Is it in accordance with the Sunnah for a person to do what Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) did in catching up with the bowing whenever he arrived and the imam was bowing?
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The questioner : My Shaykh, some of our brothers—excuse me—do what Abu Bakrah did continuously!
The Shaykh : Excuse me, what do you mean by the action of Abu Bakrah?
The questioner : He bowed outside the row.
The Shaykh : And by your saying "continuously," what do you mean?
The questioner : That he bowed outside the row, and whenever he came, he did this action: he bowed outside the row, then walked while bowing until he entered the row. So I told him that Abu Bakrah only did it once, but this person, whenever he enters and finds them bowing, bows outside the row and then joins the row. So did he follow the Sunnah in this, or did he contradict it?
The Shaykh : Well, if you say this, what do you do if you did what Abu Bakrah did once, as you say, and then you came again after days or weeks or years? What do you do if you find the imam bowing?
The questioner : I would do...
The Shaykh : So the qualification you mentioned in your speech has no weight from the perspective of knowledge. This is called arguing with the one who is arguing, meaning convincing him with his own tongue. But better than this is that we remind you that your statement that Abu Bakrah did not do it except once is a claim. Where do you get the idea that Abu Bakrah did not do it except once? If you want to say something like this, you should say that the incident happened to Abu Bakrah with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) once. But that he did not do it except once—this is not what should be said. This is the first point.
Second, we have a hadith other than the hadith of Abu Bakrah, which is the answer in the main text, as it is said, regarding your question. It is the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: "It is from the Sunnah that if a man enters the mosque and finds the imam bowing, he should bow where he is, then creep along while bowing until he enters the row".
So this is from the Sunnah. That is, whenever a worshipper enters the mosque and finds the imam bowing, he bows where he is and creeps along while bowing until he enters the row. This is the second point. And third, I recently mentioned to some of our brothers that we are currently in the era of printing the first volume of the Series of Authentic Hadiths. In this volume is this hadith of Ibn al-Zubayr. There is that man whom you must have heard of, Ibn 'Abd al-Mannan, who made it his habit, like the habit of authenticating authentic hadiths, to weaken them, even if the Ummah had reached consensus on their authenticity. So he came to three hadiths from the Series of Authentic Hadiths and weakened them. So I tracked this man and his weakening of authentic hadiths in some of the additions in this new edition. The important thing is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) guided me in my research to a very important narration concerning the hadith of Abu Bakrah, because the truth is that scholars differed in interpreting his statement (peace and blessings be upon him):Sunan Abi Dawud 683Sahih (Al-Albani). What does "do not overdo it" mean? Do not overdo it by running, do not overdo it by bowing outside the row, no, no, and so on.
There are, of course, opinions there that give preference to the meaning that "do not overdo it" means do not strain yourself and hurry in walking.
Some said "do not overdo it" means do not hope to catch up with the imam in bowing by bowing outside the row. And I was finally granted a narration with a sound chain from Abu Bakrah that exactly matches the hadith of Ibn al-Zubayr. It says: "If a man enters the mosque and the imam is bowing, he bows where he is, then walks until he enters the row". Abu Bakrah himself brings this story to support and give preference to the opinion of those who said among the hadith scholars: does not mean "do not overdo it" by bowing outside the row, but rather it refers to the action of running, which is prohibited in the hadith agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And in this new narration of Abu Bakrah, there is support from him, or understanding from him, of his statement (peace and blessings be upon him) to him: . That is, why did he bow outside the row? To catch up with the imam, to catch up with what he can of much good. He said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): , but do not overdo it by running, and not by bowing, which you were eager to catch up with the good by catching up with the bowing. So there is no obstacle...
The Shaykh : Excuse me, what do you mean by the action of Abu Bakrah?
The questioner : He bowed outside the row.
The Shaykh : And by your saying "continuously," what do you mean?
The questioner : That he bowed outside the row, and whenever he came, he did this action: he bowed outside the row, then walked while bowing until he entered the row. So I told him that Abu Bakrah only did it once, but this person, whenever he enters and finds them bowing, bows outside the row and then joins the row. So did he follow the Sunnah in this, or did he contradict it?
The Shaykh : Well, if you say this, what do you do if you did what Abu Bakrah did once, as you say, and then you came again after days or weeks or years? What do you do if you find the imam bowing?
The questioner : I would do...
The Shaykh : So the qualification you mentioned in your speech has no weight from the perspective of knowledge. This is called arguing with the one who is arguing, meaning convincing him with his own tongue. But better than this is that we remind you that your statement that Abu Bakrah did not do it except once is a claim. Where do you get the idea that Abu Bakrah did not do it except once? If you want to say something like this, you should say that the incident happened to Abu Bakrah with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) once. But that he did not do it except once—this is not what should be said. This is the first point.
Second, we have a hadith other than the hadith of Abu Bakrah, which is the answer in the main text, as it is said, regarding your question. It is the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: "It is from the Sunnah that if a man enters the mosque and finds the imam bowing, he should bow where he is, then creep along while bowing until he enters the row".
So this is from the Sunnah. That is, whenever a worshipper enters the mosque and finds the imam bowing, he bows where he is and creeps along while bowing until he enters the row. This is the second point. And third, I recently mentioned to some of our brothers that we are currently in the era of printing the first volume of the Series of Authentic Hadiths. In this volume is this hadith of Ibn al-Zubayr. There is that man whom you must have heard of, Ibn 'Abd al-Mannan, who made it his habit, like the habit of authenticating authentic hadiths, to weaken them, even if the Ummah had reached consensus on their authenticity. So he came to three hadiths from the Series of Authentic Hadiths and weakened them. So I tracked this man and his weakening of authentic hadiths in some of the additions in this new edition. The important thing is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) guided me in my research to a very important narration concerning the hadith of Abu Bakrah, because the truth is that scholars differed in interpreting his statement (peace and blessings be upon him):
May Allah increase your eagerness! But do not do it again.
زادك الله حرصاً ولا تعدThere are, of course, opinions there that give preference to the meaning that "do not overdo it" means do not strain yourself and hurry in walking.
Some said "do not overdo it" means do not hope to catch up with the imam in bowing by bowing outside the row. And I was finally granted a narration with a sound chain from Abu Bakrah that exactly matches the hadith of Ibn al-Zubayr. It says: "If a man enters the mosque and the imam is bowing, he bows where he is, then walks until he enters the row". Abu Bakrah himself brings this story to support and give preference to the opinion of those who said among the hadith scholars: