SIFAT SALAAT AN NĀBI ﷺ (The Prophet's Prayer Described From The Beginning To The End As Though You See It) Episode 1

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*SIFAT SALAAT AN NĀBI ﷺ*

*(The Prophet's Prayer Described From The Beginning To The End As Though You See It)*

*Episode 1*

*Reasons behind the Compilation of this Book, and some of its Features*

Since I had not come across a comprehensive book covering this topic, I

felt obliged to produce a book which collected together as many features

of the Prophet's prayer (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi wa Sallam) from the takbeer to

the tasleem as possible, for the benefit of my Muslim brothers who

wished to follow the guidance of their Prophet (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi wa

Sallam) in their worship, such that it would be easy for any who truly

loved the Prophet (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi wa Sallam) to use this book to fulfil

his command, "Pray as you have seen me praying."

The occurrence of similar false ahaadeeth in the books of fiqh destroys the reliability of other ahaadeeth which they do

not quote from dependable books of Hadeeth. The words of 'Ali al- Qaari contain an indication towards this: a Muslim

must take Hadeeth from the people who are experts in that field, as the old Arabic sayings go, "The people of Makkah

know its mountain- paths best" and "The owner of the house knows best what is in it.

Thus, I embarked on a difficult task, and researched the relevant

ahaadeeth from the various sources of Hadeeth, the book in your hands

being the end result of it all. I stipulated on myself that I would only give

ahaadeeth which had an authentic sanad according to the principles and

regulations of the science of Hadeeth. I disregarded any hadeeth which

depended on unknown or weak narrators, whether it dealt with the

outward form, adhkaar, excellence, etc. of the Prayer. This is because I

hold that the authentic ahadeeth9 are sufficient, leaving no need for

anything weak, for the latter does not amount to anything except zann

(conjecture, suspicion), and incorrect conjecture at that; as the Exalted

says:

"... And conjecture is of no use against the truth"10

and the Prophet (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi wa Sallam) said, Beware of

suspicion, for truly, suspicion is the most false of speech.11

Therefore, we cannot worship Allaah by acting according to inauthentic

ahaadeeth; in fact, the Messenger of Allaah (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi wa

Sallam) forbade us from this saying, Keep away from saying things about

me, except what you know12; since he has forbidden us from relating

weak narrations, it goes without saying that it is forbidden to act

according to them.

I have compiled the book as two texts: the main text and the subsidiary

text.

The main text includes the text of ahaadeeth or phrases taken from

them, as well as appropriate words to string them together to give the

book a fluency from start to finish. I have been careful to preserve the

text of each hadeeth as it is found in the books of Sunnah; where a

hadeeth has different wordings, I have chosen the version which best fits

the fluency etc., but I have brought together other wordings thus: "(in

one version: ... )" or "(in one narration: ...)". Only rarely have I given the

Companion who narrated the hadeeth, or explained in the main text

which of the Imaams of Hadeeth have collected each hadeeth, in order to

provide easier reading and reference.

As for the subsidiary text, it is a commentary on the main text. In it 

9 The term, "authentic hadeeth" includes saheeh and hasan in the eyes of the muhadditheen, whether the hadeeth is

saheeh li dhaatihi or saheeh li ghairihi, or hasan li dhaatihi or hasan li ghairihi.

10 an-Najm, 53:28

11 Bukhaari & Muslim.

12 Saheeh - collected by Tirmidhi, Ahmad & Ibn Abi Shaibah.

Later, I discovered that this hadeeth is actually da'eef: I had relied on Manaawi in declaring saheeh the isnaad of Ibn Abi

Shaibah, but then I happened to come across it myself, and found that it was clearly weak, being the same isnaad as

Tirmidhi and others - see my book Silsilah al-Ahaadeeth ad- Da'eefah (1783). However, its place is taken by the

Prophet's saying (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam), "He who relates from me a saying which he knows is a lie is indeed one

of the liars", collected by Muslim and others. 

 

I have traced the ahaadeeth to their sources, exploring their various

versions and routes of narration. Along with this, I have commented on

their isnaads and supporting narrations, with authenticating and

disparaging remarks on narrators, whether authentic or weak, judged

according to the rules of the science of Hadeeth. Often, one route of

narration has additional words which are not found in other routes, so I

have inserted these into the original hadeeth in the main text whenever it

is possible to do so without destroying the fluency, enclosing the addition

in square brackets: [...], usually without stating which of the sources

were alone in containing that addition. This has been done only if the

hadeeth is originally on the authority of the same Companion, otherwise I

have given it separately, e.g. in the opening supplications etc. This

insertion of additional wordings is a tremendous advantage which you will

not find in many books - Praise be to Allaah, by Whose Favour good

actions are completed.

Next, I have mentioned in the subsidiary text the madhhabs of the

scholars regarding the hadeeth traced, as well as the evidence and

counter-evidence for each view, along with the strengths and weaknesses

of each argument. We have then selected out of that the correct view

which we have given in the main text. Also in the subsidiary text, we

have given some issues for which there is no text in the Sunnah, but

which require ijtihaad, and do not come under the title of this book.

Since the publication of this book with both main and subsidiary texts is

not feasible right now due to various reasons, we have decided to publish

only the main text of the book (along with brief footnotes) by Allaah's

Will, and named it "Sifah Salaah an-Nabi (Sallallaahu 'Alaihi wa Sallam),

min at-takbeer ilaa at-tasleem ka'annaka taraahaa (The Prophet's Prayer

Described, from beginning to end, as though you were watching it)".

I ask Allaah to make this work sincerely for His Face, and to help my

brothers in faith to benefit from it, for He is the Hearer, the Answerer.