Book 4: Prayer

Al-Azraq b. Qais said that an imam, of theirs whose kunya was Abu Rimtha led them in prayer and said: I prayed this prayer, or one like it, along with God’s Messenger. Abu Bakr and ‘Umar were standing in the front row on his right, and there was a man who had been present at the first takbira in the prayer. God’s Prophet prayed the prayer, then gave the salutation to his right and his left so that we saw the whiteness of his cheeks, then turned away as Abu Rimtha (meaning himself) has done. The man who had been present with him at the first takbira in the prayer then got up to pray another prayer, whereupon ‘Umar leaped up, and seizing him by the shoulders, shook him and said, “Sit down, for the People of the Book will perish for no other reason than that there was no interval between their prayers.” The Prophet (ﷺ) raised his eyes and said, “God has made you say what is right, son of al-Khattab.” Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Zaid b. Thabit said: We were commanded to say after every prayer, 'Glory be to God’ thirty-three times, ‘Praise be to God’ thirty-three times, and ‘God is most great’ thirty-four times. One of the Ansar had a vision in sleep in which he was asked, “Has God’s Messenger commanded you to say ‘Glory be to God’ such and such a number of times after every prayer?” When the Ansari replied in his sleep that that was so, the visitant said, “Do it twenty-five times, and join to it ‘There is no god but God’ twenty-five times.” In the morning, when he went and told the Prophet, he said, “Do so." Ahmad, Nasa’i and DarimI transmitted it.

‘Ali said: I heard God’s Messenger say on the timbers of this pulpit, “If anyone recites the Throne verse (Al-Qur’an; 2:255) at the end of every prayer, nothing but death will prevent him from entering paradise; and if he recites it when he goes to bed, God will grant security to his house, his neighbour’s house, and the inhabitants of the little dwellings around him.” Baihaqi transmitted it in Shu'ab al-iman, but said that its isnad is weak.

‘Abd ar-Rahman b. Ghanm reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “If anyone says ten times before he departs and turns away his feet after the senset and the morning prayers, ‘There is no god but God alone who has no partner, to whom belongs the kingdom, to whom praise is due, in whose hand is good, who gives life, causes death, and is omnipotent,’ ten blessings will be recorded for him for every time he says it, ten evil deeds will be obliterated, he will be raised ten degrees, it will act as a charm for him from every unpleasantness and from the accursed devil, he will not be taken to account for any sin but polytheism, and he will be among those whose deeds are most excellent, except for one who may excel him by saying something more excellent than he did.” Ahmad transmitted it, and Tirmidhi transmitted something to the same effect from Abu Dharr up to “but polytheism”. He did not mention the sunset prayer, or “In whose hand is good", and he said this is a hasan sahih gharib tradition.