Once Malik bin Huwairith said to his friends, "Shall I show you how Allah's Apostle used to offer his prayers?" And it was not the time for any of the compulsory congregational prayers. So he stood up (for the prayer) bowed and said the Takbir, then he raised his head and remained standing for a while and then prostrated and raised his head for a while (sat up for a while). He prayed like our Sheikh `Amr Ibn Salama. (Aiyub said, "The latter used to do a thing which I did not see the people doing i.e. he used to sit between the third and the fourth rak`a). Malik bin Huwairith said, "We came to the Prophet (after embracing Islam) and stayed with him. He said to us, 'When you go back to your families, pray such and such a prayer at such and such a time, pray such and such a prayer at such and such a time, and when there is the time for the prayer then only of you should pronounce the Adhan for the prayer and the oldest of you should lead the prayer."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) saw a person praying after the congregational prayer at dawn was over. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: There are two rak'ahs of the dawn prayer (i.e. the prescribed rak'ahs). The man replied: I did not pray the two rak'ahs before the dawn prayer. Hence I offered them now. The Messenger of Allah (saws) kept silent.

Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab said: An Ansari was breathing his last. He said: I narrate to you a tradition, and I narrate it with the intention of getting a reward from Allah.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: If any one of you performs ablution and performs it very well, and goes out for prayer, he does not take his right step but Allah records a good work (or blessing) for him, and he does not take his left step but Allah remits one sin from him. Any one of you may reside near the mosque or far from it; if he comes to the mosque and prays in congregation, he will be forgiven (by Allah).

If he comes to the mosque while the people had prayed in part, and the prayer remained in part, and he prays in congregation the part he joined, and completed the part he had missed, he will enjoy similarly (i.e. he will be forgiven). If he comes to the mosque when the people had finished prayer, he will enjoy the same.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn al- Musayyab from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Prayer in congregation is better than the prayer of one of you on his own by twenty-five parts."

That once he stayed overnight in the house of his aunt, the wife of the Prophet. He added: I lay on the cushion transversely while Allah's Apostle lay along with his wife in the lengthwise direction of cushion. Allah's Apostle slept till the middle of the night, either a bit before or a bit after it, and then woke up rubbing the traces of sleep off his face with his hands, and then recited the last ten Verses of Suratal-`Imran. Then he got up and went to a hanging water skin, performed ablution from it ---- and performed it perfectly. Then he stood up to perform the prayer. I also did the same as he had done and then went to stand beside him. Allah's Apostle put his right hand on my head and held and twisted my right ear. He then offered two rak`at, then two rak`at then two rak`at, then two then two rak`at, then two rak`at, and finally, one rak`a witr. Then lay down again till the Muadhdhin (i.e. the call-maker) came to him, whereupon he got up and offered a light two rak`at prayer and went out (to the Mosque) and offered the (compulsory congregational) Fajr prayer.

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) recited (the Qur'an) aloud during the eclipse prayer and when he had finished the eclipse prayer he said the Takbir and bowed. When he stood straight from bowing he would say "Sami 'allahu liman hamidah Rabbana wa laka l-hamd." And he would again start reciting. In the eclipse prayer there are four bowing and four prostrations in two rak`at. Al-Auza'i and others said that they had heard Az-Zuhri from 'Urwa from `Aisha saying, "In the lifetime of Allah's Apostle the sun eclipsed, and he made a person to announce: 'Prayer in congregation.' He led the prayer and performed four bowing and four prostrations in two rak`at." Narrated Al-Walid that `Abdur-Rahman bin Namir had informed him that he had heard the same. Ibn Shihab heard the same. Az-Zuhri said, "I asked ('Urwa), 'What did your brother `Abdullah bin Az-Zubair do? He prayed two rak`at (of the eclipse prayer) like the morning prayer, when he offered the (eclipse) prayer in Medina.' 'Urwa replied that he had missed (i.e. did not pray according to) the Prophet's tradition." Sulaiman bin Kathir and Sufyan bin Husain narrated from Az-Zuhri that the prayer for the eclipse used to be offered with loud recitation.

That once he stayed overnight (in the house) of his aunt Maimuna. the wife of the Prophet. He added: I lay on the cushion transversely and Allah's Apostle lay along with his wife in the lengthwise direction of the pillow. Allah's Apostle slept till the middle of the night, either a bit before or a bit after it, and then woke up rubbing the traces of sleep off his face with his hands and then he recited the last ten Verses of Surat-al-`Imran, got up and went to a hanging water skin. He then performed the ablution from it, and it was perfect ablution, and then stood up to offer the prayer. I too did the same as he had done, and then went to stand beside him. Allah's Apostle put his right hand on my head and held and twisted my right ear. He then offered two rak`at, then two rak`at, then two rak`at, then two rak`at, then two rak`at. then two rak`at, and finally one rak`a, the witr. Then he lay down again till the Muadhdhin (i.e. the call-maker) came to him, whereupon he got up and offered a light two-rak`at prayer, and went out (to the Mosque) and offered the (compulsory congregational) Fajr prayer.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: If anyone goes out from his house after performing ablution for saying the prescribed prayer in congregation (in the mosque), his reward will be like that of one who goes for hajj pilgrimage after wearing ihram (robe worn by the hajj pilgrims).

And he who goes out to say the mid-morning (duha) prayer, and takes the trouble for this purpose, will take the reward like that of a person who performs umrah. And a prayer followed by a prayer with no worldly talk during the gap between them will be recorded in Illiyyun.

Urwah reported on the authority of his father that Abdullah ibn al-Arqam travelled for performing hajj (pilgrimage) or umrah. He was accompanied by the people whom he led in prayer. One day when he was leading them in the dawn (fajr) prayer, he said to them: One of you should come forward. He then went away to relieve himself. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: When any of you feels the need of relieving himself while the congregational prayer is ready, he should go to relieve himself.

The Prophet came out after the sun had declined and offered the Zuhr prayer (in congregation). After finishing it with Taslim, he stood on the pulpit and mentioned the Hour and mentioned there would happen great events before it. Then he said, "Whoever wants to ask me any question, may do so, for by Allah, you will not ask me about anything but I will inform you of its answer as long as I am at this place of mine." On this, the Ansar wept violently, and Allah's Apostle kept on saying, "Ask Me! " Then a man got up and asked, ''Where will my entrance be, O Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet said, "(You will go to) the Fire." Then `Abdullah bin Hudhaifa got up and asked, "Who is my father, O Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet replied, "Your father is Hudhaifa." The Prophet then kept on saying (angrily), "Ask me! Ask me!" `Umar then knelt on his knees and said, "We have accepted Allah as our Lord and Islam as our religion and Muhammad as an Apostle." Allah's Apostle became quiet when `Umar said that. Then Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose Hand my life is, Paradise and Hell were displayed before me across this wall while I was praying, and I never saw such good and evil as I have seen today."

Malik said, "If the imam stops off on a journey in a town where jumua is obligatory and he gives a khutba and takes the jumua prayer for them, then the people of the town and any other people present do the jumua prayer with him."

Malik said, "If the imam gathers people for prayer while he is travelling in a town where the jumua prayer is not obligatory, then there is no jumua for him, nor for the people of the town, nor for anyone else who joins them for the prayer in congregation, and the people of the town and anyone else who is not travelling should complete the prayer."

Malik added, "A traveller does not have to do jumua "

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been narrated by Malik, Sufyan b. 'Uyainah, al-Awza'i, and 'Abd al-Razzaq from Ma'mar and Ibn Ishaq, none of them made a mention of the call for prayer (adman) in this version of the tradition narrated by al-Zuhri, and none of them attribute (this tradition) to him except al-Awza'i and Aban al-'Attar on the authority of Ma'mar.

I came while the Prophet (saws) was saying the prayer. I sat down and did not pray along with them. The Messenger of Allah (saws) turned towards us and saw that Yazid was sitting there. He said: Did you not embrace Islam, Yazid? He replied: Why not, Messenger of Allah; I have embraced Islam. He said: What prevented you from saying prayer along with the people? He replied: I have already prayed in my house, and I thought that you had prayed (in congregation). He said: When you come to pray (in the mosque) and find the people praying, then you should pray along with them, though you have already prayed. This will be a supererogatory prayer for you and that will be counted as obligatory.

Abu Hurairah said: (It will atone for his sins) for three days more. he further said: One is rewarded ten times for doing a good work.

Abu Dawud said: The version narrated by Muhammad b. Salamah is perfect, and Hammad did not make a mention of the statement of Abu Hurairah.

The Prophet said, "Seven (people) will be shaded by Allah by His Shade on the Day of Resurrection when there will be no shade except His Shade. (They will be), a just ruler, a young man who has been brought up in the worship of Allah, a man who remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes are then flooded with tears, a man whose heart is attached to mosques (offers his compulsory congregational prayers in the mosque), two men who love each other for Allah's Sake, a man who is called by a charming lady of noble birth to commit illegal sexual intercourse with her, and he says, 'I am afraid of Allah,' and (finally), a man who gives in charity so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given."

When the prohibition of wine (was yet to be) declared, Umar said: O Allah, give us a satisfactory explanation about wine.

So the following verse of Surat al-Baqarah revealed; "They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: In them is great sin...." Umar was then called and it was recited to him.

He said: O Allah, give us a satisfactory explanation about wine.

Then the following verse of Surat an-Nisa' was revealed: "O ye who believe! approach not prayers with a mind befogged...." Thereafter the herald of the Messenger of Allah (saws) would call when the (congregational) prayer was performed: Beware, one who is drunk should not come to prayer. Umar was again called and it was recited to him).

He said: O Allah, give us a satisfactory explanation about wine. This verse was revealed: "Will ye not then abstain?" Umar said: We abstained.