Serving the Holy Prophet (sa)
Hazrat Jabbar (ra) bin Sakkhar relates that whilst travelling towards Mecca, the Holy Prophet (sa) said, “Who amongst us will go to Asaya first and prior to us reaching there, will prepare the well by covering its holes with soil and fill it with plentiful water?” Abu Owais who is also among the narrators states that that was the place the Holy Prophet (sa) sent them to.
Hazrat Jabbar then states, “I stood up and offered to render this service. The Holy Prophet (sa) permitted me to leave and I arrived at Asaya and mended the well and filled it. I was then overcome with sleep and slept for a while until I was awoken by a person whose camel was fast approaching the well and he was trying to stop it. This person instructed me to get to the well, I then noticed that this person was in fact the Holy Prophet (sa) and so, I replied in the affirmative.
The Holy Prophet (sa) then sat his camel down near the edge of the water. He then told me to bring a vessel and come with him. I went along with him with a vessel. The Holy Prophet (sa) then performed ablution and I also performed ablution. The Holy Prophet (sa) then stood for prayer and I stood to his left. (The first thing the Holy Prophet (sa) did upon reaching was perform ablution and offer prayer). When I stood on the left of the Holy Prophet (sa), he held my hand and stood me to his right side.”
The Holy Prophet (sa) was offering Nawafil [voluntary] prayer and he decided to also pray alongside the Holy Prophet (sa), however he stood on the left and the Holy Prophet (sa) immediately held his hand and placed him on his right side. When prayer is being offered in congregation and there are only two people in the congregation then second person will stand on the right side of the Imam [one who leads the prayer].
He then states, “We offered the prayer and we had just started it that the others also reached.”
(Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Vol. 5, p. 330, Hadith no. 15550, Alim-ul-Kutub, Beirut, 1998)