Meeting Muhammad
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Praying Behind Him | Meeting Muhammad ﷺ Episode 4
We’ve all experienced the spiritual joy that comes with praying behind someone with a beautiful voice and an emotional prayer. To pray behind the one who perfected it ﷺ was an even greater experience.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Imam Hassan Al-Basri rahimahullah, he says that the salah is the mi'raj of the believer. It is the ascent of the believer. To say that when you pray, you are connecting directly with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and you are ascending in a way that resembles the ascending of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam when he received the command for the prayer as he was in the heavens on the night of al-Isra wa-l-Mi'raj SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So prayer is very intimate, it's very powerful, but we know having not had the ability to pray normally in the masajid the way that we used to, it's different when you pray behind an imam with a beautiful voice, when you pray in a congregation, what was it then to go and pray every single salah behind the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam who received that command himself? So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would come out to lead the salah and he had a very unique way of reciting the Quran SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and of course he was the one who received the Quran SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Of course you can expect that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would take care of every position of the salah and each rak'ah meant something special to him SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and praying behind him, the motions were perfected by him SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. But what was his recitation like? The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he had a beautiful voice, a special voice. Remember Qatada Rahimahullah said, Hasna al-waj, hasana al-sawt that every prophet had a beautiful face and a beautiful voice. And when he would recite the Quran SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam kana yaqta'u qiraatahu he used to pause between the verses and he used to draw out his recitation crisply and clearly. So just like the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam used to speak slowly Alaihi Salatu Wasallam and articulate properly, the recitation of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
was slow and every verse was recited separately. He also had a beautiful natural melody to his voice and his voice was described as not being too loud. So it was loud enough to where you could hear him. And if you were praying or if you were near his house while he was praying SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam then you could hear him from his courtyard as he was reciting SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would frequently get emotional as he was reciting the Quran. But the way that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would cry when he would recite the Quran was also unique. They described the crying of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in his recitation as if there was a wheezing from his chest and a humming from his chest like a boiling kettle pot. SubhanAllah it's just like how his laughter wasn't really audible, but it was just a wider smile than his usual smile. Likewise, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's weeping was also dignified. It wasn't very loud SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam but it was so sincere and you could tell that it was coming from a place deep within his chest SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and his eyes used to shed tears profusely. The tears would be coming down from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's eyes even if he was not making the sound of loud weeping. Abdullah bin Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu of course has this famous incident where he says that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam told him to read Quran to him. And Abdullah bin Mas'ud radiAllahu Anhu said, Ya Rasulullah, aqra wa alayka wa alayka unzal you want me to read to you and it was revealed to you? And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, I love to hear it from other than me. So he said, I read Surah An-Nisa and when I got to a particular verse Fakaifa idha jitna min kulli ummatin bishahid How will it be when we bring upon every ummah a witness and we bring you O' Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam upon all of them a witness? The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam put his hand on my knee and he said, hasbuk, enough. And I looked up and he said, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's eyes were like faucets. He was flowing with tears SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
but he didn't notice RadhiAllahu Ta'ala Anhu because the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would not weep loudly Alayhi Salatu Wasallam but a deep sincere crying from the heart SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that led to his eyes always being moist Alayhi Salatu Wasallam. Now the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam of course would connect with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in his Salah, whether it was an obligatory prayer or a voluntary prayer. But the messenger of Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam did not torture those that were behind him by getting lost in his Salah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and prolonging it when others were praying behind him. And no one loved his prayer like the messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam but he said that when you lead the Fara'id when you lead the obligatory prayer, then keep it short because you have behind you the elderly, the sick, the women that come with their children and those who have to run errands. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's Salah was not long when he was leading the Fard when he was leading the obligatory prayer. And in fact, if the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam heard children cry in the Salah, he would not reprimand the parents after the Salah. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would actually speed up his prayer Alaihi Salatu Wasalam and not reprimand the parents but the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam himself understood what it was like to be a parent or a grandparent with children in Salah. There were times that Al-Hasan wa Al-Husayn may Allah be pleased with them, particularly Al-Hasan WadiAllahu ta'ala Anhu would come and jump on the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam yes, in the Fard as he was in Sujood and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would wait for him on his back so that he would not harm him. Umama radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu she came to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam as a baby girl. Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam held her in his arms as he led the Salah and then he put her down when he would do the Sajdah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam So his Fard prayer was a beautiful prayer to follow him in and you heard his sincerity even though he would not recite long SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and you enjoyed his beautiful recitation. But what about the voluntary prayer?
Now it's Ramadan and we can understand, you know how much we'd long for Salatul Tarawih in its full function. And even the Sahaba of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam when the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam used to lead the prayers in the first few nights of Ramadan, the masjid got so full that it could not even hold the people in there. So even in the time of the companions, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam had that response from the Sahaba who wanted to come and listen to him read all night. And of course the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam he stopped doing so because he didn't want Tarawih to become a Fard on the people. He didn't want it to become an obligation on the people. Now Zaid Ibn Thabit radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu has this interesting narration. He says the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam had set up this chamber in the masjid and he would come out at night and he would pray there in this particular location in the masjid and the people started to hear and that's what would happen. They'd hear that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was praying qiyam, they'd call the others and they'd start praying behind him SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So on the nights that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam would not come what would they do? He said they would cough. They would, you know, go out of his door SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam they'd raise their voices a bit. He even says that they would throw some pebbles in the direction of the door of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam hoping that he would hear their voices and he would come out and lead them in salah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam came out to them one night and he was upset and he said, ayyuhannas, oh people, you kept on doing this until I thought that it was going to be prescribed for you. So offer your prayers in your houses because a man's prayer is better in his house except for al-maktuba, except for the obligatory prayer. But if you were blessed enough to pray behind him in the voluntary prayers, you might actually regret it. Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, the same man SubhanAllah, who took so many surahs fresh from the mouth of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam He said, one time I prayed behind him, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, I saw him praying qiyam and I prayed behind him and he said, hamamtu bi amrin suu
You know, I thought to do something bad. And they said, what was that? He said, I thought to actually leave the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam midway, like while he was in sujood, I'd run away from the salah because of how long it was. Hudhayf ibn al-Yaman radiAllahu Anhu, he has a famous story. He says, one time the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was praying qiyam, I thought, let me join him. I joined him and he started reading al-Baqarah in the first rak'ah. He said, I thought he'd stop at a hundred verses, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, but then he kept going. Then he said, I thought he'd stopped at 200. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam finished 200. Then he said, I thought he'd stop at al-Baqarah. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam finished al-Baqarah and he started surah an-Nisa. Same thing, I thought a hundred verses. He finished an-Nisa altogether. Then he finished Ali Imran, all of it, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Then he went into his rakuh and Hudhayf ibn al-Yaman says, Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's rakuh was as long as his standing up. And his sujood, each sajda was as long as the standing up in the rakuh. And in the second rakah, he continued to read al-Ma'idah, al-An'am. He kept on going with the long surahs. Umm Salama radiAllahu ta'ala Anha says that one time the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam read as-SabAA at-Tiwar, the long surahs, the seven long surahs in one rakah, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So in the fard prayer, you enjoyed it, but he kept it short. If you prayed qiyam behind the messenger, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he was connected to his Lord, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and he would take his time, alayhi salatu wasalam, enjoying his recitation, the beautiful recitation that we long to hear. ♪ Sallu alayh ♪ ♪ Sallu alayh ♪ ♪ SallAllahu alayhi wasallam ♪
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