294 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When any one of you has performed the two rakʿahs before the dawn prayer, let him lie down on his right side.” Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and al-Tirmidhi narrated it, and al-Tirmidhi declared it sound. (1)

Grading of the ḥadith:
The report is authentic and its chain is reliable. Al-Tirmidhi said, “ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ (good and sound).” Al-Nawawi wrote in his commentary on Muslim, “Its isnād meets the criteria of the Two Shaykhs.” Al-Shawkani stated, “Its narrators are those found in the Ṣaḥīḥ collections.” Shaykh al-Islam, however, did not authenticate the prescriptive wording; he rejected it and held that what is firmly established is the Prophet’s ﷺ practice, not his verbal directive.

Points derived from ḥadiths 291–294:

1. All four narrations deal with the rulings connected to the regular sunnah of the dawn (Fajr) prayer.
2. ʿĀʾishah’s report indicates that it is recommended to keep the two rakʿahs of Fajr brief. The Prophet ﷺ would pray them in her presence, and she would remark, “Did he even recite Umm al-Qurʾān (al-Fātiḥah)?”—a reflection of how light those two units were. When the recitation is shortened, the remaining utterances and movements are likewise abbreviated.
3. The same report shows that he ﷺ performed those two rakʿahs in front of ʿĀʾishah inside the house, for she was the one who estimated the length of his prayer.
4. Abu Hurayrah’s ḥadith indicates that it is recommended to recite the following two surahs after al-Fātiḥah: