Muwatta 383

The hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal on joining the two prayers during the Expedition of Tabuk, and at the spring of Tabuk. Malik transmits it from Abu al-Zubayr al-Makki, from Abu al-Tufayl Amir ibn Wathila, from Mu'adh, in the chapter "on joining the two prayers at home and on a journey" ¹.

They went out with the Prophet ﷺ in the year of Tabuk, and he joined the noon and afternoon prayers, and the sunset and night prayers. He once delayed the prayer one day, then went out and prayed the noon and afternoon prayers together, then went in, then came out and prayed the sunset and night prayers together. Then he told them that they would come, God willing, the next day, to the spring of Tabuk, and that they would not reach it until the forenoon. Whoever came to it should not touch any of its water until he himself came. They came to it, and two men had got there before them, and the spring was trickling with a little water. The Prophet asked them: "Did you touch any of its water?" They said: "Yes." He rebuked them and said what God willed him to say. Then they scooped up water from the spring with their hands, little by little, until it gathered in a vessel. The Prophet washed his face and hands in it, then returned it to the spring, and the spring flowed with much water, and the people drew from it. Then he said: "O Mu'adh, it is likely that if your life is prolonged, you will see what is here filled with gardens" ^{1 2}.

The editor notes the transmitters from Malik: Abu Mus'ab al-Zuhri, and from him Ibn Hibban (1595); Rawh ibn 'Ubada in Ahmad (5/238); Suwayd ibn Sa'id; al-Qa'nabi in Abu Dawud (1206) and al-Bayhaqi; Ibn Wahb in Ibn Khuzayma (968, 1704) and al-Tahawi; Ibn al-Qasim, and from him al-Nasa'i (1/285); Abd al-Razzaq, and from him al-Tabarani; Ubayd Allah ibn Abd al-Majid in al-Darimi (1523) and Muslim (7/60); al-Shafi'i; and Yahya ibn Bukayr in al-Bayhaqi's Dala'il al-Nubuwwa (5/236). See also al-Tamhid (12/193). ²

The hadith is a foundation for a traveller joining two prayers in prayer. It also contains an account from Tabuk which Sunnis count among the signs of prophethood; see Miracle. ¹