English Translation

Isma'il told us, Ayyub informed us, from Muhammad ibn Sirin, from Amr ibn Wahb al-Thaqafi, who said: We were with al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah when he was asked, "Has anyone of this nation led the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in prayer other than Abu Bakr?" He said, "Yes," and this increased my confidence in what he related. He said: We were with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, on a journey, and near dawn he struck the heel of my mount, and I thought he had a need, so I turned aside with him. We went until we were far from the people, and he dismounted from his mount, then went off and disappeared from me until I could not see him. He remained a long while, then came and said, "Your need, O Mughirah?" I said, "I have no need." He said, "Do you have water?" I said, "Yes." I went to a water skin — or he said a leather bag — hanging at the back of the saddle, and brought it to him. I poured it for him, and he washed his hands, washing them well. He said: I am unsure whether he said he rubbed them with dirt or not. Then he washed his face, then went to bare his hand — he was wearing a Syrian cloak with a narrow sleeve, so it was too tight — and he pulled his hands out from beneath it forcibly, and washed his face and hands. He said: In the hadith it comes that the washing of the face was twice, but I do not know if it was so or not. Then he wiped his forelock, wiped over the turban, and wiped over the leather socks. Then we rode and caught up with the people, and the prayer had been established. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf had gone ahead of them and led them one rak'ah, and they were in the second. I went to inform him, but he forbade me, so we prayed the rak'ah we caught and made up the one we had missed.