The virtue of one who regularly offers the five daily prayers and does them as enjoined

Praise be to Allah.

With regard to the hadith of ‘Ubaadah:

Abu Dawood (1420) and an-Nasaa’i (461) narrated that ‘Ubaadah ibn as-Saamit (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say: “There are five prayers that Allah has prescribed for His slaves. Whoever comes with them, not having missed any of them out of recognition of their importance, has a promise from Allah that He will admit him to Paradise. Whoever does not come with them does not have a promise from Allah; if He wills He will punish him, and if He wills He will admit him to Paradise.”

It was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.

Another version was also narrated by Abu Dawood (425) and by Ahmad (22704), from ‘Ubaadah: “There are five prayers that Allah, may He be exalted, has enjoined. Whoever does wudoo’ properly for them, prays them on time, and bows and prostrates properly and prays with proper focus of mind and humility (khushoo‘) will have a promise from Allah that He will forgive him. Whoever does not do that will not have a promise from Allah; if He wills He will forgive him, and if He wills He will punish him.”

It was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. It was also classed as saheeh by the commentators on al-Musnad.

With regard to the hadith of ‘Aa’ishah:

At-Tabaraani narrated in al-Awsat (4012) via ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Roomaan al-Iskandaraani, who said: ‘Eesaa ibn Waaqid told us, from Muhammad ibn ‘Amr al-Laythi, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) who said: “Whoever does not pray Witr has not prayed.” News of that reached ‘Aa’ishah, and she said: Who heard this from Abu’l-Qaasim (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)? By Allah, it was not so long ago, and I have not forgotten; rather Abu’l-Qaasim (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever comes with five daily prayers on the Day of Resurrection, having maintained wudoo’ for them, prayed them on time, and bowed and prostrated properly, without omitting anything from them, will come when he has a promise from Allah that He will not punish him. But whoever comes having omitted anything from them will have no promise from Allah; if He wills He will have mercy on him, and if He wills He will punish him.”

At-Tabaraani said, after quoting this report:

No one narrated it from Muhammad except ‘Eesaa, and ‘Abdullah was the only one who narrated it from them.

Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

I say: He is al-Ma‘aafiri. adh-Dhahabi said: He was regarded as da‘eef by more than one scholar; he narrated a false hadith.

I say: I think that he is referring to this hadith, because it is obviously false. Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar said: ad-Daaraqutni classed him as waahin (flimsy). Ibn Yoonus said: He is da‘eef (weak) in hadith, and narrated munkar (odd) reports.

I say: I have not found any biography for his shaykh, ‘Eesaa ibn Waaqid. al-Haythami noted the same fault with this hadith in Majma‘ az-Zawaa’id (1/293).

End quote from Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth ad-Da‘eefah (11/371).

What is munkar (odd) in this hadith is the words “Whoever does not pray Witr has not prayed.”

As for the rest of the hadith, there are corroborating reports to support it, as we have seen with the hadith of ‘Ubaadah.

It is also supported by the report narrated by Ahmad (18345) from Hanzalah al-Kaatib, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say: “Whoever regularly offers the five daily prayers, with their bowing, prostration and wudoo’, offering them on time, and realises that they are truly prescribed by Allah, will enter Paradise” or “Paradise will be his due.”

The commentators on al-Musnad said: It is saheeh when its corroborating evidence is taken into account.

Abu Dawood (429) narrated that Abu’d-Dardaa’ said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There are five, whoever comes with them, whilst having faith, will enter Paradise: whoever regularly offers the five daily prayers, with their wudoo’, their bowing and prostration, offering them on time, and fasts Ramadan, and goes on Hajj to the House (the Ka‘bah), if he is able, and gives zakaah willingly, and renders back trusts.”

Al-Albaani classed it as hasan.

With regard to the hadith of ‘Aa’ishah, “My slave has a promise from Me, if he establishes prayer on time, that I will not punish him, and that I will admit him to paradise without reckoning,”

in Kanz al-‘Ummaal (7/312), al-Muttaqi an-Hindi (may Allah have mercy on him) attributed it to al-Haakim in his Taareekh.

[It was also narrated in] Taareekh Naysaboor by al-Haakim (may Allah have mercy on him), a great book, but it was among the books and writings of the Muslims that have been lost, and is not currently extant – as far as we know – except in the form of a summary made by Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, who is known as al-Khaleefah an-Naysaboori, and this hadith is not found in that summary.

Al-Haakim is the only one who narrated this hadith in his Taareekh, pointing out that it is weak and not proven, especially the phrase “and that I will admit him to paradise without reckoning.” We could not find any corroborating evidence for that, and the saheeh report of ‘Ubaadah quoted above is sufficient.

See also the answer to question no. 152359 .

And Allah knows best.