the governors in Medina and elsewhere have introduced practices into the prayer that continued to be observed, yet their continued observance was given no weight. The practice of the people of Medina that may be cited as evidence is that which prevailed during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. As for their practice after the caliphs’ deaths and after the generation of Companions living there had passed away, it is no different from the practice of others. It is the Sunnah that judges between people, not anyone’s practice after the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and his caliphs. Success comes through Allah alone.
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He (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would supplicate during his prayer, saying:
“O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the punishment of the grave, and I seek refuge in You from the trial of the False Messiah, and I seek refuge in You from the trials of life and death. O Allah, I seek refuge in You from debt and sin” (1).
He would also say during his prayer:
“O Allah, forgive my sin, grant me breadth of spirit (2), and bless what You have provided me” (3).
(1) Reported by al-Bukhārī (832, 2397) and Muslim (589/129), from ‘Ā’ishah.
(2) This is the reading in all the manuscript witnesses. It is also the wording of the hadith in al-Musnad (23114, 23188; al-Risālah edition). Al-Sindī said: “It means breadth of character and openness of heart.” The copyist of manuscript Qāf noted in its margin that the correct reading is “fī dārī (in my home).” This is the well-known version.
(3) Reported by Ibn Abī Shaybah (30004), Ahmad (19574), Abū Ya‘lā (7273), al-Nasā’ī in al-Kubrā (9828), and al-Tabarānī in al-Du‘ā’ (656) and al-Awsat (6891), from Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī. Al-Nawawī graded it authentic in al-Adhkār. Al-Hāfiz challenged this assessment in Natā’ij al-Afkār (1:263), noting that Abū Mijlaz did not meet Samurah ibn Jundab or ‘Imrān ibn Husayn, both of whom outlived Abū Mūsā. Whether he heard from Abū Mūsā is therefore open to question; he is known to have transmitted disconnected reports from people he had never met. It has a corroborating report from Abū Hurayrah, recorded by al-Tirmidhī (3500), who graded it weak. Another corroborating report, from a man who observed the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), was recorded by Ahmad (16598); its chain of transmission is weak.