A Day in The Life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) by Abd a-Wahhab b. Nasir al-Turayri

A Dt'f)' in the Life of Prophet Muhammad
then remembered that he wa s in the state of ceremonial impurity.3
He signalled with his hand to his companions and said to them:
"Stay in your position". He then went back home, took a quick bath
and came out with wa ter dripping off his head. The Prophet did not
conceal such matters or feel embarrassed about them. He wa s just
an ordinary human being whose life reflected all normal aspects of
human life. Just like the Qur'an says in reference to the type of
messenger God sends to people: "Even if We had appointed an
angel as Our messenger, We would certainly have made him
'appear as] a man." (6: 9)
When the Prophet stood in his position to lead the prayer, he
would ensure that the rows of worshippers behind him were
straight. He would say to them: "Make your lines straight and stand
close to each other. Straightening lines is part of the perfection of
prayers." He then started the prayer saying "Allah-u akbar," which
means "God is Supreme". As he said it, he ra ised his two hands so
as to be parallel with his shoulders and then he put his right hand
over his left hand. He then said without raising his voice: "My Lord,
keep me as far from sin as the ea st from the west. My Lord, wa sh
off my sins just like stains are wa shed off a white robe. My Lord,
wa sh sin off me with snow, water and hale."
Having said this supplication silently, the Prophet then read
aloud the first surah of the Qur'an, al-Fatihah, which is required to
be read in every mk 'ah. He read it very clearly, pausing at the end of
every one of its short verses. He thus read al-hamdu lillahi rabbil­
'alamin, "i.e. praise be God, the Lord of all the worlds", and
paused; Al-Rahmani al-Rahim "i.e. the Lord of Grace, the Ever­
Merciful", pause; Maliki yawmi-ddin "i.e. Ma ster of the Day of
Judgement", pause, etc. In his recitation, he elongated vowels, thus
ma de the second 'a' of Al-Rahman and the 'i' of al-Rahim longer than
their equivalents. After that he read a passage of the Qur'an,
choosing a long pa ssage in the first rak 'ah and a shorter one in the
second. In the two rak 'ahs together, he read between 60 and 100
> The 'state of ceremonial impurity', i.e. janabah, refers to a state when a person cannot
offer prayers until having taken a bath that ensures washing all one's body with water. This
is called the grand ablution, or ghus/ A man is in the state of ceremonial impurity after
ejaculation that arises from sexual excitement as in an intercourse, masturbation or a wet
dream. A woman is in this state during menstruation or after sexual intercourse.
6