The Report of al-Ala ibn al-Hadrami's Prayer and the Sea Crossing

Classical reports about al-Ala ibn al-Hadrami may Allah be pleased with him preserve an extraordinary episode connected with a sea crossing. The earliest directly verified source in this research is Ibn Abi Shaybah's Musannaf, which records a supplication associated with al-Ala when he entered or crossed the sea. Among the words preserved in that early report are: “O Allah, O Knowing, O Forbearing, O Most High, O Magnificent.” The source therefore gives an early core in which al-Ala turns to Allah in prayer at the moment of the crossing.

Fuller classical reports add the army setting. In the Abu Hurayra route preserved by al-Tabarani and Abu Nu'aym, al-Ala and his force are described as crossing the water together after invoking Allah. These versions add a striking detail about how little the water affected them: one route says that it did not wet beyond the bottoms of the camels' hoof-coverings. In the fuller al-Lalaka'i version, the wording becomes stronger and says that neither feet nor hooves were wetted. Those formulations should remain attached to their own routes rather than being merged into one exact quotation.

The source layers are not equal in strength. Ibn Abi Shaybah's Musannaf gives the earliest verified prayer-and-sea-crossing locus. The fuller Abu Hurayra route has substantial classical support, but al-Haythami notes that one narrator, Ibrahim ibn Ma'mar al-Harawi, was unknown to him, while the remaining men were trustworthy. Al-Lalaka'i preserves an even fuller narrative, including an army of four thousand, but that chain contains Adi ibn al-Fadl, whom the hadith critics judged abandoned.

For that reason, the strongest public account should distinguish the early core from the fuller extraordinary details. The evidence supports a classical report that al-Ala invoked Allah during a sea crossing and that later reports describe his army crossing with him. The minimal-wetting details are part of those fuller routes, not an equally strong element of the earliest report. The event therefore has meaningful classical support as a companion karamah and accepted prayer, but the source limitations justify medium confidence and inclusion with caution rather than an unqualified claim that every later detail is equally authenticated.