روي أنه كانت عائشة تقول: أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كان
يصلي العصر والشمس في حجرتها قبل أن تظهر.
It is narrated that ‘Ā’ishah (rta) used to say that the
Prophet (sws) would offer the ‘asr prayer while the sun [light] was [on the
floor] in her room, before it
climbed [the walls].
Notes on the Text of the Narrative
This narrative or a part of it, with minor variations, has
been reported in Bukhārī (Nos. 499, 519, 520, 521 and 2936), Muslim (No. 611),
Mu’attā of Imām Mālik (No. 2), Tirmidhī (No. 159), Abū Dā’ūd (No. 407) Nasā’ī
(No. 505), Ibn Mājah (No. 683), Ibn Khuzaymah (No. 332), Ibn
Hibbān (Nos. 1450 and 1521), Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (Nos. 24141, 24598, 25677,
25726, 26421) Nasā’ī’s Sunan al-Kubrā (No. 1494), Bayhaqī (Nos. 1580, 1918, 1919
and 1920), al-Dārimī (No. 1186) Musnad of Abū Ya‘lā (Nos. 4420 and 4480), ‘Abd
al-Razzāq (No. 2071, 2072 and 2073) and Musnad of al-Humaydī (No. 170). The
preferred text, except where otherwise specified, is the one reported in Muslim
(No. 611).
The sentence والشمس في حجرتها قبل أن
تظهر (while the sun was in her room, before it climbed [the walls]), is
reported differently in various narratives. In some narratives, as in Bukhārī
(No. 519), it is reported as: والشمس لم تخرج من حجرتها
(while the sun [light] had not exited her room); In some narratives, as in
Bukhārī (No. 520), it is reported as: والشمس في حجرتها لم
يظهر الفئ من حجرتها (while the sun was in her room and shadows had not
appeared in it); in some narratives, as in Bukhārī (No. 521), it is reported as:
والشمس طالعة في حجرتي لم يظهر الفئ بعد (while the sun
was shining in my room and shadows had not appeared yet); in some narratives, as
in Muslim (No. 611 (b)), it is reported as: والشمس طالعة في
حجرتي لم يفيء الفئ بعد (while the sun was shining in my room, shadows had
not lengthened yet); in some narratives, as in Muslim (No. 611 (c)), it is
reported as: والشمس في حجرتها لم يظهر الفئ في حجرتها
(while the sun was in her room and shadows had not appeared in her room); in
some narratives, as in Muslim (No. 611 (d)), it is reported as:
والشمس واقعة في حجرتي (while the sun was in my room);
in some narratives, as in Ibn Mājah (No. 683), it is reported as
والشمس في حجرتي لم يظهرها الفئ بعد (while the sun was
in my room and shadows had not stretched over it [that is, the room] yet); in
some narratives, as in Ahmad Ibn Hambal (No. 25677), it is reported as:
قبل أن تخرج الشمس من حجرتي طالعة (before the sun
exited my room); in some narratives, as in Bayhaqī (No. 1918), it is reported
as: والشمس في حجرتها قبل أن تظهر الشمس (while the sun
was in her room before the sun climbed the walls); in some narratives, as in
Bayhaqī (No. 1920), it is reported as: والشمس في قعر حجرتي
(while the sun was on the floor of her room); in some narratives, as in Musnad
Abū Ya‘lā (No. 4480), it is reported as: والشمس طالعة في
حجرتي (while the sun was shining in my room); in some narratives, as in
Musnad Al-Humaydī (No. 170) والشمس طالعة في حجرتي لم يظهر
الفئ عليها بعد (while the sun was shining in my room, the shadows had not
overtaken the room yet); in some narratives, as in ‘Abd al-Razzāq (No. 2073), it
is reported as: والشمس في حجرتها قبل أن تظهر ولم يظهر الفئ من
حجرتها (while the sun was in her room, before it climbed the walls and
shadows had not appeared in her room).
Clearly, this extensive variation in the reporting of the
sentence is indicative of the variation in the interpretation and understanding
of the sentence ascribed to ‘Ā’ishah (rta). It is extremely difficult, under
these circumstances, to be able to say, with any degree of certainty, what may
have been the actual words used by the umm al-Mu’minīn. In view of this fact,
the preference given to the words reported in Muslim (No. 611 (a)) is only on
the basis of the point that most, if not all, of the variant narrations of the
sentence correspond in meaning with this sentence.
(This write-up is prepared by the
Hadīth Cell of Jāved Ahmad Ghāmidī )
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