ONE HADITH A DAY
Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim · Authentic hadith
عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما قال: بِتُّ عند ميمونة، فقام النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فأتى حاجَتَه، فغسل وجهه ويديه، ثم نام، ثم قام، فأَتى القِرْبَة فأطلق شِنَاقَهَا، ثم توضأ وضوءا بين وضوءين لم يُكْثِرْ وقد أبلغ، فصلى، فقمت فَتَمَطَّيْتُ؛ كراهية أن يرى أني كنت أَتَّقِيهِ، فتوضأت، فقام يصلي، فقمت عن يساره، فأخذ بِأُذُنِي فَأَدَارَنِي عن يمينه، فَتَتَامَّت صلاته ثلاث عشرة ركعة، ثم اضطجع فنام حتى نَفَخ، وكان إذا نام نَفَخ، فَآذَنَهُ بلال بالصلاة، فصلَّى ولم يتوضأ، وكان يقول في دعائه: «اللهم اجعل في قلبي نورا، وفي بَصري نورا، وفي سمعي نورا، وعن يميني نورا، وعن يساري نورا، وفَوْقِي نورا، وتحتي نورا، وأمامي نورا، وخلفي نورا، واجعل لي نورا».
“Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I stayed overnight in the house of my aunt Maymūnah. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) got up in the night and went to answer the call of nature, then he washed his face and hands, then he slept. Then he got up again and opened the water skin, then he performed ablution from a hanging water skin, not using much water, yet he washed all the parts properly and then offered the prayer. I got up and straightened my back in order that the Prophet might not feel that I was watching him, and then I performed the ablution, and when he got up to offer the prayer, I stood on his left. He caught hold of my ear and brought me over to his right side. He offered thirteen Rak‘ahs in all and then laid down and slept till he started snoring as he used to do when he slept. In the meantime Bilāl informed the Prophet of the approaching time for the (Fajr) prayer, and the Prophet offered the prayer without performing new ablution. He used to say in his invocation: "O Allah, place light in my heart, light in my sight, light in my hearing, light on my right, light on my left, light above me, light below me, light in front of me, light behind me, make light for me!"”
Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) informs us in this Hadīth that he spent the night in the house of his aunt Maymūnah (may Allah be pleased with her), the Prophet's wife. During the night, the Prophet relieved himself, then he washed his face and hands to get refreshed and clean oneself, and slept again. Then he woke up, went to the water skin, and loosened the straps that tie its mouth and keep the water inside it. Then he made ablution for prayer moderately without neglecting any parts of ablution or excessively washing them. This means he washed the parts of ablution less than three times each, showing that this is permissible although the Sunnah is to wash them thrice. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) did what is required only in his ablution by making sure that every part of ablution was washed properly. Then he performed the night prayer. Ibn ‘Abbās said that he was watching the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) in what he was doing, but he stretched his body to give the impression that he was asleep and not watching what the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was doing. Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) pretended he was asleep, because people, when they are alone, could perhaps do things that they do not like others to see. Another reason is that Ibn ‘Abbāss was afraid that the Prophet might leave off some of his actions due to the former's observation. It was the habit of the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) that sometimes he would abandon or leave off an action l…