The Prophet of Mercy Website

The Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) used to do much prayer, fasting, dhikr, supplication and other kinds of worship. And when he performed an act of worship he would continue with it and do it regularly. `A'ishah reported, "When he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) missed his night prayers due to pain or something else he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would pray twelve rak`ahs the next day." (Muslim)
He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) never abandoned night prayers and used to stand until his feet were swollen. When he was asked about it, he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) said, "Should I not be a grateful servant?" (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with them) said, "The other night I prayed with the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) and he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) began with Surah al-Baqarah.

I thought that he would bow after a hundred verses but he continued, so I thought he would pray one rak`ah with it. But then he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) began Surah an-Nisaa' and recited it, and then Surah Aali `Imraan and recited it; and he recited slowly. When he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) came to a verse of praise he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would praise Allah(Almighty), and when he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) came to a verse of supplication he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would supplicate, and when he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) came to a verse mentioning punishment he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would seek refuge in Allah (Almighty)Then he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) bowed in ruku`, saying, 'Subhana rabbi al-`adheem.' His ruku` was about as long as his standing. Then he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) said, 'Sami`-Allahu liman hamidah' and stood for almost as long as his ruku`. Then, he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) prostrated, saying, 'Subhana rabbi al-a`la.' His prostration was almost as long as he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) had been standing." (Muslim)

He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) always used to pray ten rak`ahs regularly when at home: two before dhuhr prayer and two after it, two after maghrib, two after `ishaa' and two before fajr. He adhered more strictly to the sunnah of fajr than any other voluntary prayer. He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) never missed these two rak`ahs or the witr prayer, whether travelling or at home, and it was not reported that he performed any voluntary prayers during his travels except the sunnah of fajr and the witr. He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would sometimes perform four rak`ahs before the dhuhr prayer, and once he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) prayed during the night reciting one verse of the Qur'an, which he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) kept on repeating until the morning.

He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) was keen to fast on Mondays and Thursdays and said, "Deeds are shown [to Allah] on Mondays and Thursdays, and I like to have my deeds shown while I am fasting." (At-Tirmidhi - hasan)

He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) used to fast the first three days of every lunar month. Mu`adhah al-`Adawiyyah asked `A'ishah, "Did the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) fast three days of every month?" She replied, "Yes." She asked, "In which part of the month did he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) fast?" `A'ishah said, "It would not matter to him in which part of the month he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) fasted." (Muslim)
Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) reported: "The Messenger of Allah (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would not fail to fast the days of the full moon (the 13th, 14th and 15th), whether at home or on a journey. (An-Nasa'i – hasan) And he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would fast `Ashuraa' (the tenth of Muharram) and encourage people to fast it.

And `A'ishah said, "He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) never fasted in any other month more than he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) did in Sha`baan; he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) used to fast nearly all of it. In another narration she said, "He would fast Sha`baan except for a little." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
As for dhikr, the Prophet's (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) tongue never ceased mentioning Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) used to mention Allah (Almighty) in every condition. When he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) finished his prayer he would ask Allah's forgiveness three times and say, "Allaahumma antas-salaamu wa minkas-salaamu, tabaarakta ya dhal-jalaali wal- ikraam."
(O Allah, You are peace and from You comes peace. Blessed are You, O Owner of Majesty and Honour.) (Muslim) And after ending the prayer and pronouncing the final salutation, he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would say,
"La ilaaha ill-Allaahu wahdahu la shareeka lahu, lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamdu wa huwa `ala kulli shay'in qadeer. Allaahumma la maani`a lima a`tayta, wa la mu`tiya lima mana`ta, wa la yanfa`u dhal-jaddi minkal-jadd.” (There is no god but Allah, alone, having no partner. His is sovereignty and to Him is all praise and He is over all things competent. O Allah, there is no preventer of what You grant and no granter of what You prevent, and no means will benefit a man of means against You.) (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

During his ruku` and sujud (prostration) he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would say, "Subbuhun Quddusun Rabbul-malaa'ikati war-rooh." (Exalted and Pure, Lord of the angels and the spirit. ) (Muslim)
Anas (may Allah be pleased with them) reported that the most frequent supplication of the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) was, "Rabbana aatina fid-dunya hasanatan wa fil-aakhirati hasantan wa qina `adhaaban-naar. (Our Lord, grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter and save us from the torment of the Fire) (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

And he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) would ask Allah's forgiveness often. Ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) reported: "We would count that the Messenger of Allah (Almighty) said a hundred times during one meeting,
"My Lord, forgive me and accept my repentance. Indeed, You are the Oft-forgiving, the Merciful." (Abu Dawud and at-Tirmidhi, who graded it as hasan-saheeh)

The Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) prohibited going to extremes in worship and warned against overexertion. He (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) said,
"Take on only what you can endure, for Allah does not lose interest until you do." And he (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him) said that the best worship is that which is done consistently. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

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