whether in prayer or outside it, for he could not bring his hand out to the ground for sujūd (prostration) or any other movement without exposing his ʿawrah (private parts).
(This applies when the garment is roomy. If it is tight, it suffices for him to wear it as an izār—a lower wrap—by fastening it around his waist, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When you pray wearing a single garment, then if it is wide, wrap it around yourself; and if it is tight, gird it around your waist.”)
This ḥadīth is transmitted from Jābir—may Allah be pleased with him—through four routes:
- Fulayḥ ibn Sulaymān, from Saʿīd ibn al-Ḥārith, who said:
“We entered upon Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh while he was praying in a single garment, wrapped in it, though his cloak was lying so close that, had he wished to reach for it, he could have done so. When he finished with the salām, we asked him about that. He replied, ‘I only do this so that fools like you may see me and thus spread about Jābir the concession that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ granted.’
Jābir then added, ‘I was travelling with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on one of his journeys. One night I came to him while he was praying in a single garment, and I too was wearing a single garment. I wrapped it around myself and stood next to him. He said, “Jābir, what sort of wrapping is this? If you pray…,”’—and so on to the end of the report.”
Al-Bukhārī, al-Bayhaqī and Aḥmad recorded it, and the wording above is that of Aḥmad. In the other two versions it is explicitly stated that the Prophet ﷺ said this after he had finished the prayer.
- Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl, from Yaʿqūb ibn Mujāhid ibn Abī Ḥazrah, from ʿUbādah ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, who said:
“We came to Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh in his mosque while he was praying …”
He then mentioned a report to the same effect, the wording traced back to the Prophet (marfūʿ) being: