The following writing is translated from Durr-ul-mukhtār:
Things that nullify namāz are called mufsids.
A worship being fāsid or bātil is the same; it means it is broken, nullified.
In muamalāt these are not the same. The following are the thirty-one mufsids
of namāz:
1 - To talk. Even one word nullifies namāz. It always nullifies namāz
no matter whether it is said intentionally or inadvertently or under duress or
by forgetting. However, it does not nullify namāz to say the salām in the first
sitting thinking that it is the second sitting. Yet if you say, Assalāmu,
thinking that the namāz is of two rakats, or if you say it while standing,
namāz becomes nullified. To respond to someone elses greeting in any manner
whatsoever, nullifies namāz.
2 - Without a good excuse, coughing through the throat nullifies namāz.
If it happens involuntarily, it does not nullify namāz. If you do it in order
to facilitate your recitation, it is harmless.
3 - To say prayers in namāz that do not exist in āyats or hadīths
nullifies namāz. It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtār:
The prayer to be said before making the salām has to be in Arabic. It is harām
to pray in any other language during namāz. At this point Ibni Ābidīn explains: Imām-i Abū Yūsuf and
Imām-i Muhammad said that namāz performed in any language other than Arabic
would not be accepted. Imām-i azams (rahmatullāhi alaihim) ijtihād tallies
with it.
4 - To moan or to say Ouch! etc. nullifies namāz.
5 - To say, Ugh! in order to express annoyance nullifies namāz.
6 - Crying for reasons such as a pain or sorrow nullifies namāz. If you
weep silently, or cry loudly because of the thought of Paradise and Hell, namāz
does not become nullified. If a sick person cannot help saying Ouch, ugh! or
crying, namāz does not become nullified.
7 - It nullifies namāz to say Yerhamukallah
to a person who sneezes and says, Al-hamdulillāh.
When not performing namāz, it is fard kifāya to say the former immediately
after each of the three instances of the latter, and it is mustahab after the
third time [Riyād un-nāsihīn].
8 - To say, Innā lillāh wa...,
upon hearing bad news nullifies
namāz. It is sunnat to say it while not performing
namāz.
9 - To say Jalla Jalāluh and Sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam, upon hearing the
names of Allahu taālā and the Prophet
sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam nullifies namāz. Outside of namāz, saying or
writing them is wājib for the first time and mustahab for those times
afterwards of saying, hearing or writing their names.
10 - To say Āmīn for a prayer said by anyone but the imām nullifies
namāz. [For this reason, if the imām is conducting a namāz in jamāat (see
chapter 20) with a loudspeaker, when he says, Waladdāllīn,
the namāz of those who say, Āmīn may become nullified. For the sound produced
by the loud-speaker is not the imāms voice. It is some other sound produced by
a metal plate that vibrates because of the magnetic power caused by
electricity. Such sounds, which are originally caused by the human voice, are
indistinguishable from their producers voices, but in actual fact they are not
their voices, as it will be explained in detail in Chapter 24]. When the imām
finishes reciting the Fātiha, it is mekrūh for the imām and for the jamāat to
say Āmīn loudly. They must say it softly.
11 - To change your place or to make room for a newcomer with someone
elses warning nullifies namāz. But your moving of your own will a little some
time later does not nullify it.
12 - To correct the mistake of anyone except the imām you follow
nullifies namāz.
13 - Even if a little, or by forgetting, eating or drinking by placing
something in the mouth nullifies namāz. It does not nullify namāz to swallow
something smaller than a chick-pea that has remained between the teeth. It does
not break a fast, either. To chew something small in your mouth three times or
to swallow it by melting it nullifies namāz.
14 - To say the prayers by reading and learning them from the Qurān al-kerīm or from some other paper nullifies
namāz. To do so would mean to learn the prayers from someone else. Imām-i
Muhammad and Imām-i Abū Yūsuf said that it would be mekrūh. If you do not think
of yourself being like a disbeliever with a Holy Book, they said it would not
be mekrūh, either.
Understanding something by looking at a piece of writing or something
[i.e. picture on the wall] does not nullify namāz.
If one understands a writing, it is mekrūh. It
does not become mekrūh if it only meets ones eyes by chance.
[Doing the customs of disbelievers, if not with the intention of being
like them, if they are not harām or evil customs, and if they are useful, is
permissible. Eating and drinking like them is an example of this. It is harām
if it is done in order to become like them, or if they are harām and bad
customs.
It is written in Uyūn-ul-basāir[1]: If a person draws a portrait of a man and prostrates in front of it
in the name of Hadrat Īsā or makes a statue for prostration or wears a girdle
like the one which has been worn by Jews and Christians, he becomes a
disbeliever. If a person wears clothings peculiar to disbelievers in order to
trick them in war, he does not become a disbeliever. It is excusable if he
wears them only long enough to save his life, property, and sustenance. It is
disbelief to wear them any longer. As written in most of the books of Aqāid
(belief) and fiqh, particularly in Durer[2], in its chapter preceding the subject of Nikāh:
If a person, no matter whether his heart is filled with īmān, says a word
causing disbelief without a strong necessity, that is, willingly, he becomes a
disbeliever. The īmān in his heart will be of no use then. For a persons
disbelief is judged from his words. When he says a word causing disbelief, he
becomes a disbeliever both among the people and to Allahu taālā. It is
written in the third chapter of the sixth section of the book Sharh-i mawāqif that the case is the same with
the kufr-i hukmī (judged disbelief)
caused by actions and ways of dressing].
It is disbelief to do things which disbelievers practice as
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Ahmad Hamawī, (d. 1098
[1686 A.D.]). It is a commentary to Eshbāh, a
valuable book written by Ibni Nujaym Zeyn-ul-'ābidīn bin Ibrāhīm ibni
Nujaym-i-Misrī 'rahmatullāhi 'alaih', 926 -
970 [1562 A.D.],
[2] Durer ve Ghurer, a splendid book of Fiqh written by the
third Ottoman Shaikh-ul-Islām, Molla Husrev
'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d.
885 [1480 A.D.],
worships, e.g. to play organs, to ring bells in
mosques as Christians do in churches, or to use things that the Sharīat considers
symptoms of disbelief, unless there is a darūrat or compulsion; it removes
īmān. [Please see the final part of the seventy-second chapter of the second
part of the Turkish version.]
15 - Extra movements that are not parts of namāz nullify namāz. Making
the rukū or the sajdas more than the prescribed number or going out to make
ablution does not nullify it. Excusable extra movements such as killing a
scorpion or a snake does not nullify it, either. [See the seventeenth and the
twenty-sixth mekrūhs!] If a hand moves less than three times, it does not
nullify namāz. It has been said (by savants) that one movement with both hands
nullifies namāz. Raising the hands up to the ears for the takbīrs in namāz does
not nullify namāz. Yet it is mekrūh.
16 - To stand and to make the sajda at a najs place nullifies namāz. If
you spread something over the najs place, namāz will not become nullified.
Shoes and clothes that you have on are like parts of your skin. You cannot make
the sajda by placing the skirt of your
overcoat over a najs place. You must take it off and spread it on the ground.
[You cannot perform a janāza namāz with shoes smeared with najāsat].
17 - If your awrat parts remain open long enough for you to say
Subhān-Allāh three times in one rukn, if the amount of najāsat prescribed to
nullify namāz exist on your skin and clothes, if you make namāz ahead of the
imām, and if you are in the same line with a woman [who has been following the
same imām], your namāz becomes nullified. If you yourself do all these, your
namāz will be broken immediately. [See chapter 20, The Namāz in Jamāat!]
18 - To perform namāz on something which you have spread over a najs
place but which lets colour, odor and moisture through nullifies namāz. If it
does not let them through, namāz does not become nullified. Performing it after
covering the place with plenty of earth does not nullify namāz.
19 - Turning your chest away from the qibla without a good excuse
breaks namāz immediately. Turning your face or any other limb away does not
nullify namāz, yet it is mekrūh. If you cannot help turning away, it nullifies
namāz if you remain so as long as one rukn. Walking one line (one metre and
half) towards the qibla, does not nullify namāz. If not in the direction of the
qibla, or if you walk more than that continuously in the direction of the
qibla, it nullifies namāz. For this reason, it is not permissible to perform
20 - When a woman is kissed or held lustfully, her namāz becomes
nullified.
21 - The namāz of a person who apostates by heart becomes nullified.
[That is, if he says through his heart, If such and such a thing happens, so
and sos word proves true, and the Qurān proves to be may Allahu taālā
protect us against such thoughts!untrue, or if a girl decides to marry a
disbeliever, he, or she, becomes a disbeliever immediately]. A person who
intends to become a disbeliever in the future or who believes something causing
disbelief becomes a disbeliever, that is, a renegade immediately.
22 - While performing namāz, it is harām to do something that will
break your ablution or ghusl. If a person does any one of them before having
sat as long as the tashahhud in the last rakat, his namāz immediately becomes
nullified. If he does it after having sat as long as the tashahhud, his namāz
will be all right. If his ablution breaks by itself, he may renew it and then
continue with his namāz, but it is better to perform it again from the
beginning. After having sat as long as the tashahhud, if it breaks by itself,
and if he makes an ablution at once and makes the salām, which is wājib or,
without making an ablution, if he does something breaking the namāz, e.g. makes
the salām, his namāz will be complete.
23 - If a person omits one rukn and does not perform it during the
namāz, his namāz becomes nullified.
24 - If a person begins and finishes a rukn before the imām begins it,
his namāz becomes nullified. But if the imām begins the rukn later and they
finish it at the same time, or if he gives up making that part of the namāz
before the imām begins the rukn and then, when the imām begins the rukn, makes
the rukn again together with the imām, the namāz does not become nullifed, yet
it is mekrūh. If a person begins a rukn after the imām has finished it, his
namāz will be acceptable.
25 - One who misses the first rakat of the jamāat is called a masbūk. If a masbūk, after having sat as long as
(to say the prayer called) the tashahhud and before the imām makes the
salām, stands up and makes sajda and then
sees the imām making sajda-i sahw and if he, too, makes the sajda-i sahw with
the imām, his namāz is nullified. Without following the imām, he makes the
sajda-i sahw after completing his namāz. If he stood up but did not make sajda,
it is wājib for him to sit and make the sajda-i sahw with the imām.
26 - If a person who forgot to make the sajda remembers it during the
rukū, he prostrates and makes the sajda right after the rukū, and (if he
remembers it) during the sajda, he makes the sajda (that he forgot) after
sitting after the regular sajda; then he makes the rukū and the sajda again.
Then he makes the sajda-i sahw. Or, at the end of or during the final sitting
he makes the sajda which he remembered or which he remembers during the final
sitting, then he sits again and says the Tahiyyāt, and then makes the sajda-i
sahw. If he does not sit again, his namāz becomes nullified.
27 - If a person does not perform again the rukn that he performed
while sleeping, his namāz becomes nullified.
28 - If during the takbīrs in namāz a person prolongs the first hamza[1] (A) when saying
Allahu, his namāz becomes nullified. If he prolongs it when beginning namāz,
his beginning the namāz is not sahīh.
29 - If saying the āyats melodiously changes the meaning, it nullifies
namāz, too. To recite the Quran melodiously means to prolong its letters in
order to tune them to musical notes. For example, it changes the meaning to
prolong the letter (a) as in Alhamd-u-lillāhi rābbil. Likewise, saying
Rābbanālakalhamd, as some muazzins do, changes the meaning. For rāb means stepfather; so instead of saying, We
thank our Allah, they say, We thank our stepfather. If the meaning is not
changed, namāz does not become nullified. But if you extend such vowels as
Elif, Waw and Yā too long, namāz becomes nullified, even if the meaning is not
changed. As seen, if saying the words
---------------------------------
[1] Elif, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet.
melodiously does not change their meaning,
if the letters are not prolonged as long as two letters, and if it is intended
to beautify the voice and to embellish the recitation, it is permissible. In
fact, it is mustahab to do so when performing namāz as well as when not
performing namāz.
It is written in the fatwā of Abussuūd Efendi[1]: If the imāms singing becomes amal-i kesīr[2] , or if he prolongs one
letter as long as three letters, his namāz becomes nullified. To say something
melodiously means to sing it, to repeat your voice in your larynx so as to
produce various sounds.
30 - An incorrect recitation nullifies namāz. The error may happen in
four different ways. The first error involves irāb, that is, it takes place in
the vocalization or absence of letters. For instance, when you dont double the
letter with the shadda[3] or when you say the
prolonged ones too quickly, and vice versa.
The second kind of error takes place among the letters themselves. For
example, you change the place of a letter, add or deduct a letter, or move a
letter forward or backwards.
The third error involves confusion of words or sentences. And finally,
the fourth error concerns the waqf-wasl[4] ; that is, when you go
on where you must pause or pause where you must go on. This fourth kind of
error does not nullify namāz even if the meaning is changed.
If the first three kinds of errors change the meaning or produce a
meaning that causes disbelief, namāz becomes nullified. But when you change the
place of a sentence, if you pause for a while, namāz does not become nullified.
If some newly produced meaning does not cause disbelief but if it does not have
a likeness in the Qurān, namāz becomes nullified. To say gubār instead of
gurāb, to
---------------------------------
[1] The thirteenth Ottoman
Shaikh-ul-Islām
[2] Kesīr means many. 'Amal means action, movement. 'Amal-i kesīr
means more than one movements. Doing 'amal-i-kesīr in namāz nullifies namāz.
[3] Germination mark. When you see that mark above an Arabic
consonant letter, you repeat the letter as if there were two of them.
[4] Waqf means pause. When reading or reciting the Qur'ān, you have to stop when you see certain symbols. These symbols are called Waqf. Wasl means to link the final consonant of an Arabic word to the first vowel of the word following it. Symbols indicating such linkage are called Wasl
say Rabinās instead of Rabbinnās, to
say zalelnā instead of zallelnā, to say emāratun instead of emmāretun,
to add the word wa kefere by saying amile sālihan wa kefere fa lehum
ejruhum, to say mesānīne instead of mesānī, to say essirātellezīne or
iyyā kena budu, [that is, to divide one word and add its final part to the
following word], to forget wa when saying wa mā khalaqazzekere, nullifies
namāz. If the word becomes meaningless and if it does not have a likeness in
the Qurān al-kerīm, it nullifies namāz.
For instance, to say serāil instead of serāir, to say laqnā, instead of
khalaqnā, to say alnā instead of jaalnā. If the word has a likeness in
the Qurān but if its meaning is different, namāz does not become nullified
according to Imām-i Abū Yūsufs ijtihād. But it becomes nullified according to
the Tarafain, i.e. Imām-i azam and
Imām-i Muhammad. The fatwā agrees with the second ijtihād. If the word has no
likeness but if its meaning is not changed, they judged it the other way round.
The fatwā agrees with the Tarafains. For example, when you say ihdinelsirāta
or Rabilālemin or Żyāke, or when you say yā mālī instead of yā mālik,
or when you say taal while saying taālā yeddu Rabbinā, namāz does not
become nullified. [When you say ahat instead of ahad namāz becomes
nullified. (Bezzāziyya)]
Later savants said that errors in the irāb would not nullify namāz.
The first is a way of prudence, and the second is a way of permission.
Pronouncing one letter like another letter, if the two letters are
quite different, nullifies namāz. For example, to pronounce the letter Ta
instead of the letter Sāt, as in tālihat instead of sālihat. If there is
a small difference between the letters and if the meaning is changed, namāz
becomes nullified if you did it intentionally, said most savants. But if it
slipped out inadvertently, namāz does not become nullified, they said.
Examples of this are to pronounce the letter Zż instead of Dat, Sāt
instead of Sin, or Tż instead of Te. Though the fatwā says so, one must
be cautious. So is the case with saying zāllīn instead of saying dāllīn.
[For more details see chapter 20, Namāz in Jamāat!]
When you add a word, if the meaning does not change and if the word
exists in the Qurān al-kerīm, namāz does
not become nullified. For example, to say wa bilwalideynī
ihsānan wa berren. Namāz does not become
nullified even if that word does not exist in the Qurān
al-kerīm. Another example is to say, wa nahlun wa tuffāhun wa
rummān. But Abū Yūsuf (rahmatullāhi taālā alaih) said that it would be
nullified.
When a word is forgotten, if the meaning is not changed namāz does not
become nullified. For instance, while saying wa jazāu seyyiatin seyyiatun
misluhā, if you omit seyyiatun it does not become nullified. If the meaning
is changed, namāz becomes nullified. For example, when saying lā yuminūn, if
you omit lā, it becomes nullified.
When you change a letter itself or its place, if the meaning is not
changed and if the new word has a likeness in the Qurān, namāz does not become
nullified. For instance, if you say innelmuslimūna instead of
innelmuslimīna, it does not become nullified. If it does not have a likeness
in the Qurān namāz does not become nullified according to the two imāms. For
example, when you say kayyāmīne instead of kawwāmīne, it does not become
nullified. If the meaning is changed, it becomes nullified, said the two
imāms. Imām-i Abū Yūsuf said that namāz would become nullified if the word had
no likeness in the Qurān. It becomes nullified if you say eshābeshshaīr
instead of es-hābessaīr. He (Abū Yūsuf) said that it would not be nullified
if you said inferejet instead of infejeret or eyyāb instead of awwāb.
When you repeat a word, namāz becomes nullified if the meaning is
changed. It becomes nullified when you say Rabbi Rabbilālemin, māliki māliki
yawmiddīn. But if you do not know that the meaning is changed or if you let
the word out inadvertently or if you repeat the word in order to pronounce a
letter more correctly, it does not become nullified.
If changing a word changes the meaning, too, namāz becomes nullified
even if the new word has a likeness in the Qurān. It does not become nullified
if the meaning is not changed.
The following is a poem written by Ahmad Ibni Kemāl Pāsha (rahmatullāhi
taālā alaih) on the sejawands (marks
of subdivision) in the Qurān:
Jim: Permissible to pass by it, and
proper too;
better stop when you see it, though.
Za: You are free to stop, and so have
they[1] done.
But they have deemed it better to read on.
Tż: It is an absolute sign of stop;
Wherever you see it be sure to stop!
Sat: Stopping is permissible, they[1] have said;
So they have allowed you to take a breath.
Mim: Absolutely necessary to stop for
it;
Fear of disbelief is in passing by it!
Lā: No pause! is its meaning,
everywhere;
Never stop! Nor breathe, anywhere!
Now perfect your reading with this
recipe,
And gift its thawāb to Muslims before thee!
[The letter ayn means rukū. It means that when conducting namāz in
jamāat, Hadrat Umar Fārūq used to stop reciting the Qurān while standing and
bow for the rukū. This sign, ayn, always comes at the end of āyats. If you
stop at the place where the sign lā is, you must begin reading with the
previous word. When you stop at the end of an āyat (verse), you do not have to
repeat the previous word.]
31 - If a person who has omitted less than five prayers of namāz
remembers that he did not perform the previous prayer, his namāz becomes
nullified. [For detailed information see the beginning of the twenty-third
chapter!].
Whether outdoors or at any place within a big or small mosque, if a
woman or a man or a dog passes close by or far in front of a person who is
performing namāz, his namāz never becomes nullified. He who passes between the
worshippers feet and the place of sajda outdoors or in a big mosque, or
between his feet and the wall of the qibla in a room or small mosque, becomes
sinful. Any mosque between whose qibla wall and back wall is less than twenty
metres is called a small mosque. He who passes in front of a person who is
---------------------------------
[1] The early savants, who knew how to read the Qur'ān al-kerīm correctly.
performing namāz on something higher than
level, such as a bank or a sofa, becomes sinful if his head is above the
worshippers feet.
When performing namāz at places where others may pass in front, it is
sunnat for the imām or for the individual worshipper to erect a stick longer
than half a meter before himself in line with his left eyebrow. If he cannot
set the stick upright he may lay it on the ground towards the qibla or just
draw a line. It is permissible to prevent a person from passing in front of you
by signalling or by raising your voice; yet, it is better not to.
It is written in Halabī-yi kebīr:
Swallowing blood oozing out from between the teeth does not nullify namāz
unless it equals a mouthful. Ones ablution is not broken even if one swallows
mouthfully.
Existence of women among the jamāat is written in chapter 20. It is
fard to perform again a fard namāz that was fāsid. It is wājib to perform again
any prayers in which tahrīmi mekrūhs took place and also those sunnats and
supererogatory prayers that have become fāsid. Please see the twenty-third
chapter.
"So you
have reached that age; what deeds have you done?
"Now you reproach yourself, for your life is gone?
"Fie upon you, after all that you have done!"
If Allah says so, how will you answer Him?
"I showed you two choices, and gave you wisdom;
"To
pick one of choices, I gave you freedom.
"Behind your nafs, you ignored Islam's dictum!"
If Allah says so, how will you answer Him?
"Hot as
well as cold kept you from ablution. .,
"To namāz you preferred mundane
delusion.
"Lingering junub, you ignored ablution."
If Allah says so, how will you answer
Him?
"Why didn't you make wudū and perform prayer?
"What
kept you from begging and praying Creator?
"Making ghusl was binding
summer and winter!"
If Allah says so, how will yon answer Him?