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Text and translation
English translation
1600. It was narrated from Zaid bin Thâbit that the Prophet ﷺ used some palm-fiber mats to section off a small area in the Masjid. And the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ prayed in it for several nights until the people gathered around him. Then, one night they did not hear his voice, and they thought that he was sleeping, so they cleared their throats to make him come out to them. He said:
'You kept doing that until I feared that it would be made obligatory for you, and if it were made obligatory, you would not be able to do it. O people, pray in your houses, for the best prayer a person offers is in his house, apart from the prescribed (obligatory) prayers.'" (Saḥīḥ)
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Commentary
There is elucidation in other narrations that this incident took place in the blessed month of Ramadan, and the night prayer here connotes the Tarāwīh (the group prayer in each night of Ramadan). He made an enclosure for himself; it follows from this that he would make spiritual retreat (I'tikāf); otherwise the Prophet ﷺ used to perform the night prayer at home. It is also probable that due to paucity of space in the apartment, the Prophet ﷺ erected the mat chamber in order to offer the prayer in isolation.
