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How authentic is the Hadith that mentions that prayer will be at the believer's head, fasting to his right, and zakat to his left?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The hadith was narrated by Abd al-Razzaq and Ibn Abi Shaybah from Abu Hurayrah as mawquf (stopped at a Companion), and it was narrated as marfu' (traced back to the Prophet) by Ibn Hibban, al-Tabarani, al-Hakim, and others with the same isnad: "Indeed, when the deceased is placed in his grave, he hears the sound of their sandals as they turn away from him. If he was a believer, then the prayer will be at his head..." Al-Hakim authenticated it, and al-Dhahabi agreed with him.

Regarding Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Alqamah, one of the narrators of the hadith, Abu Hatim and al-Nasa'i said about him: "His hadith may be written down," and "There is no harm in him." Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar summarized his status by saying: "Truthful, but has delusions." Meanwhile, the authors of Tahrir Taqrib al-Tahdhib concluded that he is "truthful, with good hadith." Al-Albani leaned towards the hadith being hasan (good), and this is what a group of scholars inclined to, such as al-Haythami and the verifiers of al-Ihsan and Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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