Is it true that performing Ṣalāh with a turban increases the reward by 25 times?
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
Answer
This is part of a narration that has been related in Tārikh Dimashq (37: 355).
However, it has been classified as fabricated by the ḥadīth experts. (See al-Maṣnūʿ Fī Maʿrifah al-Ḥadīth al-Mawḍūʿ, p. 118; Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah, 2: 124; Tadhkirah al-Mawḍūʿāt, p. 156; Lisān al-Mīzān, 4: 413; al-Maqāṣid al-Ḥasanah, 1: 423).
Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1014/1605) suggests in al-Asrār al-Marfūʿah (p. 233) that this narration has been mentioned by ʿAllāmah Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505) in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣagīr which suggests that it is not fabricated according to him. However, ʿAllāmah Munāwī (d. 1031/1622) in his commentary of al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣagīr suggests that the narration is fabricated (Fayḍ al-Qadīr, 4: 225). Moreover, ʿAllāmah Suyūṭī has classified this narration as fabricated in al-Ziyādāt ʿAlā al-Mawḍūʿāt (1: 427), concurring with the view of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852/1449) and other experts.
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
18 Jumādā al-Thāniyah 1437 / 28 March 2016
UPDATE
Our respected teacher Muḥaddith al-ʿAṣr Shaykh Muḥammad Yūnus Jownpūrī (b. 1355/1936 – ) writes, in the context of the narration regarding the increase in reward by seventy times, that if performing Ṣalāh with the turban had so much virtue, then its virtues would have been narrated through authentic narrations similar to how the virtues of the first row have been narrated. There is a narration in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1359) that mentions that the Prophet ﷺ delivered the Friday sermon [and performed Ṣalāh] with a black turban on his blessed head (al-Yawāqīt al-Gāliyah, 1: 372).
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
21 Rajab 1437 / 30 April 2016