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Fatwa CenterThe Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, prayed inside the Ka'bah after the conquest of Makkah
Question
Dear Shaykh, assalaamu alaykum. I read the following two hadiths in a Tamil translation. They both relate what happened on the same day, the day of the victory in Makkah. However, what confuses me is that hadith no. 390 says that the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, prayed inside the Ka’bah, whereas no. 391 says that the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, prayed outside of it. Shaykh, I want to know whether this happened the same day. Is that Tamil traslation correct?
Volume 1, Book 8, Number 390,Narrated by Mujahid:
Someone came to Ibn 'Umar and said, "Here is Allaah's Apostle entering the Ka'bah." Ibn 'Umar said, "I went there, but the Prophet had come out of the Ka'bah, and I found Bilal standing between its two doors. I asked Bilal, 'Did the Prophet pray in the Ka'bah?' Bilaal replied, 'Yes, he prayed two rakahs (units of prayer) between the two pillars that are to your left on entering the Ka'bah. Then Allaah's Apostle came out and offered a two-rak'ah prayer facing the Ka'bah.'"
Volume 1, Book 8, Number 391, Narrated by Ibn Abbas:
When the Prophet entered the Ka'bah, he invoked Allaah in each and every side of it and did not pray till he came out of it and then offered a two-rak'ah prayer facing the Ka'bah, saying, "This is the Qibla."
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The translation of the two ahaadeeth is correct. The Companions 
differed in opinion regarding whether or not the Prophet had prayed when he entered the Ka’bah. So, the narration by Ibn ‘Umar from Bilaal says that the Prophet prayed, whereas the narration by Ibn ‘Abbaas from Usaamah says that the Prophet did not pray and that he had just said the takbeer in the sides of the Ka’bah.
Bilaal and Usaamah were both with the Prophet .
The scholars said that it is probable that the Prophet entered the House twice and that he prayed once (in one of these two occasions) whereas he did not pray the other time that he entered it.
According to the view that it was only one incident and that it was not two times, then the best that has been said in reconciling between the narration by Usaamah and Bilaal is what was stated by An-Nawawi 
as he said:
“The scholars of the hadeeth agreed in consensus to take the narration by Bilaal into consideration because it has a confirmation (of something which was denied by others), as he (Bilaal) had more information, so it is an obligation to consider it as the most preponderant ... As regards not considering the narration by Usaamah, the reason is that when they entered the Ka’bah, they locked the door, and they were engaged in invoking Allaah, and Usaamah saw the Prophet supplicating, and then he [Usaamah] was engaged in supplicating at a corner of the House, while the Prophet was at another corner, and Bilaal was close to him [i.e. to the Prophet], then the Prophet prayed and Bilaal saw him because he was very close to him while Usaamah did not see him because he was far from him and was preoccupied, and it was a very short prayer, so Usaamah did not see it as the door was closed and because he was far away and engaged in supplicating. So Usaamah said that the Prophet did not pray according to what he thought whereas Bilaal saw that the Prophet had prayed and thereby informed us about it.”
Ibn Abd al-Barr said:
“The narration of Ibn ‘Umar from Bilaal that the Prophet prayed in the Ka’bah is more worthy of being taken into consideration than the narration from Ibn ‘Abbaas from Usaamah that the Prophet did not pray in it because whoever denies something whereas others confirm it, then his denial is no longer evidence because what is considered evidence is the one who proves something and not the one who denies it. This is indeed one principle of the principles of Fiqh about testimonies if they contradict each other, such as in this case.”
Allaah knows best.
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