Prayer (Kitab Al-Salat): Detailed Rules of Law about the Prayer during Journey

Dawud :: Book 4 : Hadith 1232

Narrated AbuAyyash az-Zuraqi:

We accompanied the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) at Usfan, and Khalid ibn al-Walid was the chief of unbelievers. We offered the noon prayer.

Thereupon, the unbelievers said: We suffered from negligence; we became careless. We should have attacked them while they were praying. Thereupon the verse was revealed, relating to the shortening of the prayer (in time of danger) between the noon and afternoon (prayer).

When the time of the afternoon prayer came, the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) stood facing the qiblah, and the unbelievers were standing in front of him. The people stood in a row behind the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) and there was another row behind this row. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) bowed and all of them bowed. He then prostrated and also the row near him prostrated. The other people in the second row remained standing and stood guard over them. When they performed two prostrations and stood up, those who were behind them prostrated. The people in the front row near him then stepped backward taking the place of the people in the second row and the second row took the place of the first row.

The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) then bowed and all of them bowed together. Then he and the row near him prostrated themselves. The other people in the second row remained standing and stood guard over them. When the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) and the row near him (i.e. the front row) were seated, the people in the second row behind them prostrated themselves. Then all of them were seated. (He (the Prophet) then uttered the salutation upon all of them. He prayed in his manner at Usfan as well as at the territory of Banu Sulaym.