We came to Ibn ‘Umar at al- Balat* when the people were praying, and I remarked on the fact that he was not praying along with the people. He replied that he had already prayed and that he had heard God’s Messenger say, “Do not pray a prayer twice on the same day.”
* A square paved with stones between the Prophet's mosque and the market-place in Medina.
Ibn ‘Umar said that a man questioned him saying, “When I pray in my house and then come to the mosque in time for prayer along with the imam, should I pray along with him?” He replied, “Yes.” The man asked which of them he should consider his obligatory prayer, and Ibn ‘Umar replied, “Is that your affair?* that is only to be left to God’s decision who will appoint whichever He wishes.”
*The Arabic is in the form of a statement, but in view of the phrase immediately following it seems necessary to treat it as a question.
Nafi‘ said that Ibn ‘Umar used to say, “If anyone prays the sunset or the morning prayer and then comes when the imam is praying them, he must not say them over again.”
Umm Habiba reported God’s Messenger as saying, “A house will be built in paradise for anyone who prays in a day and a night twelve rak'as, four before and two after the noon prayer, two after the sunset prayer, two after the evening prayer, and two before the dawn prayer.”
Tirmidhi transmitted it. In a version by Muslim she said she heard God’s Messenger say, “If any Muslim prays to God twelve voluntary rak'as daily, over and above the obligatory ones, God will build a house for him in paradise,” or, “a house will be built for him in paradise.”
