Hadiths: On Sleeping Through the Prayer

1. Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Sa'id Ibn Al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, travelled by night in the way back from Khaybar. Towards the end of the night he stopped for a rest and told Bilal to stay awake to keep watch for the Subh prayer. The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his companions slept. Bilal stayed on guard as long as was decreed for him and then he leant against his riding camel facing the direction of the dawn and sleep overcame him and neither he nor the Messenger of Allah nor any of the party woke up until the sun's rays had struck them. 

    The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, was alarmed. Bilal excuses himself, saying, "Messenger of Allah! The One who took yourself was the One who took myself." The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered the party to move on and so they roused their mounts and rode a short distance. The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered Bilal to give the Iqama and then led them in the subh prayer. When he had finished he said, "Anyone who forgets a prayer should pray should pray it when he remembers. Allah the Blessed and Exalted says in his book, 'Establish the prayer to remember Me.' "

2.  Yahya related to me from Malik that Zayd Ibn Aslam said, "The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, stopped for a rest one night on the way to Makka and appointed Bilal to wake them up for the prayer. Bilal slept and everyone else slept and none of them woke up until the sun had risen. When they did wake up they were all alarmed. The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered them to ride out of the valley, saying that there was a shaytan in it. So, they rode out of the valley and the Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered them to dismount and do Wudu and he told Bilal either to call the prayer or to give the iqama.  

     The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, then led them in the prayer. Noticing their uneasiness, he went to them and said, "O people! Allah seized our spirits (arwah) and if He had wished He would have returned them to us at a time other than this. So if you sleep through the time for prayer or forget it and then are anxious about it, pray it as if you were praying it in its time.' The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, turned to Abu Bakr and said, 'Shaytan came to Bilal when he was standing in prayer and made him lie down and lulled him to sleep like a small boy.' The Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, then called Bilal and told him the same as he had told Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr declared, 'I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah.' "