How did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) complete the prayer while knowing he was in a state of major ritual impurity, when he remembered the impurity, left, performed the full ritual bath, returned, and did not restart the prayer?

The Shaykh : How are you?

The questioner : Praise be to Allah, I am well.

The Shaykh : Are you well?

The questioner : Praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : Welcome, how are you? What do you have?

The questioner : I heard from you a long time ago a hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was in a state of major ritual impurity during the Fajr prayer, and he remembered it during the prayer, gestured with his hands, then went and performed the full ritual bath, returned, and completed the prayer, meaning he did not start it over.

The Shaykh : He did not restart the prayer.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : He only completed it. Yes.

The questioner : If he was in a state of major ritual impurity, how did he complete the prayer while knowing he was in a state of major ritual impurity?

The Shaykh : The question is naturally clear, but the phrasing of the question is objectionable to me.

The questioner : I just want a little information, that’s all, just go back to that.

The Shaykh : I know what you want, and that is why I told you: the question is clear, but the phrasing of the question is not good. I mean, if you did not know that purity from major ritual impurity, and even from minor ritual impurity, is a condition for prayer, you would say: How did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) pray without purity! Of course, no.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : So we take our Shari'ah from the way of the Messenger based on the principle: "and they submit in submission." So it is not said in this case "how." Here, what struck me as strange about the question was how he did such a thing; this is not said. But I know what you intended, so instead of saying "How did he pray while in a state of major ritual impurity?" we say: First: Is the hadith authentic or not? Second: If it is authentic, what is the explanation? We know that purity is a condition for prayer, and here he is praying in a state of major ritual impurity. At that point, the answer comes. Answering the first question: This hadith is disputed among the scholars of hadith; some of them authenticate it and some of them weaken it. I have concluded by authenticating it. The strongest argument of those who weaken it is that it contradicts another hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari. The hadith you mentioned is in Sunan Abu Dawud with its authentic chain from Abu Bakrah al-Thaqafi, while the hadith of al-Bukhari is, of course, with the authentic chain from Abu Hurayrah. The context of Abu Hurayrah’s narration of the hadith differs from the context of Abu Bakrah. Abu Hurayrah’s context says: The prayer was established, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out, and when he stood in his place of prayer, he said to them: , then he returned and came having performed the full ritual bath, then he said the takbir.
So you notice with me here that the remembering of the major ritual impurity was before the takbir of intention. This is the context of the hadith in al-Bukhari from Abu Hurayrah. As for the hadith in "Sunan Abu Dawud," as you mentioned, with other differences that confirm to us that Abu Bakrah’s story is a different story from Abu Hurayrah’s story. The first difference is that in Abu Hurayrah’s story, it is explicitly stated that he remembered before he said the takbir, whereas in Abu Bakrah’s hadith, he said the takbir and then remembered. A second difference: In Abu Hurayrah’s hadith, he said to them: , whereas in Abu Bakrah’s hadith: "He gestured to them to stay in their places"; meaning that in the second story, he considered himself to be in prayer, so it was not permissible for him to do an action that contradicts prayer, and among that is speaking. While in the first story, he was not in prayer, so he said to them: , whereas in the other story: "He gestured to them to stay in their places, so he prayed with them."