ABLUTION SECTION · 65 – PRAYERS TO RECITE WHILE PERFORMING ABLUTION
169 – Ukba ibn Amir, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated:
We used to perform our own services in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. We would graze the camels among ourselves on a rotational basis. One day it was my turn to herd the camels. In the evening I drove them to their pens. As the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was going out to the people, I caught up with him and heard him say:
“Whoever performs ablution properly, then stands and prays two rak’ahs connected with his heart and entire being, earns [Allah's] mercy.”
I said, “How excellent! How good!” A man from in front of me said, "What came before was even better." And I looked, and it was Omar ibn al-Khattab.
I said to him, “O Abu Hafs, what was that?” Omar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, had just before my arrival said:
“Whoever performs ablution properly, and when he finishes it testifies that there is no god but Allah, who has no associate or equal, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, then eight gates of Paradise will open for him, and he may enter through whichever one he pleases.”
Muawiya ibn Salih said: Rabia ibn Yazid narrated to me from Abu Idris, who narrated from Ukba ibn Amir. [139]
170 – Ukba ibn Amir al-Juhani, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated a similar account to the preceding hadith from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, omitting the mention of herding the camels. He said, "As for the phrase 'if he performs ablution properly,' he raised his eyes towards the sky," and related the hadith in accordance with the meaning of Muawiya’s narration.