You step in a mosque with your right foot. When leaving a mosque you
step out with your left foot first. It is written in Uyūn-ul-basāir: When entering a mosque, you take off your
left and then right shoe before entering. Then you step in with your right foot
first. You put on your right shoe after [or before] leaving with your left foot
first. In explaining the afflictions incurred by the hand and foot, the book Hadīqa says, As imām-i Nawawī says in his
explanation of Muslim, it is mustahab to
begin with your right side when doing blessed, honoured and pure deeds. You
begin with your right when putting on your shoes, trousers, shirt, when cutting
or combing your hair, when cutting your moustache, when using a miswāk, when
cutting your nails, when washing your hands and feet, when entering a mosque, a
Muslims house, a Muslims room, when going out of a rest room, when giving
alms, when eating, and when drinking. When doing the opposites of these, for
example, when taking off your shoes, socks, clothes, when going out of a
mosque, or a Muslims house, a Muslims room, when entering the restroom, when
expelling mucus from your nose, when cleaning yourself after relieving nature,
it is mustahab to begin with your left. It is tanzīhī mekrūh to do them
conversely, because it means omitting the sunnat in heyet
(form). [To shave the beard in order to follow the local regulations is like
this.]
Ibni Abidīn (rahmatullāhi taālā alaih) says, There are two types of
imām. Let us discuss Imāmat-i kubrā
first. This will be mentioned again in the explanation of bāghīs (rebels) on
the three hundred and tenth page of the third volume. It is also written on the
one hundred and forty-third, two hundred and ninety-fourth, and three hundred
and fifty-first pages of the book Al-Hadīqat-un-nediyya,
written by Abdulghanī Nablusī (rahmatullāhi taālā alaih). The second type of
imām is called Imāmat-i sugrā, which
means being an imām to conduct a namāz that is fard. It is sunnat for men in
Hanafī and Mālikī to perform the fard of the five daily prayers of namāz in
jamāat. And it is obligatory (fard) for the prayers of Friday and Iyd. It is
mekrūh to perform the supererogatory prayers of namāz in jamāat. In the five
daily prayers even one additional person will suffice as a jamāat. A person
whose qirāat (recitation of the Qurān)
is beautiful, that is, who knows the letters of the Qurān and who knows how to
read the Qurān with tajwīd, becomes the imām and not a person whose voice is
good
and who reads the Qurān melodiously! It
is mekrūh for a sinner to become the imām. It is tahrīmī mekrūh to follow him
even if he is deeply learned. A hadīth declares: A
person who performs namāz with a savant who is muttaqī has performed namāz as
though he were with the Prophet
(sallallāhu alaihi wasallam).
It is written on the one hundred and thirty-fifth page of the book Uyūn-ul basāir: A person who does not go to the
mosque [though he does not have an excuse], but instead makes the jamāat with
his wife at home, cannot attain the blessings of the jamāat in the mosque.
That is, he cannot get the extra blessings that are peculiar to the mosque. But
he gets the blessings of the jamāat, that is, the blessings that are
twenty-seven times the number of those received for performing namāz alone.
However, we must add that this is so when both of the jamāats fulfill the
conditions and sunnats. If the jamāat at home is more acceptable, it is necessary
to perform it at home. It is written so on the four hundred and second, the
six hundred and thirteenth, and the six hundred and nineteenth pages of Halabī-i kebīr.
[As it can be understood, we must not perform namāz behind those imāms
who do not observe the conditions of namāz properly. Their namāz is not sahīh.
It is permissible but mekrūh to perform namāz behind an īmām who knows and
respects the fards of ablution and namāz though he commits sins, e.g. drinks
alcohol, takes interest for the money he has lent, looks at women and girls,
and gambles. It is written in the fatwā of Ebussuūd Efendi that the hadīth Perform namāz behind a sinner as well as behind a pious
Muslim! is meant not for the īmāms of mosques but for Emīrs and
governors who conduct Friday prayers, so that they will be followed and obeyed.
We must not perform namāz behind those imāms who we know are committing sins.
We must not follow an imām who does not have the conditions that an imām must
have and who reads the Qurān melodiously. We must go to the mosque of an imām
who is devoted to his faith. We must go to the mosque for every namāz, but when
meeting with an imām who is sinful, ignorant, lā-Madhhabī, or who is a religion
reformer, we must not follow him. We must not stop attending the mosque just
because we think that there may be such an imām. It is written in the fatwā of
Ebussuūd Efendi, which exists in the library of Molla Murād (in Istanbul) with
number 1114: It is wājib to dismiss an imām who makes a living
through harām and who takes interest by
lending money. It is fard to know how to read the Qurān with tajwīd. He who
does not know the tajwīd cannot observe the rules concerning makhārij-i hurūf (parts of the mouth, tongue,
velum and pharynx where letters and sounds are articulated). The Qurān al-kerīm read and the namāz performed by a
person who cannot observe the places of the letters in the articulatory organs
are not acceptable. [See Endless Bliss, II, chapter 21.] It is every Muslims
duty to strive so that a person who fulfills the conditions for being an imām
will become the imām.
It is written in the marginal notes of the explanation of Nūr-ul-īzāh: Being an imām requires fulfilling six
conditions. The namāz is not performed behind an imām who is known
not to have one of these conditions:
1 - To be a Muslim. He who disbelieves the fact that Abū Bekr Siddīq
and Umar Fāruq were Khalīfas or who does not believe in the Mirāj or the
torment in the grave cannot be an imām unless he has an explanation.
2 - To be at the age of puberty.
3 - To be discreet. A drunk or senile person cannot be an imām.
4 - To be a man. A woman cannot be an imām for men.
5 - To be able to recite at least the Fātiha-i sherīfa and one more
āyat correctly. A person who has not memorized one ayāt or who cannot recite
with tajwīd the āyats he has memorized or who recites the āyats melodiously
cannot be an imām.
6 - To be without an excuse. A person who has an excuse cannot be the
imām for those who do not have an excuse. Excuses are: continuous bleeding at
some part of the body, incontinence in wind-breaking or urination, repeated
pronounciation of the letters te and fe, lisping, that is, pronouncing the
letter sin as se (a letter which is pronounced with th sound) and the letter ra as ghayn (that
is, voiced velar fricative instead of post-alveolar frictionless continuant),
being without an ablution or being smeared with najāsat in excess of one
dirham, and being with bare awrat parts. A person who has an eye sore becomes a
person with an excuse if he cannot control his tears. Any liquid coming out of
the ears, navel, nose, nipples because of some pain is an excuse if it issues
continuously. The
same is the case with blood, filth, yellow
liquid produced by the above-named parts or by a cut or sore even without pain.
Those who share the same excuses can be the imām for each other, and a person
who has one excuse can be the imām for a person who has two. In the Shafiī and
Mālikī Madhhabs, a person who has an excuse can be the imām for those who do
not have an excuse. [A person who makes a masah on the ointment of a wound or
on a bandage, or who has crowned or filled his teeth and therefore imitates the
Shafiī or Mālikī Madhhab, is not considered to have an excuse].
It is written on the three hundred and seventy-sixth page of Durr-ul-mukhtār: It is mekrūh for those who are
religiously ignorant [even if they are professors], for sinners, that is, for
those who commit grave sins, drink alcohol, commit fornication, take interest,
allow their wives and daughters to go out naked and for blind people to
become the imām. [It is not sahīh for a fāsiq (person who sins frankly) to be
an imām, according to the Mālikī Madhhab (Halabī).]
We have given the fatwā of Ebussuūd Efendi (rahmatullāhi alaih) above. If a
blind person is deeply learned he can be the imām. Also, it is mekrūh for a
bastard, that is, one who was born out of an illegitimate relation, to be the
imām. It is mekrūh for a beardless person who has just reached the age of
puberty to be the imām, even if he is deeply learned. For it causes fitna. It
is not mekrūh to perform namāz behind a person whose beard does not grow but
who is not extremely handsome. [Therefore, to be an imām it is not necessary
to have a beard. Namāz may be performed behind a person who shaves because of a
good excuse. A person whose beard does not have the shape prescribed by the
sunnat is a bidat holder. A person who slights the fact that ones beard must
be in compliance with the sunnat becomes a disbeliever. See twenty-first
chapter!].
1 - When beginning namāz, you must make the niyyat (intend) to follow
the imām before saying the takbīr. It is not necessary to intend with the name
of the imām or of the namāz.
2 - The imām has to intend to become the imām for women (if he is to
conduct a jamāat of women). [Ibni Ābidīn
says while stating the mekrūhs of namāz: It is not permissible for girls,
women or old women to go to a mosque for
the five daily prayers, for prayers of Friday or Iyd, or to listen to sermons.
Of old, only old women were permitted to go to mosques for evening and night
prayers, but now it is not permissible for them, either. It is particularly
harām for women to go to mosques with bare heads, arms and legs for the purpose
of listening to mawlids, sermons and hāfizes. It is a grave sin. Even Christian
women are not so freely dressed when they go to church. Places where freely
dressed women are mixed with men are not called mosques. One does not go to
such places even to perform namāz. An imām does not have to make intention to
be the imām for men. Yet if he does he will attain the blessings of the
Jamāat, too. It is written on the one hundred and forty-eighth page of the
book Hadīqa: Savants of fiqh said that
if the imām does not make his niyyat to become the imām for others who will
follow him when beginning namāz, it is sahīh to follow him, but he himself will
not be given the blessings for being the imām. Yet because he has not intended
to be the imām, he will be given the blessings of his own namāz as if he
performed it alone. When he makes his niyyat to lead others he will also get
the blessings for being the imām depending on the number of people in the
jamāat.]
3 - Heels of the jamāat must be behind the imāms heels.
4 - The imām and the jamāat must be performing the same fard namāz.
When a person who has already performed the fard of the time follows the imām,
he will have performed a supererogatory namāz.
5 - There must not be a line of women between the imām and the jamāat.
If the women are fewer than enough to form a complete line and if there is a
curtain between them or if they are at a lower or higher place, it will be
permissible. [It is stated in Terghīb-us-salāt:
Four women standing side by side (for the performance of the same fard namāz by
following the same imām as the rest of the jamā'at), will have made a complete
line. In this case the namāz performed by all the men (making up all the lines)
behind that line of women, will become fāsid, (i.e. null and void.) If there
are three women in the line in question, only the namāz performed by five of
the men, three of them on the line immediately behind that of the women, each
of the three men standing right behind one of the three women; and two of them
on either side of the line of three women, will become fāsid. If
there were a pillar or a curtain or a wall
separating any of the man from the woman immediately before him or beside him,
then their namāz would not become fāsid. The same rule applies to relations
between both sexes concerning matters of being mahram. It is makrūh for women
at home to perform namāz in jamā'at among themselves without (at least) one of
their male (mahram) relatives (to conduct the namāz as the imām).]
6 - A wall (between the imām and the
jamāat) is not a hindrance as long as the jamāat see or hear the imām.
However, there must not be a road or a river whereby a cart or a boat could
pass through, which is a hindrance. When two more lines on the road or on a
bridge over the river follows the imām the namāz of the jamāat behind will be
accepted.
7 - There must not be a wall between the imam and the jamāat that does
not have a window convenient for seeing or hearing the imām. Following the imām
in jamāat is not acceptable unless you can hear the imāms or the muazzins
voice, or see the acts of other people who can hear them.
[We have already written in the section concerning the adhān that the
voice coming out of a radio, a television or a loud-speaker is not a human
voice. A worship done following a voice reaching you through one of them is not
sahīh (acceptable). An īmān who is conducting namāz in jamāat on a movie
screen or television cannot be followed. To follow him would be an act of
bidat and a grave sin.]
It is written in Al-muqaddimat-ul-hadramiyya,
Anwār, Al-fiqh-u-alal-madhāhib-il-arbaa, and Misbāh-un-najāt, In the Shafiī Madhhab, if
someone outside the mosque follows the imām inside, it will be necessary for
him to sense the actions of the imām either by seeing the imām or someone who
sees him in the jamāat, or by hearing the imāms or the muazzins voice.
Furthermore, the distance between him and the last line of the jamāat should
not be more than three hundred dhrās [300x0,42=126 meters] approximately. It
is stated in Terghīb-us-salāt, If a
person is outside of the mosque, his following the imām is sahīh only when the
mosque is full. If the mosque is not full or if it is full but there is a
distance large enough for a cart (or car) to pass between the last line and the
person outside the mosque, his following the imām will not be
sahīh. The fact that those prayers
performed by following the voice in a loud speaker or the imām on television
are not accepted is written in the twelfth issue of the magazine Al-Muallim, dated Rabīul-awwal, 1406 [December,
1985], and published by the Indian Muslim scholars of the city of Malappuram,
Kerala, India. It is written explicitly on the fifth page of the book Suyūfullāh-il-ejilla[1], (1401 [1981 A.D.], Pakistan,) that it is
not permissible to join a jamā'at conducted through a loudspeaker by the imām.
The book was published as an appendage to the book Fitna-t-ul-Wahhābiyya[2] by Hakīkat Kitābevi,
8 - The imām must not be on an animal while the jamāat are on the
ground or vice versa.
9 - The imām and the jamāat must not be on two different ships that
are not adjacent to each other.
10 - The jamāat that is following an imām who is in another Madhhab
must not know that something that nullifies namāz according to their own
Madhhab exists in the imām. For example, because it is not permissible for the
imām to bleed or to have made a masah on less than one-fourth of his head (when
making an ablution) according to the Hanafī Madhhab, a Shāfiī imām who is
known to have done so must not be followed. This statement is correct because
most scholars share this view. If the Shafiī imām is seen bleeding, then if he
disappears for a while and then comes back, he can be followed. For he may have
made an ablution in the meantime. It is good to have a good opinion. [Also,
according to these scholars, a Hanafī person must not follow a Shāfiī imām who
has been seen to have crowned or filled teeth.] As it is written in Radd al-mukhtār, Tahtāwīs
annotation to Imdād and Ahmad Hamawīs
annotation to Ashbāh (v.2, p.217):
There are also savants such as Muhammad Hinduwānī who say that a Shāfiī imām
whose namāz is sahīh according to his own Madhhab can be followed. The book Nihāya writes that this report is more
conformable to qiyās, adding: According to this report a Shāfiī imām on whom
something not permissible in Hanafī Madhhab is seen may be followed. The fact
that this report is also true is written in
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Muhammad Āshiq-ur-Rahmān.
[2] Written by Ahmad bin Sayyid Zeynī Dahlān 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (1231 [1816 A.D.], Mekka, - 1304 [1886], Medīna.)
Halabī-i
kebīr. It is permissible in
Mālikī Madhhab, too. According to those savants, it is permissible to follow a
Shāfiī or Mālikī imām who has been seen to have crowned or filled teeth. This
means that a person who is in the Hanafī Madhhab but who follows the Shāfiī or
Mālikī Madhhab because he has crowned or filled teeth can also, according to
those savants be an imām for those Hanafīs who do not have crowned or filled
teeth. This is because he is like an imām in the Shāfiī or Mālikī Madhhab.
Moreover, he adapts himself to the other conditions of his Madhhab and performs
witr prayer knowing it as wājib. It is not permissible to ask or inquire if he
has a crowning or filling, or, if he has (a crowning or filling), whether he is
imitating Shāfiī or Mālikī. If an imām in another Madhhab [but imitating the
Shāfiī Madhhab] observes the conditions in the Hanafī Madhhab, too, following
him is better than performing namāz alone. But following a Hanafī imām [and one
who has no fillings] is better than following him. [One who has crowned or
filled teeth should not accept the duty of being an imām.]
If the jamāat is made up of only one person, he stands on the
right-hand side of the imām. It is mekrūh to stand on his left. It is mekrūh
also to stand behind him. If his heel is not ahead of the imāms heel, his
namāz will be sahīh. When there are two or more people they must stand behind
the imām. In a jamāat the first one stands right behind the imām, the second
one on the right of the first one, the third one on the left of the first, the
fourth one on the right of the second, the fifth one on the left of the third
and so on. If the second person arrives after the imam has started, he stands
behind the imām, and the first person must move backwards and stand behind the
imām without breaking his namāz. The imām does not move forward. Please see the
twenty-third paragraph of the eighteenth chapter.
If there is a space large enough to include two lines or a large pond
between the imām and the jamāat, it is permissible for the people behind it to
follow the imām; yet it is mekrūh to perform it alone in this case. It is not
necessary there to be jamāat (people performing the same namāz and following
the same imām) on both sides of the pond or the space. So is the case with open
or closed places or rooms adjacent to the mosque. [Tahtāwīs
commentary titled Imdād]. Please see the
twenty-fourth chapter.
A person who made an ablution can follow an imām who made a tayammum; a
person who performs the namāz standing can follow an imām performing it
sitting; and one performing a supererogatory namāz can follow an imām
performing the fard. One must look for an imām who knows and loves Islam and
follow him.
In the mosque of a certain quarter, namāz in jamāat can be performed
only once by saying the azān and the iqāmat. But in mosques along roads and in
mosques that do not have appointed imāms and muazzins, namāz is performed with
a new azān and iqāmat for each jamāat. A genie can be an imām. An angel cannot
be an imām because an angel is not liable. An angel, a genie or a child can
make up a jamāat even if it is only a jamāat of one, (i.e. even if there is
no one else in the jamāat.) When a person who is performing a supererogatory
namāz follows a person who is performing the fard, both attain the blessing for
a jamāat.
There are many savants who say that it is wājib to perform namāz in
jamāat. According to the savants of Iraq (rahmatullāhi taālā alaihim ajmaīn),
it is sinful to omit a wājib even once without a good excuse. And according to
the unanimity of savants, one becomes sinful if one makes it a habit to omit a
wājib. But it is not sinful to omit a sunnat. It is mustahab for a person who
is late for the jamāat in one mosque to try and catch a jamāat in another
mosque.
It is not necessary for a sick or paralytic person, for a person whose
one foot has been cut off, for an old or blind person who can not walk to go
out for the jamāat. It is not necessary even if he (one of these people) has
helpers and vehicles. Rain, mud, very cold weather and darkness are excuses,
too. A strong wind is an excuse only at night. Fear of losing ones possessions
because of thieves or other reasons, a poor persons fear of the person to whom
he owes, having trouble with the gas in ones stomach or bowels, ones fear of
a cruel person in regards to ones life and property, a travellers fear of
missing the vehicle, looking after a sick person, fear of missing the food
which one longs for, and fear of missing an opportunity to learn knowledge of
fiqh are excuses for not attending the jamāat. Also it is an excuse to know
that the imām is a bidat holder or that he does not observe the principles of
ablution, ghusl and namāz. A person who knows and observes these principles has
precedence over others in
being chosen as the imām. After this the
one who reads the Qurān with tajwīd is preferable. It is not necessary to be a
hāfiz. If there are a few hafizes, the one who has more wara must be chosen. Wara means to avoid things
that are doubtful (that might be sinful). After this, the one who is older must
be preferred. The next qualities that are preferable in chosing the imām are: a
good nature, a beautiful face, noble descent, a nice voice, and good clothes.
If there are a few such people, the one who has much property and a high rank
must be chosen. If these qualities are also common, a settled person becomes
the imām for a safarī one. If there cannot be an agreement about choosing the
imām, the one chosen by the majority becomes the imām. While there is someone
superior, it is unpleasant to choose someone else. But it is not sinful. So is
the case with electing a commander or a governor. But in an election of
Khalīfa, it is sinful not to elect the most superior one. In a house or feast,
the host or the one who is giving the feast becomes the imām regardless of
choice. Or the person chosen by him becomes the imām. A tenant is the host in
this respect. It is mekrūh for a disliked person to become the imām.
It is tahrīmī mekrūh for a bidat holder to become the imām. An owner of a belief disagreeing with the belief of the Ahl as-Sunna is called a lā-Madhhabī. If a lā-Madhhabī disbelieves or doubts something clearly declared in the Qurān and the hadīths, it will be an act of kufr (disbelief). And it will be bidat to give false interpretations to those indefinite facts that are not declared clearly. It is kufr to disbelieve the fact that the world was created and to say that it will go on as it has. It is bidat to disbelieve that Believers will see Allahu taālā in Paradise. But it is a bidat originating from misunderstanding decisive proofs. Otherwise, if a person abhors the fact by saying, It is impossible. My mind does not accept it, he becomes a kāfir. The hadīth-i sherīfs about bidat exist in the initial pages of the books Hadīqa and Berīqa and in the hundred and twenty-fifth page of the Persian book Eshiat -ul-Lemeat[1]. The ones existing in Eshiat-
---------------------------------
[1] A commentary to Muhammad bin Abdullah Tebrīzīs 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 749 [1348 A.D.],) book entitled Mishkāt-ul-mesābih -which in turn was an annotationally commentated version of the book of Hadīth entitled Mesābih, written by Muhy-is-sunna Huseyn bin Mes'ūd Baghāwī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 516 [1122 A.D.], Bāg, Khorasan,)- was written by 'Abd-ul-Haqq Dahlawī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (958 [1551 A.D.] - 1052 [1642], Delhi.)
ul-Lemeat have been transferred into our
book Maz-hariyya[1]. The Ahl-i
qibla, that is, a person who performs namāz, cannot be called a kāfir unless he says or does something that
causes disbelief. But a person who says or does something that is disagreeable
with something that is declared clearly in the Qurān
al-kerīm and in hadīths and which Muslims have been believing for
centuries, is called a kāfir, even if he
performs namāz and does all kinds of worships throughout his life. For example,
if he says, Allahu taālā does not know every tiny mote, the number of leaves,
or secret things, he becomes a kāfir. A person who speaks ill about a Sahābi
except Abū Bakr and Umar (radiyallāhu anhumā) for some religious reason
becomes a bidat holder[2]. A person who says mubāh (permissible)
about a harām does not become a kāfir, if he says so sincerely depending on an
āyat or a hadīth. If he says so capriciously without depending on Nass (āyats
and hadīths with clear meaning), he becomes a kāfir. It is bidat to say that it
was unjust to elect Abū Bakr and Umar for the caliphate. But it is an act of
disbelief to say that they had no rights to become Khalīfas.
A fatwā has been given that if a person who fulfills the conditions for
being an imām does the duty of an imām for a wage or salary it is permissible
to perform namāz behind him. It is written at the end of Halabī-i kebīr that it is necessary to re-perform
a namāz performed behind an imām who mispronounces or recites melodiously as
well as one performed before its time. [One must do ones best that an imām who
has the belief of the Ahl as-Sunnat be appointed to the office. This will
prevent one who does not fulfill the conditions for being an imām and who is
known to be a lā-Madhhabī or a religion reformer from getting that position.]
---------------------------------
[1] Maqāmāt-i-Maz-hariyya is a valuable book which Abdullāh-i-Dahlawī 'rahmatullāhi 'alaih' wrote, mostly about his valuable Murshīd, Shems-ud-dīn Habībullah Maz-har-i-Jān-i-Jānān 'rahmatullāhi 'alaih', (1111 [1699 A.D.], India-martyred in 1195 [1781],) and which was reproduced by Hakīkat Kitābevi in Istanbul.
[2] This scholarly statement should not be misconstrued. It does not mean that it is something less criminal to speak ill of the Shaikhayn, (i.e. Abū Bakr as-Siddīq and 'Umar ul-Fārūq 'radiy-Allāhu 'anhumā'.) On the contrary, it is much more dangerous even to doubt their superiority. For that matter, the afore-quoted statement shows that speaking ill off the blessed Shaikhayn 'radiy-Allāhu 'anhuma' incurs a degradation and squalor far worse than becoming a bid'at holder.
It is tahrīmī mekrūh for the imām to say the qirāat and the tesbīhs
beyond the measure prescribed by the sunnat when conducting the fard namāz,
even if the jamāat want him to do so. It is tahrīmī mekrūh for a woman to
become the imām and lead the namāz for women. When there are no men it is not
mekrūh for them to perform the namāz of janāza in jamāat. For if they perform
it individually, the woman who performs it first will have performed the fard,
and the ones who perform it later will have performed a supererogatory prayer.
And it is mekrūh also to perform the namāz of janāza as a supererogatory
prayer. It is fard to perform the namāz of janāza once. If a woman becomes the
imām for men in the namāz of janāza, the men must not perform it again. This is
because only the womans namāz has been accepted and the fard has been
performed by one person. If a woman becomes the imām for women, she stands in
the middle of the first line. It is sinful for her to stand in front.
At home a man can be the imām for women who are his mahram. He cannot
be the imām for women who are nāmahram to him. For it would be halwat. If there
is another man or the imāms mahram among the jamāat, the nāmahram women can
join the jamāat. In this event as well as in halwat, it is mekrūh for those
mahram relatives who are related to the imām through milk (having been
breastfed by the same mother) or through nikāh to be young. Halwat does not
occur in a mosque. A woman stands behind the imām, not by his side. If there is
a man, the woman stands behind the man and performs namāz with the imām.
In Masjīd-i harām, it is best for the imām to stand in the Maqām-i
Ibrāhīm. And, of course, you should not walk to the front lines lest you
disturb the jamāat. (As all the jamāat stand up) to begin the fard, you can
move to a vacant space in the line further ahead. In the namāz of janāza the
back lines are more blessed than the front lines. A person who finds the imām
making the rukū stands in the last line lest he will miss the rakat. He
should not walk to the front lines. If there is no place in the last line he
must not stand alone even if he will miss the rakat. If there is an empty
place in the first line and if there is no space available in the second line,
you can make your way through the second line in order to reach the first line.
In this case, it is not sinful to pass in front of the jamāat, that is, those
who are performing namāz in the back.
If a man performing namāz in jamāat remains as long as one rukn in the
same line with a woman who is following the same
imām and if there is not a thick curtain
or a pole more than one inch thick or an open space wide enough to accommodate
one person between them, the mans namāz becomes nullified. When a woman
performs namāz in a line, only the namāz of the three men, two of them on her
either side, and one right behind her, becomes nullified. If the one behind her
is farther than nine feet away, his namāz does not become nullified. It is
mekrūh for a man and a woman who are not following the same imām to perform
namāz in the same line. When a man sees a woman by his side who is preparing to
follow the imām, he must give her a warning with his hand to stand behind him.
If she does not move back, the womans namāz will not be accepted. But the
mans namāz will not become nullified. If the woman is in the same line but on
a level higher or lower by an average mans stature, there is no harm.
A person who cannot make the rukū or the sajdas cannot be the imām for
a person who can make them. A person who is performing the supererogatory
prayer cannot be the imām for someone who is performing the fard.
A person who is alsagh cannot be the imām for one who is not alsagh. An alsagh (lisper) is a person who
pronounces the letter sin as se (which is pronounced like th). Also, a person
who cannot pronounce other letters correctly cannot be the imām for one who
prononuces them correctly. It is fard for such people to exercise themselves
day and night so as to be able to pronounce the letters correctly. If a person
tries hard but still cannot pronounce them, his namāz will be acceptable. If he
does not try to pronounce them, his namāz becomes fāsid. If he performs his
namāz alone while it is possible for him to perform it in jamāat by following
an imām who pronounces the letters correctly, his namāz is not accepted because
he has not pronounced the letters correctly. If there is an āyat with no
letters that he cannot pronounce correctly, he must memorize it and a few
others like it, and recite them in namāz. While there is an āyat that he can
pronounce correctly, if he does not memorize it but recites one that he cannot
pronounce correctly, his namāz will not be acceptable. Since it is necessary to
say the Fātiha in every namāz, he must try to say it well. [As it is seen, if
one letter is not said correctly the Qurān al-kerīm
will not be correct and the namāz will not be accepted. Because letters are not
produced correctly in sounds sent through radios or loud-speakers, it is not
right, not acceptable to read or listen to the Qurān
al-kerīm through them or
to perform namāz with them; it is sinful.]
A person who makes masah on his mests or on a bandage can become the
imām for a person who washes those limbs, and one who performs the fard can
become the imām for one who is performing supererogatory prayer. It is written
in Radd al-mukhtār that it is the same with all sunnats including the tarāwīh.
When a person who is performing four rakats of the sunnat follows an imām who
is performing the fard, he performs the namāz as if it were the fard namāz.
Reciting the additional sūra in the third and fourth rakats, which is wājib,
becomes supererogatory now. A person who is performing a supererogatory namāz
can become the imām for another person who is performing a supererogatory
namāz.
A person going to perform the fard in jamāat has to intend by passing
the thought I am following the imām who is
present through his heart. He performs it together with the imām as
though he were performing it alone. But, when standing he does not say a
prayer, whether the imām says it silently or aloud. Only in the first rakat he
says the Subhānaka. It is tahrīmī mekrūh
in the Hanafī Madhhab to recite the Fātiha sūra behind the imām. It is fard in
the Shafiī Madhhab. In Mālikī, on the other hand, it is tahrīmī mekrūh as the
imām recites it loud, and it is mustahab as the imām recites it silently. When
the imām finishes saying the Fātiha aloud, he says Āmīn softly. He must not
say it loudly. When the imām says, Semi Allāhu
liman hamidah while straightening up from the rukū, he says, Rabbanā lakal hamd. Then, he prostrates for the
sajda together with the imām, saying, Allahu
akbar while doing so. In the rukū, in the sajdas, and while
sitting, he says the prayers as he would if he were performing namāz alone.
A person who finds out that the imām is doing something that nullifies
the namāz, performs the namāz again. If the imām remembers it or if something
nullifying namāz happens while performing the namāz, the imām must immediately
inform the jamāat. If he notices it after the namāz, he writes, tells or sends
somebody to inform the ones he remembers in the jamāat. The ones who learn it
have to perform the namāz again. Those who do not hear it will be pardoned.
According to a narration and in the Shāfiī Madhhab, the imām does not have to
inform the jamāat. If his ablution breaks while performing namāz, it is
permissible
for him to put somebody in his place by
pulling on his shirt. Then he performs an ablution outside and completes the
namāz by following his deputy. If he performs an ablution within the mosque,
the deputy is not needed. If he leaves the mosque without assigning a deputy,
the namāz becomes invalid if the jamāat are composed of more than one person.
The namāz of witr is performed in jamāat during Ramadān. It is
performed individually at all other times.
It is mekrūh to perform the prayers of Raghāib, Berāt and Qadr[1] in jamāat. The namāz
of Raghāib is a supererogatory namāz performed on the first Friday night[2] of the blessed month of Rajab. It was
established in
If other people begin to perform the fard in jamāat in the presence of
a person who is performing the same fard alone, if that person has not made the
sajda of the first rakat he breaks his namāz by making salām to one side while
standing and begins to follow the imām. If he has made the sajda of the first
rakat, he makes the salām after completing two rakats in those fard prayers
that have four rakats in them. If he has not made the sajda of the third
rakat he breaks his namāz by making the salām to one side while standing and
then joins the jamāat. If he has made the sajda of the third rakat he
completes the four rakats. Then it is good if he follows the imām and performs
four rakats of the supererogatory prayer. But he cannot perform the late
afternoon prayer (Asr) in jamāat in this manner. In the fard of the morning
and evening prayers, he breaks the namāz even if he has made the sajda of the
first rakat. Yet if he has made the sajda of the second rakat, he must
complete the namāz. After that he does not perform the supererogatory prayer
together with the imām.If they begin to perform the fard or if
the khutba of Friday prayer begins as he performs the sunnat, he does not break
the namāz if he is making qadā. He completes its two or four rakats. A person
who has made the salām after performing two rakats of the sunnat of the early
afternoon or Friday prayer completes it to four rakats by performing two more
rakats after the fard. But he had better perform the entire four rakats
again. If the namāz in jamāat begins while he is making qāda, he does not
break
---------------------------------
[1] See third
fascicle of Endless Bliss chapter 58. Sacred Nights.
[2] The night between Thursday and Friday
the namāz if he has to observe the tertīb[1]. The same applies in the Mālikī Madhhab.
When the azān is said it is tahrīmī mekrūh for a person who is in the
mosque to go out without a good excuse before performing the namāz in jamāat.
It is a proper excuse for him to go to a certain mosque if it is his habit to
go to the mosque of his master or some other religious master lest he will miss
his lecture or to a mosque that is located where he works. Also, a person who
has performed the fard alone before the jamāat can leave the mosque. Yet it is
mekrūh to perform it alone. All of those with these excuses may not go out
while the iqāmat is being said. A person who has performed the fard alone performs
the supererogatory prayer with the jamāat in the early aftennoon and night
prayers. It is wājib for a person who has performed any of the other three
prayers alone to leave the mosque even while the namāz is being performed in
jamāat. For it is a grave sin not to join the jamāat. If a person who has not
performed the sunnat of morning prayer apprehends that he will miss even the
final sitting posture of the namāz in jamāat in case he performs the sunnat,
he does not perform the sunnat, but immediately begins following the imām. If
he estimates that he will be able to make the last sitting together with the
jamāat he performs the sunnat quickly in the ante-room of the mosque. If there
is not an ante-room he performs it behind a pillar in the mosque. If there is
not such an empty place, he does not perform the sunnat. For it is mekrūh to
begin a supererogatory namāz while a fard namāz is being performed in jamāat.
It is necessary to omit a sunnat in order not to commit a mekrūh. [Since it is
necessary to omit even the sunnat of morning prayer in order not to commit a
mekrūh, it must be understood that it is necessary to make qadā of omitted fard
prayers instead of performing the sunnat prayers]. A person who arrives in the
---------------------------------
[1] What 'observing the tertīb' means, is explained in the twenty-third chapter.
mosque while the early afternoon or Friday
prayer is being performed in jamāat does not perform the sunnat if he has the
apprehension that he may be too late for the first rakat. He begins following
the imām immediately. He performs the sunnat of the early afternoon prayer
after the fard. It is not right to begin the sunnat and then break it by making
the salām immediately after that lest you should miss the jamāat for moring or
early afternoon prayer and then begin following the imām and then to make qadā
of the sunnat after the fard. For it is harām to break the namāz without a good
excuse. Furthermore, the namāz of nazr[1], for instance, cannot be performed after
the fard of morning prayer. Performing a sunnat prayer again which has been
broken is not as important as performing the namāz of nazr. It is wājib to
perform the supererogatory prayers of namāz again which have been broken. It is
fard to perform again the broken fard prayers. [Uyūn-ul-basāir]
For, once you have started a supererogatory namāz it becomes wājib to complete
it. A person who has not been able to perform morning prayer makes qadā of it
together with its sunnat before noon of that same day. But if he performs it
after noon, he makes qadā of the fard only. A person who arrives in the mosque
during the performance of the fard of Friday or early afternoon prayer performs
the first sunnat after the fard. A person who has not caught the rukū (of a
rakat) has not performed that rakat together with the imām. A person who
arrives when the imām is in the rukū makes his niyyat, says the takbīr
standing, joins the namāz, and immediately begins following the imām by bowing
for the rukū. If the imām straightens up from the rukū before the person has
bowed for the rukū, he has not caught the rukū. Though he has not caught the
rakat he has to make the sajdas together with the imām. If he does not do so
his namāz does not become nullified. But he will have omitted a wājib. If a
person has begun following the imām as the imām stands but has not bowed for
the rukū together with the imām, it is acceptable if he makes the rukū alone
after the imām and catches up with the imām in the sajda. Yet he is sinful
because he has been late. It is tahrīmī mekrūh to bow for the rukū, to
prostrate for the sajda or to get up from the sajda before the imām does.
[It is necessary to imitate the imāms movements. It is not necessary
to follow his voice. If a person who cannot see the imām
---------------------------------
[1] A namāz that was vowed. Please see the fifth chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss.
imitates the movements of those who see
the imām, he will have followed the imām. Since the imāms takbīrs and the
actions of those who are following the imām signify the imāms actions, it is
permissible to imitate them. In order that people who cannot see the imām will
see the imāms actions, it is not necessary to install television screens at
various places in the mosque. Also, those who cannot hear the imāms voice have
to follow the actions of those who see the imām and the voices of muazzins. In
existence of these facilities, to install television screens or amplifiers in
mosques means to dislike the Sharīats prescription and adapt the worships to
owns personal thoughts. This, in its turn, is not something a Muslim would do.
So is the case with installing loudspeakers on minarets]. It is mekrūh for the
imām to perform the final sunnat in the same place where he performed the fard.
He should perform it after moving a little bit to the right or left of his
former position. Also, it is mekrūh for him to sit towards the qibla after
namāz. If there is no one in the first line performing namāz towards the imām,
he should sit facing the jamāat. If there is a person performing namāz, he
should turn to his right or left. All these things are not mekrūh for the
jamāat or for a person performing namāz alone. It is written before the
subject concerning the azān in the book Imdād that
it is better for them to perform the final sunnat at some other place,
particularly when they are back home. It is mustahab to undo the lines after
the fard namāz.
While describing the namāz of witr, the book Mawqūfāt says:
1 - If the imām does not say the prayers of Qunūt the jamāat do not
say them, either.
2 - If the imām does not say the takbīrs of Iyd the jamāat do not say
them, either.
3 - If the imām does not sit in the second rakat of a namāz that has
four rakats, the jamāat do not sit, either.
4 - If the imām does not make the sajda though he said an āyat of
sajda, the jamāat do not make the sajda, either.
5 - If the imām does not make the sajda-i sahw the jamāat do not,
either.
1 - If the imām makes more than two sajdas the jamāat does not do so.
2 - If the imām says the takbīr of Iyd more than three times in one
rakat the jamāat do not do so.
3 - If the imām says more than four takbīrs in the namāz of janāza the
jamāat do not do so.
4 - If the imām stands up for the fifth rakat the jamāat do not stand
up. Instead, they wait for the imām, and they make the salām together.
1 - Raising the hands for the takbīr of iftitāh (beginning namāz).
2 - Saying the Subhānaka. According to the Imāmayn, the jamāat do not
say it, either.
3 - Saying the takbīr when bowing for the rukū.
4 - Saying the tasbīhs in the rukū.
5 - Saying the takbīr when prostrating for the sajdas and when getting
up from the sajdas.
6 - Saying the tasbīhs in the sajda.
7 - Even if he does not say Sami Allāhu, the jamāat say,
Rabbanālakal hamd.
8 - Saying the Attahiyyātu up to the end.
9 - Making the salām at the end of namāz.
10 - During the Iyd of Qurbān, saying the takbīr right after making
the salām after every one of the twenty-three fard prayers.
A masbūk, that is, a person who
has not caught up with the imām in the first rakat, stands up after the imām
has made the salām to both sides and makes qadā of the rakats which he missed.
He says the qirāats as if he were performing the first rakat, then the second,
and then the third rakat. But he does the sitting postures as if he were
performing the fourth, third, and second rakats, that is, as if he began with
the last rakat. For example, a person who arrives during the last rakat of
the night prayer stands up after the imām makes the salām, says the fātiha
and the additional sūra in the first and
second rakats. However, he sits in the first rakat, but does not sit in the
second rakat. Umdat-ul-Islām quotes
from Fatāwā-yi-Attābī[1]: If the Masbūk, i.e. person who has not
caught up with he imām in the first rakat, finishes reciting the
At-tahiyyātu before the imām does at the final sitting posture, he reiterates
the Kalima-i-shahādat until the imām makes the salām. He does not sit without
reciting anything. It is harām to remain mute at places where it is necessary
to recite during namāz. He does not say the Salawāt, either. For the Salawāt is
recited at the final sitting posture. If he says the Salawāt at the first
sitting, sajda-i-sahw will be necessary. If he says Allahumma salli during
the Qada-i-ūlā, his namāz will become fāsid. A settled person may follow a
musāfir when making adā[2] as well as when making qadā. [See chapter
15!] A musāfir may follow a settled person only when making adā of those fard
prayers of namāz that have four rakats. If there should be any rakats which
he has not caught, he completes them up to the fourth rakat after the imām
makes the salām. For, if a musāfir follows a settled imām within a prayer time
his namāz changes to four rakats like the imāms namāz. Therefore, because he
would have to perform only two rakats of the prayers of qadā, he could not
follow a settled imām; otherwise, a person for whom it is fard to sit and
recite would have followed another person for whom it is supererogatory to sit
and recite. It is written in the 15th chapter how a settled person performs
namāz behind a musāfir imām. A person who misses one rakat of the namāz in
jamāat has not performed that namāz in jamāat. But he will be given the
blessings of the jamāat. If a person who misses the last rakat catches up
with the imām during the tashahhud, he will be given the blessings of the
jamāat. There are a lot of additional blessings in saying the takbīr of
iftitāh together with the imām.
It is stated in Umdat-ul-Islām,
If a person arriving for the jamāat sees the imām bowing for the rukū, he
makes the Takbīr standing and then bows for the rukū. If he says the Takbīr as
he bows, his namāz will not be sahīh. If the imām straightens up before this
person has bowed, he has not caught up with the rakat.
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Ahmad Attābī, (d. 586.)
[2] To make adā of a certain prayer means to perform that prayer within its prescribed time. To make qadā of a prayer means to perform it after its prescribed time. We make qadā of prayers that are fard or wājib and which we failed to perform within their prescribed time