Desire to Offer Prayers Behind the Holy Prophet (sa)

Hazrat Anas (ra) narrates, “There was no one who would offer Asr prayer quicker than the Holy Prophet (sa).” (That is, in terms of offering the prayer on time; the Holy Prophet(sa) would offer Asr prayer at its first prescribed time). “There were two men amongst the Ansar whose residence were the furthest away from Masjid Nabwi [the Prophet’s mosque]. One was Abu Lubaba bin Abdul Munzir who was from Bani Amr bin Auf and the other one was Hazrat Abu Abas bin Jabr who was from Banu Haritha. Abu Lubaba’s house was located in Quba and Hazrat Abu Abas’s house was located in Banu Haritha. It was quite far, about two to two and half miles. Both of them would offer prayers with the Companions of the Holy Prophet (sa) and when they would return to their tribes they still had not offered the Asr prayer yet.

(Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Vol. 4, p.607, Hadith 12516, Alam Al- Kutub, Beirut, 1998)

Such was their walking speed and also the fact that they would travel large distances in order to offer prayers behind the Holy Prophet (sa).”

Hazrat Abdullah bin Abas narrates: “The Holy Prophet (sa) said, ‘God Almighty has saved one from the fire whose feet become unclean in the way of God Almighty.’”

(Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Vol. 5, p.469, Hadith 16031, Alam Al- Kutub, Beirut, 1998)

That is, those who strive in the way of God Almighty, those who tread the path [to attain] His pleasure, those who work hard [for His sake] are included in this. Similarly, those who travel to invite others towards Allah and those who travel from afar to offer prayers at the mosque are also included in this group of people. God Almighty states that they have been saved from the fire.