The Book of Prayer – Travellers

I prayed with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) one night and he started reciting al-Baqara. I thought that he would bow at the end of one hundred verses, but he proceeded on; I then thought that he would perhaps recite the whole (surah) in a rak’ah, but he proceeded and I thought he would perhaps bow on completing (this surah). He then started al-Nisa’, and recited it; he then started Al-i-‘Imran and recited leisurely. And when he recited the verses which referred to the Glory of Allah, he glorified (by saying Subhan Allah-Glory to my Lord the Great), and when he recited the verses which tell (how the Lord) is to be begged, he (the Holy Prophet) would then beg (from Him), and when he recited the verses dealing with protection from the Lord, he sought (His) protection and would then bow and say: Glory be to my Mighty Lord; his bowing lasted about the same length of time as his standing (and then on returning to the standing posture after ruku’) he would say: Allah listened to him who praised Him, and he would then stand about the same length of time as he had spent in bowing. He would then prostrate himself and say: Glory be to my Lord most High, and his prostration lasted nearly the same length of time as his standing. In the hadith transmitted by Jarir the words are:” He (the Holy Prophet) would say:” Allah listened to him who praised Him, our Lord, to Thee i the praise.”

I prayed with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he lengthened it till I entertained an evil thought. It was said to him what that thought was. He said: I thought that I should sit down and forsake him.

A hadith like this has been narrated by A’mash with the same chain of transmitters.

That is a man in whose ears (or in whose ear) the devil urinated.

Don’t you observe (Tahajjud) prayer? I (‘Ali) said: Messenger of Allah, verily our souls are in the hands of Allah and when He wants to awaken us, He awakens us. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went back when I said this to him. He was striking his hand on his thigh while returning, and I heard him say: Verily the man disputes with many things.

When any one of you goes to sleep, the devil ties three knots at the back of his neck, sealing every knot with:” You have a long night, so sleep.” So if one awakes and mentions Allah, a knot will be loosened; if he performs ablution two knots are loosened; and if he prays (all) knots will be loosened, and in the morning he will be active and in good spirits; otherwise we will be in bad spirits and sluggish in the morning.

Observe some of your prayers in your houses and do not make them graves.

Pray in your houses, and do not make them graves.

When any one of you observes prayer in the mosque he should reserve a part of his prayer for his house, for Allah would make the prayer as a means of betterment in his house.

The house in which remembrance of Allah is made and the house in which Allah is not remembered are like the living and the dead.

Do not make your houses as graveyards. Satan runs away from the house in which Surah Baqara is recited.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) made an apartment with the help of the leaves of date trees or of mats. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went out to pray in it. People followed him and came to pray with him. Then they again came one night and waited (for him), but the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) delayed in coming out to them. And when he did not come out, they cried aloud and threw pebbles at the door. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came out in anger and said to them: By what you have been constantly doing, I was inclined to think that it (prayer) might not become obligatory for you. So you must observe prayer (optional) in your houses, for the prayer observed by a man in the house is better except an obligatory prayer.

” Had this (Nafl) prayer become obligatory for you, you would not be able to observe it.”