Reason for Composing the Book

Because I was unable to find a single, comprehensive work on this subject, I considered it incumbent upon me to present my Muslim brothers—those whose chief concern in worship is to follow the guidance of their Prophet ﷺ—with a book that is, as far as possible, exhaustive on everything connected to the Prophet’s prayer, from the opening takbīr (saying “Allāhu akbar”) to the closing taslīm. My aim is to make it easy for anyone who consults it—especially those who truly love the Prophet ﷺ—to carry out his earlier instruction: “Pray as you have seen me pray.”

Accordingly, I rolled up my sleeves and traced every report relevant to my purpose through the various ḥadith collections. The outcome is the book now in your hands. I obliged myself to cite only those prophetic narrations whose chains are established as authentic, in keeping with the principles and rules of noble ḥadith, and to set aside everything transmitted solely by an unknown or weak narrator—whether the report concerns bodily postures, verbal remembrances, virtues, or anything else. I am convinced that what is soundly established (1) is sufficient, and that weak reports add nothing, for they yield nothing—by unanimous agreement—but conjecture, and conjecture of the weaker sort at that. The Most High says, “Conjecture avails nothing against the truth” (Q 53:28). The Prophet ﷺ likewise said, “Beware of conjecture, for conjecture is the most dishonest of speech” (2).

Hence Allah, exalted be He, has not obligated us to act on such conjecture; rather, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade us from it, saying: