What is Sunan Ibn Majah 940 about?

This hadith from Sunan Ibn Majah (Book of Establishing the Prayer and the Sunnah Regarding Them), narrated by It was narrated from Ibn Buhainah:, states: "“The Prophet (ﷺ) offered prayer, I think it was the ‘Asr, and in the second Rak’ah he stood up before he sat. Before he said the Salam, he prostrated twice.”"

Is this hadith authentic?

This hadith is graded Sahih. Sahih hadiths are considered the most authentic grade in hadith classification.

Which collection is this hadith from?

This hadith is from Sunan Ibn Majah, which contains 4,345 hadiths across 38 books. It is hadith number 940 in the Book of Establishing the Prayer and the Sunnah Regarding Them.

I searched for a different number — is this the right hadith?

Hadith numbering varies across editions and translations (USC-MSA, Dar as-Salam, Fath al-Bari, and others). If you followed a link citing a different number but landed here, you may have been redirected to the canonical version in our library. If you were looking for a different hadith entirely, use the search bar to find it by text.

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#939

#940

Sunan Ibn Majah

#941

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Sunan Ibn Majah #940

Establishing the Prayer and the Sunnah Regarding Them

Sahih

The Arabic includes the chain of narration (sanad) and the collector's commentary; the English translation shows the Prophet's words only.

حَدَّثَنَا عُثْمَانُ، وَأَبُو بَكْرٍ ابْنَا أَبِي شَيْبَةَ وَهِشَامُ بْنُ عَمَّارٍ قَالُوا حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ بْنُ عُيَيْنَةَ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنِ الأَعْرَجِ، عَنِ ابْنِ بُحَيْنَةَ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ صَلَّى صَلاَةً أَظُنُّ أَنَّهَا الظُّهْرُ (العَصْرُ) فَلَمَّا كَانَ فِي الثَّانِيَةِ قَامَ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَجْلِسَ فَلَمَّا كَانَ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُسَلِّمَ سَجَدَ سَجْدَتَيْنِ ‏.‏

“The Prophet (ﷺ) offered prayer, I think it was the ‘Asr, and in the second Rak’ah he stood up before he sat. Before he said the Salam, he prostrated twice.”

Narrated by It was narrated from Ibn Buhainah:

Context

In this hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) demonstrates flexibility in prayer by prostrating twice after standing prematurely in the second Rak'ah. This act shows that mistakes can happen during prayer, and there are ways to correct them without disrupting the flow of worship.

Modern Application

This principle of correcting mistakes in prayer can be applied in our daily lives. Just as the Prophet (ﷺ) showed us that it's okay to make mistakes, we can learn to be forgiving of ourselves and others when things don't go as planned.

Topics

This hadith is tagged with Prayer because it emphasizes the importance of maintaining the integrity of the prayer even when errors occur.

Prayer