Hadith #388

Arabic Text

English Translation

It was narrated from Ibn 'Abbas (رضي الله عنهما) — via Kurayb — that he said: 'I spent the night with my maternal aunt Maymunah. the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arose during the night, answered the call of nature, washed his face and hands, then went to the water-skin, untied its cord, and performed a moderate wudu — neither excessive nor insufficient, yet complete. He then stood and prayed. I got up and stretched, pretending I had not been observing him, then performed wudu and stood on his left. He took hold of my ear and moved me around to his right. The night prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ totaled thirteen rak'ahs. He then lay down and slept until he snored — for whenever he slept he would snore. Bilal came and informed him of the prayer. He arose and prayed without repeating his wudu. In his supplication he used to say: "O Allah, place light in my heart, light in my sight, light in my hearing, light to my right, light to my left, light above me, light below me, light before me, light behind me, and make light great for me."' Kurayb said: 'And seven [additional phrases] were in a chest [kept by the family].' He said: 'I met some of the sons of al-'Abbas and they mentioned them to me: my sinews, my flesh, my blood, my hair, and my skin' — and he mentioned two more characteristics.