175 – Zayd ibn Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) related: “In the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ we used to talk during the prayer; one of us would speak to his companion about whatever he needed, until the verse was revealed: ‘Guard your prayers, especially the middle prayer, and stand before Allah in devout silence’ (2:238). We were then commanded to keep silent and forbidden to speak.” Agreed upon, and the wording is Muslim’s (1).
Vocabulary of the ḥadīth:
• in kunna lanatakallam: in is the lightened form of the emphatic particle inna; its subject is omitted, and the prefixed lām adds emphasis.
• yukallimu aḥadanā ṣāḥibahu: an independent clause, as though answering the question, “How did you speak?”
• ḥāfiẓū: persevere in, maintain constantly.
• al-wusṭā: the most excellent; namely the most virtuous prayer, which on the stronger view is Ṣalāt al-ʿAṣr.
• qānitīn: in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier of the pronoun in qūmū; derived from qunūt, which has many senses. Here it means silence.
• umirnā and nuhīnā: both are in the passive; the one who issued the command and the prohibition is the Prophet ﷺ.
Points derived from the ḥadīth:
- At the beginning of Islam the believers would speak during the prayer; a man might address his companion with a few necessary words. Then Allah revealed, “Guard your prayers … and stand before Allah in devout silence” (2:238); they were therefore ordered to keep silent and forbidden to speak, and this—