Sunan Abi Dawud

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stood up for praying at midnight, he said: o Allah, be praise to Thee, Thou art the light of the heavens and the earth; and to Thee be praise; Thou are the maintainer of the heavens and the earth; and to Thee be praise, Thou art the heavens and the earth and what is between them; Thou art the truth, and Thy statement is truth; and Thy promise is the truth; and the visitation with Thee is true; and the Paradise is true and the Hell-fire is true and the Hour is true; O Allah, to Thee I turned my attention, and by Thee I disputed, and to Thee I brought forth my case, so forgive me my former and latter sins, and my secret and open sins, Thou art my deity, there is no deity but Thou.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say in his tahajjud prayer(i.e. supererogatory prayer offered in or after the midnight) after he said the takbir; he then narrated the tradition to the same effect.

I offered prayer behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Rifa'ah sneezed. The narrator Qutaybah did not mention the name Rifa'ah (but he said: I sneezed). So I said: Praise be to Allah, praise much, good and blessed therein, blessed thereupon, as our Lord likes and is pleased. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished his prayer, he turned and said: Who was the speaker in prayer? He then narrated the rest of the tradition like that of Malik and completed it.

A young man from the Ansar sneezed behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) while he was praying. He then said: Praise be to Allah, much, good, blessed, till our Lord is pleased (with us) in the affairs relating to this world and to the other world. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished his prayer, he said: Who was the speaker of these words (in prayer)? The young man kept silence. He again asked: Who was the speaker of these words? He did not say wrong. He said: Messenger of Allah, I said these (words). I did not intend by them but good. He said: These words did not stay below the Throne of the Compassionate (Allah).

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) got up to pray at night (for tahajjud prayer) he uttered the takbir and then said: "Glory be to Thee, O Allah," and "Praise be to Thee" and "Blessed is Thy name," and Exalted is Thy greatness." and "There is no god but Thee." He then said: "There is no god but Allah" three times; he then said: "Allah is altogether great" three times: "I seek refuge in Allah, All-Hearing and All-Knowing from the accursed devil, from his evil suggestion (hamz), from his puffing up (nafkh), and from his spitting (nafth)" He then recited (the Qur'an). Abu Dawud said: It is said that this tradition has been narrated by 'Ali b. 'Ali from al-Hasan omitting the name of the Companion of the Prophet (ﷺ). The misunderstanding occurred on the part of Ja'far.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) began his prayer, he said: "Glory be to Thee, O Allah," and "Praise be to Thee" and "Blessed is Thy name, and Exalted is Thy greatness, sand there is no god but Allah." Abu Dawud said: This tradition is not well known from 'Abd al-Salam b. Harb. No one narrated this except Talq b. Ghannam. A group of narrators reported the description of prayer from (the narrator) Budail; they did not mention therein this supplication.

I remember two period of silence in prayer, one when the imam said the takbir; and one when he finished reciting the Fatihah and the surah when he was about to bow. But Imran ibn Husayn took it as something strange. So they wrote about it to Ubayy (ibn Ka'b) in Medina. He verified the statement of Samurah. Abu Dawud said: Humaid also narrated in this tradition the words "and one period silence when he finished the recitation (of the Qur'an)"

The Prophet(ﷺ) had two periods of silence; when he began his prayer and when he finished the recitation (of the Qur’an). He then narrated the tradition like the version of Yunus.

Samurah ibn Jundub and Imran ibn Husayn had a discussion (about the periods of silence in prayer). Samurah then said that he remembered two periods of silence from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ); one when he uttered the takbir and the other when he finished reciting: "Not of those with whom Thou art angry, nor of those who go astray" (i.7). Samurah remembered that, but Imran ibn Husayn rejected it. Then they wrote about it to Ubayy ibn Ka'b. He wrote a letter to them and gave a reply to them that Samurah remembered correctly.

I remember from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) two periods of silence. Sa'id said: We asked Qatadah: What are those two periods of silence? He said: (one) when he began his prayer, and (one) when he finished the recitation. Then he added: When he finished reciting (the closing verse of the Fatihah): "Not of those with whom Thou art angry, nor of who go astray."

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) kept silence between the takbir and the recitation of Qur’an. So I asked him, for whom I would give my father and mother as ransom: What do you say during you period of silence between the takbir and the recitation? He replied (that he said): O Allah, purify me from sins as a white garment is purified from filth. O Allah, wash away my sings with snow, water and hail.

The Prophet(peace be upon hm), Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman used to begin the recitation with “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe.”

The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) began prayer with the takbir (Allah is most great) and with reciting “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe”. And when he bowed, he neither raised up nor lowered down his head, but kept it between the two (conditions). And when he raised his head after bowing, he did not prostrate himself until he stood up straight; and when he raised his head after prostration, he did not prostrate (the second time) until he sat down properly; and he recited al-tahiyyat after every pair of rak’ahs; and when he sat, he spread out his left foot and raised his right. He forbade to sit like the sitting of the devil, and to spread out to hands (on the ground in prostration) like animals. He used to finish prayer with uttering the salutation.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: A surah has just been revealed to me. He then recited:”In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Lo! We have given thee Abundance” until he finished it. Then he asked: Do you know what Abundance (al-Kawthar) is? They replied: Allah and His Apostle know it better. He said: It is a river of which my Lord, the Exalted, the Majestic has promised me to give in Paradise.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sat and unveiled his face and said: “I take refuge in Allah, All-Hearing, All-Knowing from the accursed devil. Lo! They who spread the slander are a gang among you.” Abu Dawud said: This is a rejected (munkar) tradition. A group of narrators have reported this tradition from al-Zuhri; but did not mention this detail. I am afraid the phrase concerning “seeking refuge in Allah” is the statement of Humaid.

: Yazid al-Farisi said: I heard Ibn Abbas say: I asked Uthman ibn Affan: What moved you to put the (Surah) al-Bara'ah which belongs to the mi'in (surahs) (containing one hundred verses) and the (Surah) al-Anfal which belongs to the mathani (Surahs) in the category of as-sab'u at-tiwal (the first long surah or chapters of the Qur'an), and you did not write "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful" between them? Uthman replied: When the verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ), he called someone to write them down for him and said to him: Put this verse in the surah in which such and such has been mentioned; and when one or two verses were revealed, he used to say similarly (regarding them). (Surah) al-Anfal is the first surah that was revealed at Medina, and (Surah) al-Bara'ah was revealed last in the Qur'an, and its contents were similar to those of al-Anfal. I, therefore, thought that it was a part of al-Anfal. Hence I put them in the category of as-sab'u at-tiwal (the seven lengthy surahs), and I did not write "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful" between them.

The apostle of Allah (ﷺ) died, but he did not mention to us that surah al baraah ins a part of al-anfal. Abu Dawood said: Al-sha’bl, Abu Malik, Qatadah, and Thabit b. ‘Umarah said: The prophet( may peace be upon him) did not write”In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful” until Surah al-naml was revealed. This is the meaning of what they said. Further, this is a mursal traditional(omitting the name of the companion)

The prophet (ﷺ) did not distinguish between the two surahs until the words “In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the merciful” was revealed to him. These are the words of Ibn al-sarh.

I stand up to pray and intend to prolong it; but when I hear the cry of a boy I shorten if for fear that his mother might be distressed.

Mu’adh b. Jabal used to pray along with the Prophet (ﷺ); then he returned and led us in prayer. Sometimes he (the narrator) said: then he returned and led his people in prayer. One night the Prophet (ﷺ) delayed the prayer. Sometimes he (the narrator) mentioned the word “the night prayer”. Then Mu’adh prayed along with the Prophet (ﷺ), then returned to his people and led them in prayer, and recited Surat al-Baqarah. A man turned aside and prayed alone. The people said to him: Have you become a hypocrite, so and so? He replied: I did not become a hypocrite. He then came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said (to him): Messenger of Allah, Mu’adh prays along with you and then returns and leads us in prayers. We look after camels used for watering and work for by day. He came to us leading us in prayer, and he recited Surah al-Baqarah (in prayer). He (the Prophet) said: Mu’adh, are you a trouble maker? Recite such and such ; recite such and such (surahs) The narrator Abu al-Zubair said (recite) “Glorify the name of the most high lord” (surah lxxxvii) and “By the night when it covers over” (surah xcii). We mentioned this to ‘Amr. He said I think he mentioned it (the names of some surahs).