Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) led us in one of the evening prayers. The narrator named Ibn Sirin says: Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned the name of this prayer in our presence, but I have forgotten it. (Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, says) The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ended the prayer after two rak‘ahs, then he stood by a piece of wood placed in the mosque. He placed his right blessed hand on his left and interlaced his fingers. He leaned against that piece of wood in a state of anger. The narrator says: The hasty people left (the mosque). They were saying,“The prayer has been shortened.”Among those present were Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), but they did not dare to speak to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Among those present was a man whose hands were somewhat long. He was called Dhu’l-Yadayn. He said,“Has the prayer been shortened, or have you forgotten?”The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Neither has the prayer been shortened, nor have I forgotten.”Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked those present,“Is it as Dhu’l-Yadayn is saying?”The people replied,“Yes.”So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the part of the prayer that he had left, then he said the salam. Then he said the takbir and performed a prostration as long as his usual prostrations or a little longer, then he raised his head and said the takbir. Then he said the takbir and performed a prostration similar to the previous one or a little longer, then he raised his head and said the takbir. The narrator says: (From our teacher) some people say (these words are also in the narration): Then he said the salam, so they would say: This narration has been related to me from Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him), and he also narrated these words:“Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said the salam.”These words of the narration are transmitted from Nadr bin Shumail from Ibn ‘Awn.

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: On the occasion of the Battle of Badr, besides Miqdad, none of us was mounted on a horse, and I remember, every one of us was standing. (Here, the wording of the narration has been incorrectly transmitted; the correct wording is: every one of us was asleep) Only the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) (remained awake); he kept performing prayer under a tree and kept weeping until morning came.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) came to the mosque of Banu Amr bin Awf (the narrator says) that is, he came to the mosque of Quba. Some Ansar came to the mosque and greeted the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) with salam. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: I asked Sayyiduna Suhaib (may Allah be pleased with him)—he was with the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) at that time—when the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was greeted with salam during prayer, what did he do then? Sayyiduna Suhaib replied: He responded by gesturing with his blessed hand.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates the statement of Sayyiduna Suhaib (may Allah be pleased with him): I passed by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) while he was performing prayer. I greeted him with salam, and he replied to me with a gesture. The narrator says: I think these words are also in the narration: "He replied with a gesture of his finger."

Sayyiduna Sahl bin Sa’d (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) went to the people of Banu Amr bin Awf to make peace between them. During this, the time for prayer came. Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: Will you lead the people in prayer, so that I may give the iqamah? Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Yes, so Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) began to lead the prayer. Meanwhile, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived. The people were praying at that time. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came and stood in the row. The people began to clap their hands. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would not pay attention to anything during the prayer, but when the people clapped more and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) paid attention, he saw the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). (The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, gestured to him),“Stay in your place,”but Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) raised both his hands and praised Allah for the command that the Messenger of Allah had given him. Then Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) stepped back until he stood in the row. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) moved forward and began to lead the prayer. When he completed the prayer, he asked: O Abu Bakr, when I commanded you, why did you not remain in your place? Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: It is not for the son of Abu Quhafah to lead the prayer in front of the Messenger of Allah. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: What is the matter, I saw you clapping a lot. Whoever needs to draw the attention of the imam during the prayer should say“Subhan Allah.”If he says“Subhan Allah,”attention will be paid to him. The command to clap during the prayer (to draw the imam’s attention) is for women.

Sayyiduna Sahl bin Sa’d (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: There was a dispute among the people of Banu Amr bin Awf. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went to reconcile between them. The time for the Zuhr prayer arrived. He instructed Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him): If the time for ‘Asr comes and I have not returned, then tell Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer. When the time for the ‘Asr prayer came, Sayyiduna Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) gave the adhan and the iqamah, and said: O Abu Bakr, please step forward. So Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) stepped forward. Meanwhile, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) arrived, making his way through the rows. When the people saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), they began clapping their hands. The narrator says: When Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) would begin the prayer, he would not pay attention to anything else, but when he noticed the clapping continuing, he paid attention and saw that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was standing behind him. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) gestured to him to continue the prayer, but Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) stepped back, walking on his heels. When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) noticed this, he moved forward and led the people in prayer. When he completed the prayer, he said: O Abu Bakr, what prevented you from continuing the prayer when I gestured to you? Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: It is not for the son of Abu Quhafah to lead the Messenger of Allah in prayer. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to the people: When you need to draw the attention of the imam during prayer, men should say Subhan Allah and women should clap their hands.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates this statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Saying 'Subhan Allah' is prescribed for men (to draw the attention of the Imam), and clapping is prescribed for women."

Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Saying 'Subhan Allah' (to draw the attention of the imam during prayer) is prescribed for men, and clapping is prescribed for women."

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) used to gesture during the prayer.

‘Ubadah bin Walid narrates: We went to the service of Sayyiduna Jabir bin ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) in his mosque. At that time, he was performing prayer wrapped in a single cloth as an ishtimal. I jumped over people’s necks and sat down between him and the qiblah. I said: May Allah have mercy on you. You are performing prayer in a single cloth while your large sheet is lying beside you. He struck my chest with his hand and said: I wanted a foolish person like you to come to me and see what I am doing, and then act accordingly. Once, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to us in this mosque. In his blessed hand was a stick. He saw phlegm stuck in the direction of the qiblah of the mosque, so he went towards it and scraped it off with the stick. Then he turned towards us and said: Which one of you would like Allah to turn away from him? The narrator says: We became anxious. Then he said: Which one of you would like Allah to turn away from him? We said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! None of us wants that. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: When any one of you stands to pray, Allah is in front of him, so he should not spit in front of himself nor to his right side. He should spit to his left side under his left foot, and if phlegm comes quickly, he should do so in his garment like this, and he rubbed it in. You people give me some perfume. So a young man from that tribe quickly went to his house and brought some perfume in his palms. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took it and placed it on the tip of the stick and rubbed it over the mark of the phlegm. Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: From here, people started keeping perfume in mosques.