Book 9: The Times of Prayer
Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari 521
Ibn Shihāb (rh) narrated that one day ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (rh) was late in offering his Prayer, so ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubair went to him and informed him that once when Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah (r.a) was in Iraq, he was late in offering his Prayer. So Abū Masʿūd al-Anṣārī (r.a) went to him and said: ‘What is this, O Mughīrah? Do you not know that Gabriel (as) descended and prayed, and the Messenger of Allāh (saw) also prayed? Then he prayed, and the Messenger of Allāh (saw) also prayed; then he prayed, and the Messenger of Allāh (saw) also prayed; then he prayed, and the Messenger of Allāh (saw) also prayed; then he prayed, and the Messenger of Allāh (saw) also prayed. Thereupon Gabriel (as) said: “This is what I have been commanded”.’ At this, ʿUmar [ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz] (rh) said to ʿUrwah: ‘Confirm what you are narrating; was it Gabriel who appointed the times of Prayer for the Messenger of Allāh (saw)?’ ʿUrwah said: ‘This is how Bashīr ibn Abū Masʿūd would narrate this [ḥadīth] on the authority of his father.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 522
ʿUrwah said: ‘ʿĀʾishah (r.a) narrated to me that the Messenger of Allāh (saw) would pray ʿAṣr while the sunlight would still be in her chamber, before it would appear [on the wall].’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 523
Ibn ʿAbbās (r.a) narrated: ‘A delegation of ʿAbd al-Qais came to the Messenger of Allāh (saw) and said: “We are from a tribe belonging to Rabīʿah, and we can only come to you in the sacred month. Command us with something that we may take from you and to which we may invite those [whom we have left] behind us.” He replied: “I enjoin you to observe four things, and I forbid you from four things: To believe in Allāh” – then he explained it to them – “To bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allāh, and that I am the Messenger of Allāh. And to observe Prayer and pay the Zakāh and to give me one-fifth of the spoils of war that you acquire. And I forbid you from dubbāʾ, ḥantam, muqayyar and naqīr”.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 524
Muhammad bin Muthanna narrated to us, he said: Yahya told us. He said: Ismail narrated to us, he said: Qais told us, narrating from Hazrat Jarir bin Abdullah. He used to say: I pledged to the Messenger of Allah (saw) to perform the Prayer (Salat) properly, to pay the Zakat, and to wish well for every Muslim.
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Sahih al-Bukhari 525
Shaqīq narrated that he heard Ḥudhaifah (r.a)say: ‘We were sitting near ʿUmar (r.a) when he asked: “Who among you remembers the saying of the Messenger of Allāh (saw) regarding the trial (fitnah)?” I said: “I remember it in the way he said it.” ʿUmar (r.a) said: “You are very bold in regard to the Prophet (saw)”, or he said: “in narrating it.” I said: “A man faces trials due to his wife, his wealth, his children and his neighbour. It is expiated by Prayer, fasting, charity and by enjoining [good] and forbidding [evil].” He replied: “I do not mean this but the trial which will surge like the waves of the sea.” Ḥudhaifah (r.a) said: “O Leader of the Faithful! You have nothing to fear from it. Indeed, there is a closed door between you and it.” He asked: “Will it be broken or opened?” Ḥudhaifah (r.a) replied: “It will be broken.” ʿUmar (r.a) said: “Then, it will never close”.’ We asked: “Did ʿUmar (r.a) know this door?” He replied: “Yes, [he knew it] just as he knew that night precedes the morrow. I have surely related a narration to him which does not contain errors.” We feared asking Ḥudhaifah (r.a) [about the door] so we instructed Masrūq [to ask]. He asked him [i.e. Ḥudhaifah] and he said: ‘The door was ʿUmar.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 526
Ibn Masʿūd (r.a) narrated that a man kissed a woman, and he came and informed the Prophet (saw). Allāh revealed: ‘And observe Prayer at the two ends of the day, and in the hours of the night [that are nearer the day]. Surely, good works drive away evil works.’ The man asked: ‘O Messenger of Allāh, is this for me?’ He replied: ‘It is for all of my followers.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 527
ʿAbd Allāh (r.a) narrated: ‘I asked the Prophet (saw): “Which action is the dearest to Allāh?” He replied: ‘To offer the Prayer at its appointed time.’ I asked: “Then which?” He replied: ‘Benevolence towards parents.’ I asked: “Then which?” He replied: ‘Striving (Jihād) in the cause of Allāh.’ ʿAbd Allāh (r.a) said: ‘The Messenger of Allāh (saw) told me these three things, but had I asked him for more, he would have told me more.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 528
Abū Hurairah (r.a) narrated that he heard the Messenger of Allāh (saw) say: ‘Tell me, if there was a stream by the door of one of you in which he was to bathe five times every day, what do you think – would any dirt be left on him?’ They replied: ‘No dirt will be left on him.’ He said: ‘This is the case of the five Prayers through which Allāh erases sins.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 529
Anas (r.a) said: ‘I do not recognise any of those things which used to be in the era of the Prophet (saw).’ It was said to him: ‘The Prayer?’ He said: ‘Have you not done in it what you have done?’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 530
Al-Zuhrī (rh) said: ‘I visited Anas ibn Mālik (r.a) in Damascus and found him in tears. I asked: “What is making you cry?” He replied: “I do not recognise anything from what I had observed except this Prayer, and even this Prayer has been neglected.”
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 531
Anas (r.a) reported that the Prophet (saw) said: ‘When any of you is praying, he is in communion with his Lord, so he should not spit to his right but underneath his left foot.’ Qatādah said: ‘He should not spit ahead or in front of himself, but to his left or underneath his feet.’ And Shuʿbah said: ‘Do not let him spit in front of himself or to his right but towards his left or underneath his foot.’ Anas (r.a) related that the Prophet (saw) said: ‘He should neither spit in the direction of the Qiblah, nor to his right, but to his left or underneath his foot.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 532
The Prophet (saw) said: ‘Keep the body balanced in sujūd – one should not stretch out their two arms like a dog. And if one needs to spit, he should neither spit in front of himself, nor to his right, for surely he is in communion with his Lord.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 533
Ayyub bin Sulaiman narrated to us, he said: Abu Bakr told us: It is narrated from Sulaiman that Salih bin Kaisan said: Abdur Rahman A'raj and others narrated to us. They narrated from Hazrat Abu Hurairah, and Nafi, the freed slave of Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (ra), narrated from Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (ra), that both of them told him, narrating from the Messenger of Allah (saw), that he said: “When the heat is intense, offer the Prayer (Salat) at the cooler time, for the intensity of the heat is a blast from Hell.”
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Sahih al-Bukhari 535
Abū Dharr (r.a) narrated: ‘The muadhdhin [caller to Prayer] of the Prophet (saw) called out the Adhān for Ẓuhr, but the Prophet (saw) said: “Let it cool down, let it cool down.” Or he said: “Wait, wait.” Then, he said: “The intensity of the heat is a scorching blast from Hell, so when the heat intensifies, offer Prayer at a cooler hour.” [So we waited] until we saw the shade of the hillocks.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 536
The Prophet (saw) said: ‘When the heat intensifies, offer the Prayer at a cooler hour, for surely, severity of heat is a scorching blast from Hell.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 537
‘And the fire complained to its Lord, saying: ‘O my Lord! One of my parts has devoured the other.’ At this, Allāh allowed it to take two breaths, one in winter and the other in summer. These are when you feel the severest heat and when you feel the severest cold.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 538
Abū Saʿīd (r.a) related that the Messenger of Allāh (saw) said: ‘Pray the Ẓuhr Prayer at a cooler period, for surely the intensity of heat is a scorching blast from Hell.’ This was also corroborated by Sufyān, Yaḥyá, and Abū ʿAwānah, all narrating from al-Aʿmash.
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 539
Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī (r.a) narrated: ‘We were with the Prophet (saw) on a journey and the muaʾdhdhin wished to call the Adhān for Ẓuhr. The Prophet (saw) said: “Let it get cooler.” Then, [after a while] he wanted to call the Adhān but the Prophet (saw) said: “Let it get cooler”, [so we waited] until we saw the shade of the hillocks. The Prophet (saw) said: “Surely, the intensity of heat is a scorching blast from Hell, so when the heat intensifies, offer Prayer at a cooler hour”.’ And Ibn ʿAbbās (r.a) said: ‘Tatafayyaʾu’ means ‘tatamayyalu’ [to incline].
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 540
Anas ibn Mālik (r.a) related that the Messenger of Allāh (saw) came out when the sun declined and performed the Ẓuhr Prayer. Then, he stood on the pulpit and mentioned the Hour and said that grand events would take place in it. Then, he said: ‘Whoever wishes to ask anything, let him ask. I will tell you about whatever you ask me, as long as I am at this place of mine.’ So the people wept profusely and he said repeatedly: ‘Ask me.’ At this, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥudhāfah al-Sahmī (r.a) stood up and asked: ‘Who is my father?’ The Prophet (saw) replied: ‘Your father is Ḥudhāfah’. Then, he said many times: ‘Ask me.’ ʿUmar (r.a) rose on his knees and said: ‘We are content with Allāh as our Lord, Islām as our religion, and Muḥammad (saw) as our Prophet.’ The Prophet (saw) became silent. Then, he said: ‘Paradise and Hell were just now presented before me in the direction of this wall, and I had never seen such a good and a bad sight as that.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat
Sahih al-Bukhari 541
Abū Minhāl narrated via Abū Barzah (r.a): ‘The Prophet (saw) would offer the Morning Prayer when one of us could [just about] recognise the person sitting next to him, and he would recite during it between 60 and 100 [verses of the Holy Qurʾān]. He would offer Ẓuhr when the sun would decline, and ʿAṣr when one of us [having offered ʿAṣr Prayer] could go to the far end of Madīnah and return and the sun would still be bright. I [Abū al-Minhāl] forgot what Abū Barzah (r.a) said about the Maghrib Prayer. He did not mind delaying the ʿIshāʾ Prayer to one-third of the night.’ Then he said: ‘To the middle of the night’ and Muʿādh related that Shuʿbah said: ‘I met Abū al-Minhāl once and he said: “Or one-third of the night”.’
Translation: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat