and on that basis he instructed Abu Bakr and Umar—may Allah be pleased with them—when he once went out at night and came upon Abu Bakr praying in a subdued voice. He then passed by Umar ibn al-Khattab, who was praying aloud. When the two later met with the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—he said:
“Abu Bakr, I passed by you while you were praying and keeping your voice low?”
He replied, “I have already made the One with whom I was conversing hear me, O Messenger of Allah.”
Then he said to Umar, “I passed by you while you were praying and raising your voice?”
Umar answered, “O Messenger of Allah, I awaken the drowsy and drive away Satan.”
The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Abu Bakr, raise your voice a little,” and to Umar he said, “and you, lower your voice a little.” (1)
and their dwellings, for they were built of sun-dried bricks.” He then said:
“What clarifies the meaning of the hujrah (the small annex in front of the house) is the report in Sunan Abi Dawud and others from Ibn Umar, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:
‘A woman’s prayer in her bayt (main living-room) is better than her prayer in her hujrah, and her prayer in her makhdaʿ (inner closet) is better than her prayer in her bayt.’
This shows that the more concealed the place is for her, the more meritorious her prayer: the makhdaʿ is more secluded than the room in which she normally sits, and that room is more secluded than the hujrah, which lies closest to the doorway and the street.
Accordingly, the hujrah mentioned in the hadith of Ibn Abbas is most likely this annex by the door, not the bayt itself, because the text of this hadith clearly contrasts the two.
(1) Reported by Abu Dawud, 1/208; al-Tirmidhi, 2/309–310; and al-Hakim, 1/310, through the chain: Yahya ibn Ishaq → Hammad ibn Salamah → Thabit al-Bunani → Abd Allah ibn Rabah → Abu Qatadah.