Muwatta 25

Malik opens the chapter "sleeping through the prayer" with this hadith, which he transmits from Ibn Shihab from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab as a mursal report, meaning without naming a Companion ¹.

When the Prophet returned from Khaybar (see the Battle of Khaybar), he travelled by night. Near the end of the night he halted to rest, and said to Bilal: "Watch over the dawn for us," that is, keep an eye on the dawn for us. The Prophet and his companions slept, and Bilal kept watch as much as had been decreed for him. Then he leaned against his mount, facing the dawn, and his eyes overcame him, so that none of the riders woke until the sun struck them. The Prophet was alarmed, and Bilal said: "He who took my soul has taken yours." They ordered that their mounts be led on, and went a little way. Then he ordered Bilal to call the prayer, and he led them in the dawn prayer. When he had finished, he said: "Whoever forgets a prayer should pray it when he remembers it." He cited God's words in Surat Ta-Ha on establishing the prayer for remembrance ^{1 2}.

The hadith was transmitted from Malik by Abu Mus'ab al-Zuhri, Suwayd ibn Sa'id and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan as a mursal report, and the transmitters of the Muwatta do not differ on this. Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna and Ma'mar also transmit it from al-Zuhri. It also comes connected, from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab on the authority of Abu Hurayra, in Muslim (2/138), Abu Dawud (435–436), al-Tirmidhi (3163), Ibn Majah (697), al-Nasa'i and others, and by the route of Abu Hazim from Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) in Ahmad, Muslim, Ibn Khuzayma and others. Al-Tirmidhi is quoted as saying that the connected version is "not preserved", because Salih ibn Abi al-Akhdar is weak. Al-Daraqutni preferred the mursal version. The editor concludes that the hadith was reported differently from al-Zuhri, as both mursal and connected, and that transmitters from al-Zuhri other than Salih raised it to the Prophet ².

The hadith is a foundation among Sunnis for making up a prayer missed through sleep or forgetting, as soon as one remembers it. See Prayer. ²