English Translation

Muhammad ibn Ja'far told us: Shu'bah told us, from Ya'la ibn Ata', from Yazid ibn Talq, from Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Baylamani, from Amr ibn Abasah, who said: I came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said: "O Messenger of Allah, who has accepted Islam?" He said: "A free man and a slave." I said: "Is there any hour nearer to Allah, the Exalted, than another?" He said: "The last part of the night — pray as much as you wish until you pray the dawn prayer; then refrain from it until the sun rises and while it is as if a small shield until it spreads out; then pray as much as you wish until the pillar stands level upon its own shadow; then refrain from it until the sun declines, for Hell is stoked at midday; then pray as much as you wish until you pray the afternoon prayer; then refrain from it until the sun sets, for it sets between the two horns of a devil and rises between the two horns of a devil. Indeed, when the servant performs ablution and washes his hands, his sins fall away from between his hands; when he washes his face, his sins fall away from his face; when he washes his forearms and wipes his head, his sins fall away from between his forearms and his head; and when he washes his feet, his sins fall away from his feet. Then when he stands for prayer, and it is he and his heart and his face — or all of him — turned toward Allah, Mighty and Majestic, he comes away as (pure) as the day his mother bore him." He was asked: "Did you hear this yourself from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?" He said: "Had I not heard it once, or twice, or ten, or twenty times, I would not have narrated it."