Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām - Abd Allah al-Bassam - (2/412)

Tawḍīḥ al-AḥkāmAbd Allah al-Bassam

Other reports are also attributed to her. Some scholars declared them inconsistent, yet they can readily be reconciled by attributing them to different occasions and circumstances; hence there is no need to judge them contradictory.

(f) Ibn ʿAbbās related that the Prophet ﷺ “prayed two rakʿahs, then two, then two, then two, then performed witr. He then lay down until the muʾadhdhin arrived; he rose and prayed two brief rakʿahs, after which he went out and led the dawn prayer.” [al-Bukhari 731; Muslim 781]

(g) ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated: “One night the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out in the middle of the night and prayed; some men prayed behind him. The next morning the people spoke about it, so an even larger group gathered the following night and prayed with him. Again the people talked, and on the third night the mosque was even more crowded, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out and they prayed behind him. On the fourth night the mosque could not contain its worshippers, yet he did not come out to them until the dawn prayer. After Fajr he turned to the people, recited the tashahhud, and said: ‘To proceed: your presence here was not hidden from me, but I feared that this prayer might be made obligatory for you and that you would then be unable to observe it.’

4 – It appears that the exact number of rakʿahs the Prophet ﷺ performed on those two—or three—nights was not preserved. What is firmly established is only what Allah commanded him and which he carried out: “O you who are wrapped up! (1) Stand in prayer at night, except for a little, (2) half of it, or a little less” (al-Muzzammil 1-3); and His words: “And during the night, pray tahajjud as an extra act of worship for you” (al-Isrāʾ 79); and His description of the righteous: “They used to sleep but little at night” (adh-Dhāriyāt 17). The Prophet ﷺ also said: “Whoever stands in prayer during Ramadan, believing and seeking reward, will have his past sins forgiven.” [Agreed upon]

5 – The lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ passed, followed by the caliphate of Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). When ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) became caliph, he entered the Prophet’s Mosque accompanied by ʿAbd al-Qāriʾ and found the people praying in scattered groups: one man praying alone, another leading a small group. ʿUmar therefore instructed Ubayy ibn Kaʿb to lead them in prayer during Ramadan.

وجاء عنها غير هذه الروايات، مما حكم به بعضهم؛ بأنَّها روايات مضطربة، ولكن يمكن حملها على تعدد الأوقات، واختلاف الحالات، فلا موجب للحكم بالاضطراب. (و) حديث ابن عباس أنَّه ﷺ: "صلَّى ركعتين ثم ركعتين ثم ركعتين، ثم ركعتين، ثم أوتر، ثم اضطجع حتى جاء المؤذن، فقام فصلَّى ركعتين خفيفتين، ثم خرج فصلى الصبح" [رواه البخاري (٧٣١) ومسلم (٧٨١)]. (ز) وقد جاء من حديث عائشة ﵂: "أنَّ رسول الله ﷺ خرج ذات ليلة من جوف الليل، فصلَّى رجالٌ بصلاته، فأصبح الناس فتحدثوا، فاجتمع أكثر منهم، فصلوا معه، فأصبح الناس فتحدثوا، فكثر أهل المسجد من الليلة الثالثة، فخرج رسول الله ﷺ فصلوا بصلاته، فلما كانت الليلة الرابعة عجز المسجد عن أهله، حتى خرج لصلاة الصبح، فلما قضي الفجر أقبل على الناس، فتشهد ثم قال: أما بعد، فإنَّه لم يَخْفَ علي مكانكم، لكني خشيتُ أن تفرض عليكم، فتعجزوا عنها". ٤ - الظاهر أنَّه لم يحفظ عدد الركعات التي صلى بها النبي ﷺ تلك الليلتين، أو الثلاث، وإنما الثابت ما أمره الله به وامتثله: ﴿يَاأَيُّهَا الْمُزَّمِّلُ (١) قُمِ اللَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا (٢) نِصْفَهُ أَوِ انْقُصْ مِنْهُ قَلِيلًا (٣)﴾ [المزمل]، وقال تعالى: ﴿وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَتَهَجَّدْ بِهِ نَافِلَةً لَكَ﴾ [الإسراء: ٧٩]، وقال تعالى عن المؤمنين الصالحين: ﴿كَانُوا قَلِيلًا مِنَ اللَّيْلِ مَا يَهْجَعُونَ (١٧)﴾ [الذاريات]، وقال ﷺ: "من قام رمضان إيمانًا واحتسابًا، غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبه" [مُتفق عليه]. ٥ - مضى زمن النبي ﷺ، وخلافة أبي بكر ﵁، فلما جاءت خلافة عمر ﵁ دخل المسجد النبوي، ومعه عبدٌ القارىء، فوجد أهل المسجد أوزاعًا متفرقين، يصلي الرجل بنفسه، ويصلي الرجل ويصلي بصلاته الرهط، فأمر أُبي بن كعب أن يقوم بهم في رمضان.