْدِينَا وَإِنَّهُ جَاءَ يَؤُمُّنَا فَقَرَأَ بِسُورَةِ الْبَقَرَةِ . فَقَالَ " يَا مُعَاذُ أَفَتَّانٌ أَنْتَ أَفَتَّانٌ أَنْتَ اقْرَأْ بِكَذَا اقْرَأْ بِكَذَا " . قَالَ أَبُو الزُّبَيْرِ بِـ { سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الأَعْلَى } { وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى } فَذَكَرْنَا لِعَمْرٍو فَقَالَ أُرَاهُ قَدْ ذَكَرَهُ .
Jabir said:
Mu’adh b. Jabal used to pray along with the Prophet (ﷺ); then he returned and led us in prayer. Sometimes he (the narrator) said: then he returned and led his people in prayer. One night the Prophet (ﷺ) delayed the prayer. Sometimes he (the narrator) mentioned the word “the night prayer”. Then Mu’adh prayed along with the Prophet (ﷺ), then returned to his people and led them in prayer, and recited Surat al-Baqarah. A man turned aside and prayed alone. The people said to him: Have you become a hypocrite, so and so? He replied: I did not become a hypocrite. He then came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said (to him): Messenger of Allah, Mu’adh prays along with you and then returns and leads us in prayers. We look after camels used for watering and work for by day. He came to us leading us in prayer, and he recited Surah al-Baqarah (in prayer). He (the Prophet) said: Mu’adh, are you a trouble maker? Recite such and such ; recite such and such (surahs) The narrator Abu al-Zubair said (recite) “Glorify the name of the most high lord” (surah lxxxvii) and “By the night when it covers over” (surah xcii). We mentioned this to ‘Amr. He said I think he mentioned it (the names of some surahs).