Prayer

Zaid b. Aslam said that God's Messenger stopped for rest one night on the road to Mecca and made Bilal responsible for wakening them for prayer; but Bilal slept and so did they all, awakening only after sunrise. The people were startled when they awoke, and God’s Messenger ordered them to mount and get out of that <i>wadi</i>, saying, "This is a <i>wadi</i> inhabited by a devil.” So they mounted, and when they had gone out of that <i>wadi</i> God’s Messenger ordered them to dismount and perform ablution, and having ordered Bilal to summon the people to prayer, or pronounce the <i>iqama</i>, he led the people in prayer and afterwards departed. He had noticed some of their dismay, so he said, "You people must realise that God took our spirits, and if He had wished He would have returned them to us at another time than this; so if anyone of you sleeps beyond the time for prayer, or forgets it, then has recourse to it, he should observe it as he has been in the habit of doing at its proper time.” God’s Messenger then turned to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and said, “The devil came to Bilal while he was standing engaged in prayer, and making him lie down, he kept soothing him as a child is soothed till he fell asleep.” He then summoned Bilal who told him something similar to what he had just told Abu Bakr, whereupon Abu Bakr said. “I testify that you are God’s Messenger.” Malik transmitted it in <i>mursal</i> form.

Ibn ‘Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Two characteristics are suspended on the necks of those who call the <i>adhan</i> for the Muslims, their fasting and their prayer.” Ibn Majah transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbas said that when the Prophet (ﷺ) entered the House (the Ka’ba) he made supplications in all sides of it, but did not perform <i>salat</i> till he had come out. When he came out he prayed two <i>rak'as</i> facing the Ka'ba and said, “This is the <i>qibla</i>.” Bukhari transmitted it and Muslim transmitted it from Ibn ‘Abbas from Usama b. Zaid.

‘Abdallah b. ‘Umar said:

God's Messenger entered the Ka'ba with Usama b. Zaid, ‘Uthman b. Talha al-Hajabi, and Bilal b. Rabah, and locking it behind him, he remained inside. I asked Bilal when he came out what God's Messenger had done, and he said, “He took up a position with one pillar on his left, two on his right, and three behind him (the House at that time having six pillars), then performed <i>salat</i>.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “One prayer in this mosque of mine (i.e. the mosque in Medina) is better than a thousand elsewhere, except the sacred mosque.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Animals are saddled only for prayer in the three mosques:

the sacred mosque, the Aqsa mosque, and this mosque of mine.”* * These are the only mosques to which long journeys may be made purely for the purpose of praying in them. The sacred mosque means the Ka'ba. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God's Messenger as saying, “The space between my house and my pulpit is one of the gardens of paradise, and my pulpit is upon my tank.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn ‘Umar said that the Prophet (ﷺ) used to go to the mosque in Quba'* every Saturday, walking and riding, and he would pray two <i>rak'as</i> in it. * The village outside Medina where the Prophet (ﷺ) stayed a few days before entering Medina at the time of the Hijra. Before leaving he laid the foundations of a mosque there. Al-Qur’an; 9:108 is said to refer to this mosque. In the preceding verse reference is made to another mosque which had been built in a spirit of opposition. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The parts of the land dearest to God are its mosques, and the parts most hateful to God are its markets.” Muslim transmitted it.

‘Uthman reported God's Messenger as saying, “If anyone builds a mosque for God, God will build a house for him in paradise.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone goes out in the morning or in the evening to the mosque, God will prepare for him his food in paradise as often as he goes out in the morning or in the evening.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Musa reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The one who will receive the greatest reward for prayer is he who lives farthest away, and he who has farthest to walk and he who waits for the prayer to observe it with the <i>imam</i> will have a greater reward than the one who observes it and then goes to sleep.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Jabir said that the area round the mosque was vacant and that the B. Salima wanted to remove near the mosque, but when the Prophet (ﷺ) heard of that he said to them, “I have heard that you want to remove near the mosque.” They replied, “Yes, Messenger of God, that was our desire.” He said, “B. Salima, if you keep to your present houses, your footprints will be recorded; if you keep to your present houses, your footprints will be recorded.”* * I.e. you will receive a reward for the distance you have to go to the mosque. Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “There are seven whom God will cover with His shade on the day when there will be no shade but His:

a just imam; a young man who grows up worshipping God; a man whose heart is attached to the mosque from the time he leaves it till he returns to it; two men who love one another for God's sake, meeting thus and separating thus; a man who remembers God in solitude, his eyes pouring forth tears; a man who, when accosted by a woman of rank and beauty, says, ‘I fear God’; and a man who gives alms concealing it so that his left hand does not know what his right hand bestows.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He also reported God’s Messenger as saying, “A man's prayer in company is twenty-five times as valuable as his prayer in his house and his market, for when he performs ablution, doing it well, then goes out to the mosque, having no other reason than prayer for going out, he does not take a step without being raised a degree for it and having a sin remitted for it, and when he prays the angels continue to invoke blessings on him as long as he is in his place of prayer, saying, ‘God bless him; God show mercy to him.’ And each of you continues to be engaged in prayer as long as he is waiting for the prayer.” In a version he said, “When he enters the mosque prayer holds him fast.” And he added in the invocation of the angels, “O God, forgive him, O God, turn towards him, as long as he does not do any harm in it and as long as he does not do anything unseemly in it.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Usaid reported God's Messenger as saying:

When any of you enters the mosque he should say, “O God, open to me the gates of Your mercy, “and when he goes out he should say “O God, I ask You out of Your abundance.” Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Qatada reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When one of you enters the mosque he should pray two <i>rak'as</i> before sitting down.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ka'b b. Malik said that the Prophet (ﷺ) always came back from a journey by day in the forenoon, and when he arrived he went first to the mosque, and having prayed two <i>rak'as</i> in it he sat down in it. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God's Messenger as saying, “If anyone hears a man crying out in the mosque about something he has lost, he should say, ‘May God not restore it to you,’ for the mosques were not built for this.” Muslim transmitted it.

Jabir reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone eats of this offensive tree* he must not approach our mosque, for the angels are harmed by the same things as men.” * Bukhari <i>At’ima</i>, 49, shows the Prophet’s objection to onions and garlic. One of these may be meant here. (Bukhari and Muslim.)