Prayer in early Islam before the Night Journey

This belongs to the early period of the revelation of the command to pray. Al-Rahiq al-Makhtum relates from Muqatil ibn Sulayman that God made obligatory at the beginning of Islam two cycles (rak'atayn) in the morning and two in the evening, citing the verse Ghafir 55. ^{1 2 3}

The author cites Ibn Hajar that before the Night Journey the Prophet prayed, as did his companions, but that scholars differ on whether anything was made obligatory before the five daily prayers. It was said that the obligation was a prayer before sunrise and a prayer before sunset. ^{2 3 4}

Al-Harith ibn Abi Usama relates through Ibn Lahi'a, with a continuous chain back to Zayd ibn Haritha, that Gabriel came to the Prophet at the beginning of the revelation and taught him ablution. When he finished, he took a handful of water and sprinkled his private parts with it. Ibn Majah reports the same in substance; a similar account is transmitted from al-Bara' ibn Azib and Ibn Abbas, and in the hadith of Ibn Abbas it is said that this was at the beginning of what was made obligatory. ^{2 3 5}

Ibn Hisham mentions that when the time for prayer came, the Prophet and his companions would go off into the ravines and pray in secret away from their people. Abu Talib once saw the Prophet and Ali praying, and spoke to them about it. When he learned the truth of the matter, he told them to persevere. ^{2 6}

• The chain of the ablution hadith includes Ibn Lahi'a. The author transmits it as it stands from the abridged biography of the Messenger, without a ruling.
• The question belongs to jurisprudence and hadith scholarship. The museum presents the views as the book sets them out, without preference.