321 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) said:

“By the One in Whose hand is my soul, I was on the verge of ordering that firewood be gathered, then having the call to prayer proclaimed, then appointing a man to lead the people, and thereafter going to those men who do not attend the prayer and burning their houses down upon them. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, if any one of them knew that he would receive a fat, meaty bone or two good pieces of meat, he would certainly come to the ‘Ishā’ prayer.”

Agreed upon; the wording is that of al-Bukhārī. (1)

Vocabulary of the ḥadith
– “By the One in Whose hand is my soul”: i.e. by Allah, in Whose hand is my soul; an oath frequently used by the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him).
– “I was on the verge (laqad hamamtu)”: the prefixed lām introduces the answer to the oath; hamamtu means firm resolve to do something, without yet carrying it out.
– “that firewood be gathered (fa-yuḥtaṭaba)”: in the subjunctive; i.e. firewood is to be collected.
– “and burn them (fa-uḥarriqa)”: with a doubled middle consonant, from taḥrīq (burning); the intent is extensive burning.
– “order the prayer to be established (āmura biṣ-ṣalāh)”: if the definite article is generic, the phrase is general; if specific, then one narration identifies the prayer as ‘Ishā’, another as Fajr, and a third leaves it unrestricted—showing that the incident may have occurred more than once.
– “so that he may lead the people (fa-yaʾumma an-nās)”: the verb is in the subjunctive because it is conjoined to āmura, and an-nās (the people) is likewise in the accusative.