Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat)

Sufyan b. 'Uyainah said: I saw Sharik who led us in the 'Asr prayer during a funeral ceremony. He placed his cap in front of him, that is, for saying the obligatory prayer the time of which had come.

Ibn 'Umar said: The Prophet (ﷺ) used to pray facing his camel.

Narrated Al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad: I never saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) praying in front of a stick, a pillar, or a tree, without having it opposite his right or left eyebrow, and not facing it directly.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not pray behind a sleeping or a talking person.

Narrated Sahl ibn AbuHathmah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When one of you prays facing a sutrah he should keep close to it, and not let the devil interrupt his prayer.Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been narrated by Waqid b. Muhammad from Safwan from Muhammad b. Sahl on the authority of his father, or on the authority of Muhammad b. Sahl from the Prophet (ﷺ). Some have narrated it from Nafi' b. Jubair on the authority of Sahl b. Sa'd. There is a variation in the chain of its narrators.

Sahl said: The distance between the place where the Prophet (ﷺ) stood and the qiblah (i.e. the sutrah or the wall of the mosque) was as much as to allow a goat to pass.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: When one of you prays, he should not let anyone pass in front of him; he should turn him away as far as possible; but if he refuses (to go), he should fight him, for he is only a devil.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: When one of you prays, he should pray facing the sutrah (screen or covering) and he should keep himself close to it. He then narrated the tradition to the same effect.

Abu 'Ubaid said: I saw 'Ata b. Yazid al-Laithi praying in a standing posture. So I went to him passing in front of him; he, therefore, turned me away. He then said to me: Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: If anyone of you can do that he should not let anyone pass between him and the qiblah, he should do it.

Abu Salih said: I narrate what I witnesses from Abu Sa'id and heard from him. Abu Sa'id entered upon Marwan and said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: When one of you prays facing any object which conceals him from people, and someone wishes to pass in front of him, he should strike him at his chest; if he refuses (to go), he should fight him; he is only a devil. Abu Dawud said: Sufyan Ath-Thawri said: "A person arrogantly walks in front of me while I am praying, so I stop him, and a weak person passes, so I dont stop him."

Narrated Abu Juhaim : The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) as saying: "If one who passes in front of a man who is praying knew the responsibility he incurs, he would prefer to stand still for forty. . . rather than pass in front of him. Abu al-Nadr said: I do not know whether he said forty days, or months, or years."Abu Dawud: Sufyan al-Thawri said: If a man passes proudly in front of me while I am praying, I shall stop him, and if a weak man passes, I shall not stop him.

Hafs reported that the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) as saying, and the other version of this tradition transmitted through a different chain has: Abu Dharr said (and not the Prophet): If there is not anything like the back of a saddle in front of a man who is praying, then a donkey, a black dog, and a woman cut off his prayer. I asked him: Why has the black dog been specified, distinguishing it from a red, a yellow and a white dog? He replied: My nephew, I also asked the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) the same question as you asked me. He said: The black dog is a devil.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: Qatadah said: I heard Jabir ibn Zayd who reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas; and Shu'bah reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: A menstruating woman and a dog cut off the prayer.Abu Dawud said: Sa'id, Hisham and Hammam narrated this tradition from Qatadah on the authority of Jabir b. Zaid as a statement of Ibn 'Abbas.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: Ikrimah reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas, saying: I think the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: When one of you prays without a sutrah, a dog, an ass, a pig, a Jew, a Magian, and a woman cut off his prayer, but it will suffice if they pass in front of him at a distance of over a stone's throw.Abu Dawud said: There is something about this tradition in my heart. I used to discuss it with Ibrahim and others. I did not find anyone who narrated it from Hisham and knew it. I did not know anyone who reported it from Hisham and knew it. I did not know anyone who related it from Hisham. I think the confusion is on the part of Ibn Abi Saminah that is, Muhammad b. Isma'il al-Basri, the freed slave of Banu Hisham. In this tradition the mention of words "a Magian" is rejected; the mention of the words "at a stone's throw" and "a pig" is rejected.Abu Dawud said: I did not hear this tradition except from Muhammad b. Isma'il b. Samurrah and I think he was mistaken because he used to narrate to us from his memory.

Yazid b. Namran said: I saw a crippled man at Tabuk. He (the man) said: I passed riding a donkey in front of the Prophet(ﷺ) who was praying. He said (cursing him): O Allah, cut off his walking. Thenceforth I could not walk.

This tradition as also been reported by Sa’id through the same chain of narrators and to the same effect. He added: He cut off our prayer, may Allah cut off his walking.Abu Dawud said: This version narrated by Mushir on the authority of Sa’id has: He cut off our prayer.

Sa’id b. Ghazwan reported on the authority of his father that he made his stay at Tabuk(during his journey) for performing Hajj. All of a sudden he saw a crippled man and asked him about his condition. He said: I relate to you a tradition, but do not narrate it to anyone so long as I am alive: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) encamped at Tabuk near a date-palm and he said: This is our qiblah (direction for praying). He then offered prayer facing it. I came running, when I was a boy, until I passed the place between him and the tree. He said (cursing): He cut off our prayer, may Allah cut off his walking. I could not, therefore, stand upon them(feet) till today.

‘Amr b. Shu’aib reported from his father on the authority of his grand-father: We came down from the mountain pass of Adhaakhir in the company of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The time of prayer came and he prayed facing a direction of prayer, and we were (standing) behind him. Then a kid came and passed in front of him. He kept on stopping it until he brought his stomach near the wall (to detain it), and at last it passed behind him, or as Musaddad said.

Ibn ‘Abbas said: The Prophet (ﷺ) was (once) praying. A kid went passing in front of him and he kept on stopping it.

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin: I was sleeping in front of the Prophet (ﷺ) with my legs between him and the qiblah. Shu'bah said: I think she said: I was menstruating.Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been narrated by al-Zuhri, 'Ata, Abu Bakr b. Hafs, Hisham b. 'Urwah, 'Irak b. Malik, Abu al-Aswad and Tamim b. Salamah; all transmitted from 'Urwah on the authority of 'Aishah. Ibrahim narrated from al-Aswad on the authority of 'Aishah. Abu al-Duha narrated from Masruq on the authority of 'Aishah. Al-Qasim b. Muhammad and Abu Salamah narrated it from 'Aisha. All these narrators did not mention the words "And I was menstruating."

‘Urwah reported on the authority of ‘A’ishah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to pray at night and she (‘A’ishah) would lie between him and the qiblah, sleeping on the bed on which he would sleep. When he wanted to offer the witr prayer, he awakened her and she offered the witr prayer.

‘A’ishah said: I used to sleep with my legs in front of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) when he would offer his prayer at night (i.e. tahajjud prayer offered towards the end of the night.). When he prostrated himself he struck my legs, and I drew them up and he then prostrated.

It was reported from Abu An-Nadr, from Abu Salama bin 'Abdur Rahman, from 'Aishah, that she said: "I used to be asleep while my legs would be in the front of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) while he was praying during the night. When he wanted to prostrate, he would prod my feet, so I would pull them up, and he would prostrate.

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin: I used to sleep lying between the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and the qiblah. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to pray when I (was lying) in front of him. When he wanted to offer the witr prayer - added by the narrator Uthman - he pinched me - then the narrators are agreed - and said: Set aside.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: I came riding a donkey. Another version has: Ibn Abbas said: When I was near the age of the puberty I came riding a she-ass and found the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) leading the people in prayer at Mina. I passed in front of a part of the row (of worshippers), and dismounting left my she-ass for grazing in the pasture, and I joined the row, and no one objected to that.Abu Dawud said: These are the words of al-Qa'nabi, and are complete. Malik said: I take it as permissible at the time when the iqamah for prayer is pronounced.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: AbusSahba' said: We discussed the things that cut off the prayer according to Ibn Abbas. He said: I and a boy from Banu AbdulMuttalib came riding a donkey, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was leading the people in prayer. He dismounted and I also dismounted. I left the donkey in front of the row (of the worshippers). He (the Prophet) did not pay attention to that. Then two girls from Banu AbdulMuttalib came and joined the row in the middle, but he paid no attention to that.

The above mentioned narration has also been narrated by Mansur through a different chain of narrators. This version has: Then two girls from Banu ‘Abd al-Muttalib came fighting together. He caught them. ‘Uthman (a narrator) said: He separated them. And Dawud (another narrator) said: He pulled away from the other, but he paid no attention to that.

Narrated Al-Fadl ibn Abbas: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to us accompanied by Abbas when we were in open country belonging to us. He prayed in a desert with no sutrah in front of him, and a she-ass and a bitch of ours were playing in front of him, but he paid no attention to that.

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Nothing interrupt prayer, but repulse as much as you can anyone who passes in front of you, for he is just a devil.

Abu al-Waddak said: A youth from the Quraish passed in front of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri who was praying. He repulsed him. He returned again. He then repulsed him for the third time. When he finished the prayer, he said: Nothing cuts off prayer; but the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Repulse as much as you can, for he is just a devil.Abu Dawud said: If two traditions of the prophet(ﷺ) conflict, the practice of the Companions after him should be taken into consideration.