Qais narrated: “Allah’s Messenger ﷺ went out and the Iqamah was called for the Salat so I prayed As-Subh (Fajr) with him. Then the Prophet ﷺ turned and found me performing Salat (two Rakahs of Sunnah before Fajr) so he said: ‘Easy O Qais! Are there two prayers together?’ I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! I did not perform the two Rak’ah (before) Fajr.’ He said: ‘Then there is no harm.’”
We understand from this Hadith that:
1. The Sahabi, Qais bin Abi Hazim Qahad Al-Ansari, was keen on praying the two Rakah Sunnah before the Fardh of the Fajr Salah, but he missed it and was racing to make it up after Fardh Salah. This shows that the two Rakah before the Fajr Fardh Salah are very virtuous and the Sahaba diligently tried to pray it.
2. The Iqamah (shorter call to the Fardh prayer) was called out, so he prayed the Fardh Fajr prayer first. Many of our brothers start praying the Sunnah prayer even after the Iqamah is called out and delay joining the Fardh prayer. This is not allowed as the Prophet (peace be upon him) clarified it for us.
3. (Imam Muslim called this ‘Makrooh’, disliked, and named the chapter, ‘It is disliked to start a voluntary prayer after the Mu’adhdhin has started to say Iqamah for prayer‘ and then mentioned Hadith 711b)
4. The Prophet ﷺ reprimanded him and asked him to be easy upon himself and not force himself in finishing and completing a Sunnah prayer, after the Fardh Fajr prayer. This shows the easiness present in Islam.
5.’Easy O Qais! Are there two prayers together?’ , this shows the importance of keeping a distance between performing Fardh and Sunnah acts of worship.
6. Even though the Sunnah before Fajr is greatly rewarding, there is no harm (no sin incurred) if a person misses it sometimes, or as in this case, misses it for the Fardh prayer.
7. Leaving the Sunnah prayer of Fajr (or any Sunnah prayer for that matter) after the Iqamah has been called out or stopping the Sunnah prayer before the conclusion by the Tasleem, is also an act of worship, and is from the abandoned actions of worship, an abandoned Sunnah.
Ibn Buhaina reported:
8. The 5 Fardh prayers are always greater in virtue and reward than the Sunnah prayers.
9. So when do we pray the missed two Rakah Sunnah of Fajr?
Jaami At-Tirmidhi, 423, Sahih according to Al-Albani.
10. The Sahabi said, ‘I prayed As-Subh with him’, this shows that Salatul-Fajr is also called Salat As-Subh in the Ahadith. (Subh means morning and Fajr means Dawn)
11. A Muslim must see to it that he is early to Salatul Fajr, such that he completes the virtuous Sunnah prayers before Fajr in a calm and composed manner. He shouldn’t hurry in his prayers because of his delay in waking up and preparing for Salatul Fajr.
12. Allah is Extremely Merciful, and it is from His Mercy that He gave us a religion that has both obligatory deeds which are quantitatively little and also a great many superogatory (Mustahab/Sunnah/Nawafil) deeds which are not compulsory but highly rewarding.
13. This Hadith shows the truthfulness of our beloved Messenger, I wish we could wash his blessed feet and drink from that water, that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ came with a detailed Shariah (set of laws) seperating the compulsory from the optional and setting priorities for the Muslims when opting for different acts of worship.
14. The teachers of Islamic Sciences should be precise in teaching what is Mustahab and what is Fardh and train the students to prioritise one above the other in different circumstances.
15. This Hadith shows that a Muslim generally cannot worship Allah according to his will and desire everytime. Even if he wishes to do a particular act of worship, he should follow the set guidelines to perform that act of worship, with regards to the time, place and method of worship.
This shows that the Almighty God of The Muslims, i.e the ones who Muslims worship to be God and perceive to be The All-Powerful God of the entire universe, is not dependant on His creations and doesn’t request them submissively to come to Him.
It is His worshippers who are submissive to Him and should be precise and careful when worshipping him lest their prayers be rejected or rewards decreased or nullified.
16. This Hadith shows the extreme love the Sahaba had towards their Prophet’s words of encouragement about optional deeds, such that they earnestly sought to do it.
Even today many Muslims become sad and dejected when they miss the Sunnahs before Fajr and they quickly race to perform it before the Iqamah, and sometimes they do it even as the Iqamah called out, some pray it immediately after the Fardh Salah[even though these ways of praying the Fajr Sunnah are wrong and they do it out of not having proper knowledge of Fiqh (Jurisprudence).]
As a side point: This Ummah will only be successful if they race to perform all their obligations and optional deeds with diligence, earnestness and desire for Paradise, just like they value the Sunnah prayer before Fajr.
17. Even though Qais (رضي الله عنه) was a Sahabi, it didn’t mean that he was free of having to seek knowledge. It is possible at times that a Sahabi is also in neeed of knowledge of The Deen.
18. We as Muslims today are more in need of beneficial knowledge, we shouldn’t get offended if the Imam corrects our mistakes, even if we are students of Islamic knowledge.
19. The Prophet ﷺ was quick to correct the Sahabi and teach him what was right. This shows that correcting someone whilst you see him performing an error at the very moment is from the good ways of teaching.
20. The Prophet ﷺ, as an Imam, after the conclusion of Salatul Fajr, turned towards the people praying behind him and faced them, this is also a left out Sunnah as many Imams these days do not turn to the people after the end of the Fardh prayer.
21. It is not wrong or prohibited for the Imam to call a person by name and correct him infront of people, provided that the Imam is polite and doesn’t talk in a humiliating tone. People shouldn’t get offended if the Imam corrects them publicly as no one can attain perfection except for the Prophets of Allah.
22. The Prophet’s ﷺ speech was Jawami Ul Kalim, his words were short, yet had detailed and comprehensive knowledge and benefit in them, and this Hadith is an example of that.
23. The Sahabi , Qais (رضي الله عنه), had to leave a Mustahab (Encouraged) prayer for the Fardh prayer. This shows how important the Fardh prayers are!
What excuse do the parents of school going students have to allow their wards abandon prayer after prayer for the sake of worldly education!? This worldly education is at most ‘permissible(Mubah)’ and gives us no excuse to leave something obligatory like the Fajr prayer and all the prayers in general.
According to this Hadith, if a school or college is not allowing you to pray your Fardh prayers, you ought to leave such an institution, or else you risk loosing your Islam and Imaan.
May Allah make this beneficial for all of us. Aameen.
سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك أشهد أن لا آله و أستغفرك وأتوب إليك.
10th Dhul Hijjah 1440.
-Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna, Mangalore.
[Please mail me if you find any errors mannaforpeace17@gmail.com]
Saheehus-Seerah 