Did it come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he did not sit for the sitting of rest? And a discussion of what Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in *Zad al-Ma'ad* regarding that.

The questioner : Another question, a hadith...

The Shaykh : ... It did not come in any hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not sit for the sitting of rest. On the contrary, a hadith came that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to sit for the sitting of rest. This is in the hadith of Malik ibn al-Huwayrith in *Sahih al-Bukhari*, and in the hadith of Abu Humayd al-Sa'idi in... Abu Dawud. Its original source is also in *al-Bukhari*. The hadith of Abu Dawud is from the narration of Abu Humayd in the presence of ten of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). In it, Abu Humayd al-Sa'idi, who was among them, said to the Companions around him, "Shall I show you the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?" They said to him, "Why? Are you not the most knowledgeable of us about his prayer?" He said to them, "Yes, I am the most knowledgeable." They said to him, "Then show it to us." He began to pray from the beginning of the prayer to the end of it. When he came to rising from the second prostration to the second rak'ah, he sat and then rose. This sitting came in the hadith of Abu Humayd, who displayed the description of the prayer to the Companions to show them how the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to pray, even though they were Companions like him who had witnessed the Messenger (peace be upon him) just as he had witnessed them... It appears that he had a special concern for observing the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, he said to them, "I will pray for you the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." It seems they were proud that a man like them, who did not have a seniority of companionship over them, would display it to them. Therefore, they said to him, "You are not the most knowledgeable of us about his prayer." He said to them, "It is not as you say; rather, I am the most knowledgeable of you about his prayer." When they saw his insistence on that, they said to him, "Then show it to us." When he finished displaying the prayer of the Prophet, which included the sitting of rest, they said to him, "You have spoken the truth. This was the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)."
By this text, and by the text before it, which is the hadith of Malik ibn al-Huwayrith, it is established that there was no disagreement among the Companions that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he prayed a prayer, would sit for the sitting of rest. From here, we say that the correct view is what the Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *al-Majmu'*, *Sharh al-Muhadhdhab*, where he alerted the readers to the necessity of maintaining the sitting of rest, because it was established in the narrations of this group of Companions without any contradiction from the other Companions. On this occasion, it is necessary to point out that one should not be deceived by what came in the book *Zad al-Ma'ad* in its discussion of this sunnah, which is the sitting of rest. There, it is mentioned that Ibn al-Qayyim follows some of the Imams in holding that this sitting of rest is not a devotional sunnah, but rather it was from his (peace be upon him) actions due to his custom of age, meaning when he became old and aged, he would sit for a sitting of rest, not a sitting of worship. This is what Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentions... according to some opinions of some Imams, without any evidence that would compel one who reads his words to adhere to it. We say that interpreting this sitting as the Messenger (peace be upon him) doing it out of need and not in worship is... a great oversight of what we mentioned regarding the agreement of the Companions on mentioning this sitting in the description of the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
It is very far-fetched for the absent one to see what the witness does not see, because it is contrary to the Prophetic report first, and contrary to what every person of intellect feels second. The Prophetic hadith is and this is what sound reason requires. The claim that the sitting of rest was done by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) out of need is contrary to the previous hadith How is this? Ibn al-Qayyim is the absent one, and those who preceded him... such as his statement, which is that the sitting of rest was done by the Messenger out of a need in his body from age or weakness. This is a statement issued by one who was absent from witnessing the action and prayer of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Whereas Abu Humayd al-Sa'idi and with him ten of the Companions, and possibly among them Malik ibn al-Huwayrith who narrated the hadith of the sitting independently of the group, all of them agreed on two things: first, that the Messenger (peace be upon him) sat for the sitting of rest in his prayer, and second, that it is part of the completion of the description of the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). If it were true what Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) held, that the Messenger did this sitting out of need, it would not have been hidden from those Companions, and... likewise, if those Companions had seen that this sitting of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was done out of need, it would not have been permissible for them to include it in the chain of the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), because of what that entails of introducing what is not from the worship into the worship, what is not from the prayer into the prayer. It is not conceivable that such an introduction could occur from a single Companion, let alone from a group, especially when one of them challenged them that he knew the description of the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) better than they did, and therefore he offered to pray for them the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). They said to him, "Show it to us." When he displayed what he had, and in this display it came that the Messenger (peace be upon him) sat the sitting of the tahiyah, they believed him and said to him explicitly, "This was the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." Therefore, it is not permissible to attribute error to these Companions, meaning that they introduced into the prayer what is not from it. This is the furthest thing from the truth. And by that, it is established that the sitting of rest is a confirmed sunnah, which the Messenger (peace be upon him) did, without any other report coming that clarifies that he left it, even occasionally. Therefore, we are with the Shafi'is, and specifically with the Imam al-Nawawi, who insisted that the one who prays should maintain this sunnah, at a time when the majority of the Shafi'is neglected it, although they find this sunnah in their books, yet they do not do it, let alone the Hanafis and Malikis who find the explicit mention of the dislike of this sitting. This is contrary to the correct sunnah, and this is what we have regarding this issue.