He
(sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) used to stand in prayer
for both obligatory and voluntary prayers, carrying out
the command of the Exalted:
"And stand before
Allaah devoutly." (Baqarah,
2:238)
As for during a journey, he would pray voluntary
prayers on his riding beast.
He set the example for his ummah to pray during
severe fear on foot or while mounted, as has been
mentioned, and that is the purpose of the saying of
Allaah:
"Guard strictly your
(habit of) prayers, especially the Middle Prayer14,
and stand before Allaah devoutly. If you fear (an enemy)
then pray on foot, or while riding. But when you are in
security, celebrate Allaah's praises in the manner He
has taught you, which you did not know
before." (Baqarah, 2:238-9)
He (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) prayed sitting
during the illness of which he died."15
He also prayed sitting on another occasion before that,
when he was injured, and the people behind him prayed
standing; so he indicated to them to sit, so they sat
(and prayed). When he finished, he said, You were
going to do as the Persians and the Romans do: stand for
their kings who sit. So do not do so, for the Imaam is
there to be followed: when he makes rukoo', make rukoo',
when he rises, rise; and when he prays sitting, pray
sitting [all of you].16
'Imran ibn Husain (radiallaahu 'anhu) said, "I
was suffering from haemorrhoids (piles), so I asked the
Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) and
he said, Pray standing; if you are not able, then
sitting down; if you are not able to do so, then pray
lying down.17
'Imraan ibn Husain also said, "I asked him
(sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) about the prayer of a
man while sitting, so he said: He who prays standing,
that is better; he who prays sitting, his reward is half
that of the former. He who prays lying down (and in
another narration: reclining), has half the reward of
the one who sits.18This
applies to the sick person, for Anas (radiallaahu 'anhu)
said, "The Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa
sallam) came out to the people while they were praying
sitting due to illness, so he said: Verily, the
prayer of one who sits is (worth) half of the prayer of
the one who stands.19
Once "he (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) visited
a sick person and saw him praying (leaning) on a pillow,
so he took it and cast it aside. So the man took a stick
to pray (leaning) on it, but he took it and cast it
aside and said: Pray on the ground if you can, but
otherwise make movements with your head, making your
sujood lower than your rukoo."20
He
(sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) was asked about prayer
on a ship, so he said, Pray on it standing, unless
you are afraid of drowning.21
When he grew old he took a support at his place
of prayer to lean on22.
He
(sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam), used to pray long
through the night standing, and long through the night
sitting, and if he recited standing, he would bow
standing, and if he recited sitting, he would bow
sitting."23
Sometimes, "He would pray sitting, so he would
recite sitting until about thirty or forty verses of his
recitation wre left; he would then stand up to recite
these standing and then bow and prostrate, and he would
do likewise in the second raka'ah."24
In fact, "he prayed as-subhah25
sitting down towards the end of his life when he had
grown old, and that was a year before his death."26
Also "he would sit cross-legged."27
"He
used to stand (in prayer) bare-footed sometimes and
wearing shoes sometimes."28
He allowed this for his ummah, saying: When
one of you prays, he should wear his shoes or take them
off and put them between his feet, and not harm others
with them.29
He encouraged prayer wearing them sometimes,
saying: Be different from the Jews, for they do not
pray in their shoes nor in their khuffs (leather
socks).30
Occasionally he would remove them from his feet
while in prayer and then continue his prayer, as Abu
Sa'eed al-Khudri has said:
"The Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa
sallam) prayed with us one day. Whilst he was engaged in
the prayer he took off his shoes and placed them on his
left. When the people saw this, they took off their
shoes. When he finished his prayer he said, Why did
you take your shoes off? They said, 'We saw you
taking your shoes off, so we took our shoes off.' He
said, Verily Jibreel came to me and informed me that
there was dirt - or he said: something harmful - (in
another narration: filth)on my shoes, so I took them
off. Therefore, when one of you goes to the mosque, he
should look at his shoes: if he sees in them dirt - or
he said: something harmful - (in another narration:
filth) he should wipe them and pray in them.31
"When he removed them, he would place them on his
left"32
and he would also say: When one of you prays, he should
not place his shoes on his right nor on his left, where
they will be on someone else's right, except if there is
no one on his left, but he should place them between his
feet.33
"Once he (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) prayed
on the pulpit (in another narration: '... which had
three steps')34.
Hence [he stood on it and said takbeer and the people
behind him said takbeer while he was on the pulpit,]
[then he made rukoo' on the pulpit,] then he rose and
descended backwards to make sajdah at the foot of the
pulpit. Then he returned, [and did on it as he had done
in the first rak'ah], until he completed his prayer. He
then turned to the people and said: O people! I have
done this so that you may follow me and learn my
prayer.35
The Sutrah36, and the Obligation to have one
"He
(sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) used to stand near to
the sutrah, so that there was (a distance of) three
cubits between him and the wall"37
and "between the place of his prostration and the wall,
(there was) enough space for a sheep to pass."38
He used to say: "Do not pray except towards a
sutrah, and do not let anyone pass in front of you, but
if someone continues (to try to pass) then fight him,
for he has a companion (i.e. a shaytaan) with
him."39
He would also say: "When one of you prays
towards a sutrah, he should get close to it so that
Shaytaan cannot break his prayer."40
Sometimes "he would seek to pray at the pillar
which was in his mosque."41
"When he prayed [in an open space where there was
nothing to use as sutrah] he would plant a spear in the
ground in front of him and pray towards it with the
people behind him"42;
Sometimes "he would to set his mount sideways and pray
towards it"43
but this is not the same as prayer in the resting-place
of camels44,
which "he forbade"45,
and sometimes "he would take his saddle; set it
lengthways and pray towards its end."46
He would say: When one of you places in front
of him something such as the stick on the end of a
saddle, he should pray and not mind anyone who passes
beyond it.47
Once "he prayed towards a tree"48
and sometimes "he would pray towards the bed on which
'Aa'ishah (radi Allaahu anhaa) was lying [under her
sheet]."49
He (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam), would not let
anything pass between him and his sutrah, hence once "he
was praying, when a sheep came running in front of him,
so he raced it until he pressed his belly against the
wall [and it passed behind him]."50
Also, once "while praying an obligatory prayer,
he clenched his fist (during it), so when he had
finished, the people said: 'O Messenger of Allaah, did
something happen during the prayer?' He said: No,
except that the devil wanted to pass in front of me, so
I strangled him until I could feel the coldness of his
tongue on my hand By Allaah! Had my brother Sulaimaan
not beaten me to it51,
I would have tied him (the devil) to one of the pillars
of the mosque so that the children of Madinah could walk
round him. [So whoever can prevent something
intervening between him and the qiblah, he must do
so]."52
He also used to say:
When one of you prays towards something which
is a sutrah between him and the people and someone
intends to cross in front of him, then he should push
him in the throat [and repel, as much as he can], (in
one narration: he should stop him, twice) but if he
refuses (to not pass) then he should fight him, for
verily he is a devil.53
He also used to say: If the person who passed in
front of someone praying knew (the sin) on him, it would
be better for him to wait forty than to pass in front.
(Abu an-Nadr said, "I do not remember exactly whether he
said forty days, months or years.").54
He
used to say: A man's prayer is cut off when there is
nothing such as the end of a saddle in front of him, by:
a [menstruating]55
woman, a donkey or a black dog. Abu Dharr said,
'I said: "O Messenger of Allaah, why the black dog
rather than the red one?" He said, The black dog is a
shaytaan.56
He
used to forbid prayer facing the grave, saying: Do
not pray towards the graves, and do not sit on
them.57
