Sunan Abi Dawud

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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."

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.