Friday prayer consists of sixteen rakats. It is fard-i ayn for every
man to perform its two rakats. He who disbelieves or slights it becomes a
kāfir. It is a fard stronger than the early afternoon prayer. Friday prayer
depends on two groups of conditions for being fard: The first group are the conditions of wujūb, and the second group are the
conditions of adā. If any one of the conditions of
adā does not exist, the namāz will not be sahīh. If the conditions
of wujūb do not exist, the namāz will still be sahīh. The conditions of adā are
as follows:
The first condition is to perform the namāz in a shahr (city). A shahr is a place whose jamāat
cannot be accommodated by the largest mosque. The majority of fiqh savants in
the Hanafī Madhhab (rahmatullāhi taālā alaihim ajmaīn) have agreed in this.
Also it is written in Welwāljī[1] that this ijtihād is sahīh. Also a place
that has a Muslim governor or commander powerful enough to carry out the
commandments of the Sharīat is called a shahr. Even if he cannot fulfill all
the commandments of the Sharīat, it will be sufficient if he can protect the
peoples rights and freedom, prevent faction and mischief, and can take back
the rights of the oppressed from their oppressors. It is an excuse if a
governor cannot have some of the fards carried out because of the governments
oppression.
[Those villages that have headmen confirmed and ratified by todays governments
or that have gendarmes, and the regions that are in todays large cities are
each a different city for Friday prayer according to both of the above
definitions. It is permissible to perform Friday and Iyd prayers in such
villages and regions. Moreover, according to the Shāfiī Madhhab, forty people
can perform Friday prayer anywhere. When the government gives permission for
something permissible in one Madhhab, it becomes permissible in another
Madhhab, too. When the government commands a mubāh (something permitted by
Islam), it becomes wājib to do it; and a mubāh prohibited by the government
becomes harām. Unaware of this fact, those who think only of todays large
cities when they hear the name shahr (city) speak ill of religious books.
Writing such things as: There is no need to explain that all the people in one
---------------------------------
[1] A book of fatwās written by Zahīruddīn Is-hāq Abul Mekārim Welwālijī, (d. 710 [1310 A.D.].)
city cannot go into one mosque. We are
pointing out the fact that the points of view concerning Friday are
incompatible with the religion and that there are some mistakes on the
conditions of Friday prayer, they attempt to blemish books of fiqh. This
unpleasant attitude of theirs originates from misunderstanding books of fiqh
and thereby giving Islams technical terms those meanings commonly used by the
public. Shame upon those who slander Islamic savants instead of realizing their
own ignorance! Even more wretched, though, are those who believe the falsely
adorned and enthusiastic articles of such people and who think of these writers
as religious men.]
Also, places which the people of a city have reserved as fields,
cemeteries, of for recreation are counted as parts of a city.
The second condition is to perform it with the permission of the
president of the state or government, or of the governor. A khatīb appointed by
them can appoint someone else as his deputy. No one other than those who have
been deputizing one another in the process of time can conduct Friday prayer.
When a person conducts it without permission, the namāz will be accepted if
someone who has permission to conduct it performs the namāz by following him.
If the governor of a city dies or cannot come to the mosque for one of such
reasons as fitna or chaos, it is permissible for his deputy, assistant or for
the judge of the law court to conduct the namāz. For these people as well as
the governor are permitted by the government to conduct the peoples religious
and worldly affairs. While they are present, an imām elected by the jamāat
cannot conduct the Friday prayer. Yet if they cannot come to the mosque or if they
are not permitted to administer religious affairs, the imām elected by the
jamāat can conduct the namāz. Likewise, if the Sultan oppresses the people and
prevents the jamāat from coming together without a good reason, they may meet
together at some place and their imām may conduct the namāz. But they cannot
perform it if the Sultan wants to change the status of the city. If the
governors and judges in cities captured by disbelievers are administering them
compatibly with the Sharīat, such cities are not Dār-ul-harb.
They are Dār-ul-Islām. In such cities
the governor or the judge elected by the Muslims or any imām elected by them or
by the jamāat can conduct the Friday prayer.
While describing the Qādīs, that is, judges, the book Durr al-mukhtār says on the three hundred and
eighth page of its fourth volume: Those Islamic countries that are controlled
by disbelievers are not dār-ul-harb, but they are dār-ul-Islām. For rules of
disbelief have not yet been established in those places. Judges
in such places are Muslims and their
presidents are Muslims, too. They are obeying the disbelievers unwillingly. If
Muslim administrators obey the disbelievers willingly they become sinful. In
such countries it is permissible for the Muslim governors appointed by
disbelievers to conduct the Friday and Iyd prayers, to take kharāj, to appoint
judges and to marry orphans. This is because the people are Muslim. The
governors obeying the disbelievers is compulsory and tricky. In such
countries, if the governor presiding over the Muslims is a disbeliever too, the
Friday and Iyd prayers conducted by an imām elected by the Muslims and the
religious decisions given by the judge chosen by them are acceptable. Also, the
Muslims must elect a governor from among themselves. That governor appoints the
judge and the khatīb (the imām who will conduct the Friday prayers). If the
Muslims like the Muslim judge appointed by a governor who is a disbeliever, it
is permissible for him to conduct the namāz and to give religious decisions. If
a Muslim has revolted against the Sultan, captured a few places and established
a government, it is permissible for him to appoint a judge and an imām.
In the village of Minā near the blessed city of Mekka, Friday prayer
can be performed during the time of hajj. For, during that time it becomes a
city and the governor or the Amīr of Mekka is there, too. To facilitate the
affairs of the hadjis, the namāz of Iyd in Minā has been forgiven. The
official who is administering the duties of hajj cannot conduct the Friday
prayer if he does not have special permission for doing so, too. It cannot be
performed on Arafāt because Arafat is an empty plain. It cannot become a city.
In any kind of city Friday prayer can be performed in several mosques.
But some of the scholars of the Hanafī Madhhab and the majority of the scholars
of the other three Madhhabs have said that Friday prayer cannot be performed in
more than one mosques. And since the acceptableness of Friday prayer is
doubtful in a place that is doubtfully a city, we must perform four more
rakats between the final sunnat of Friday prayer and the sunnat of the time by
intending to perform the namāz of zuhr-i ākhir,
that is, the latest early afternoon prayer.
When performing these four rakats we must add the phrase which is fard for
me to our intention. We must not say, which is fard to perform. For, though
the early afternoon prayer is fard at the time of noon it does not become fard
to perform immediately. It becomes fard to perform it
when there is only time enough to perform
four rakats of namāz before the late afternoon prayer. Performing it [adā]
does not become fard before that time. If a Friday prayer is not accepted,
those four rakats do not become the fard of the early afternoon prayer of
Friday when you say, which is fard to perform. They become the fard of the
previous days early afternoon prayer. And since you already performed it on
Thursday the four rakats become supererogatory. But when you say, the last
early afternoon prayer which is fard for me, they count for the fard of
Fridays early afternoon prayer. But if the Friday prayer is accepted you will
have performed also the fard of the early afternoon prayer, in which case those
four rakats will become supererogatory. For a sunnat can be performed with the
intention of a fard. If you have any namāz of qadā, you will not have
performed it. If it should be claimed that when the Friday prayer is accepted
the early afternoon prayer lapses, then you will have made your niyyat for
Thursdays early afternoon prayer, in which case, again, it will be
supererogatory. If there is any early afternoon prayer which you have not
performed before, you will not have made qadā of it. If you intend, To perform the last early afternoon prayer that is fard
upon me, but which I have not performed, and if the Friday prayer
is accepted, the namāz stands for the qadā of a namāz, so this intention is
suitable. A person who does not have any namāz of qadā must say additional
sūras in the last two rakats of the zuhr-i ākhir, too. If the Friday prayer is
not accepted and the namāz stands for the fard of the early afternoon prayer,
it is not harmful to say sūras in the fard. A person who has debts of early
afternoon prayers does not say additional sūras (in the last two rakats). For
if the Friday prayer is not accepted the namāz stands for the fard of the early
afternoon prayer; if it is accepted the namāz stands for a namāz of qadā.
The third condition is to perform it during the time of the early afternoon
prayer. As soon as the azān for the early afternoon prayer is said a namāz of
four rakats, (the first sunnat of the Friday prayer), is performed. Second,
the second azān is said inside the mosque. Third, the khutba is said. Fourth,
two rakats, (the fard of Friday prayer), are performed in jamāat. Fifth, four
rakats, (the last sunnat), are performed, and then the zuhr-i ākhir is
performed by intending, to perform the last early afternoon prayer that is
fard upon me but which I have not performed. Finally, two rakats (the times
sunnat) are performed. If the
Friday prayer is not accepted these ten
rakats become the early afternoon prayer. Next the Āyatalkursī, the tesbīhs
and duās are said. Our Prophet used to perform
six rakats of sunnat after the two rakats of the fard of Friday prayer.
It is written on the five hundred and fifth page of Ashiat ul-lemeāt: Amīr al-muminīn Hadrat Alī
(radiyallāhu anh) used to tell people to perform six more rakats after the
fard namāz of Friday; and Abdullah ibn Umar (radiyallāhu anhumā) is reported
to have performed six additional rakats after the fard of Friday. Al-allāma
ash-Shāmī Sayyid Muhammad Amīn ibn Ābidīn (rahmatullāhi alaih) writes on the
subject of itikāf in the second volume of Radd
al-mukhtār: After the fard namāz of Friday, as communicated in Badāyi, four rakats of sunnat namāz shall be
performed according to Imām-i āzam, or six rakats according to the Imāmayn.
According to those who said that the Friday prayer should be performed in a
single mosque, four rakats of zuhr-i ākhir
should be performed in addition. According to those who said that the
performance of the Friday prayer in every mosque is permissible, these four
rakats become a nāfila, a mustahab; though it is not necessary to perform
them, no one has said it should not be performed. It is better if they are
performed.
It is written in Fatāwā-i Hindiyya:
It is not fard for slaves, women, travellers, and sick people to perform
Friday prayer. There should be at least one man to listen to the khutba. The
khutba is not permitted if there are no listeners or if all the listeners are
women. It is obligatory that the jamāat should comprise of at least three men
who have the qualifications to act as imāms. Friday prayer is not sahīh if they
are women or children.
The fourth condition is to say the khutba within the time of the early
afternoon prayer. After the khutba, the person who said the khutba may appoint
one of those who listened to the khutba to conduct the namāz on his behalf. He
who has not listened to the khutba cannot conduct the namāz.
Our scholars have said that saying the khutba is like saying Allahu
akbar when beginning the namāz, which implies that both must be said only in
Arabic. There are also savants who have said that it can be said in Persian or
that it is permissible to say it in any language, but then it is tahrīmī mekrūh
according to those savants. It is mekrūh for the khātib to
say things other than amr-i marūf in the
khutba, even in Arabic. The khatīb first says the Aūdhu silently, then says
the hamd-u-thenā, the kalima-i shahādat, and the salāt-u-salām loudly.
Afterwards he preaches, that is, sermonizes about things that bring rewards and
torment, and then says an āyat. He sits down and stands up again. After saying
the second khutba, he prays for the Muslims instead of preaching. It is
necessary (mustahab) for him to mention the names of the four Khalīfas (Hadrat
Abū Bakr, Hadrat Umar, Hadrat Uthmān, Hadrat Alī). It is not permissible to
mention the name of the Sultan or those of the state authorities. It is harām
to praise them with attributes they do not actually have. It has been said by
savants that it is permissible to say prayers for them so that they will be
just, benevolent, and victorious over their enemies, but when praying nothing
must be said that might cause disbelief or harām. It is harām to insert a
worldly speech into the khutba. The khutba must not be turned into a speech, a
conference. He who praises cruel rulers and says that they are just, or who
prays for enemies of religion when they are dead or alive, becomes a
disbeliever. Also it is harām to praise a Muslim by lying. To preach in the
khutba means to perform amr-i marūf and nahy-i anilmunkar. It does not mean to
tell stories or to talk about politics, economics, or other worldly affairs.
[Our Prophet (sallallāhu alaihi wasallam)
declared: There will come such a time that
monkey-natured, human-figured people will climb the minbar and teach you what
is against the religion and their irreligiousness in the name of the religion.]
Khatībs, preachers, must be careful not to be among those people who are
described in this hadīth and not to serve as means for irreligiousness. Muslims
must not listen to the khutbas and preachings of such people. It is written on
the two hundred and eighty-first page of the explanatory book of Nūr-al-izāh, Tahtāwī: It is sunnat to say a
short khutba, and it is mekrūh to say a long one.
While explaining the khutba, the takbīr of iftitāh, and saying prayers
in namāz, Ibni Ābidīn says: Saying the
khutba in any language other than Arabic is like saying the takbīr of iftitāh
in another language when beginning namāz. And this, in its turn, is like the
other dhikrs of namāz. It is tahrīmī mekrūh to say the dhikrs and the prayers
within namāz in any language other than Arabic. It was prohibited by Hadrat
Umar. He also says while explaining the wājibs of namāz: Committing tahrīmī
mekrūh is a
venial sin, but a person who keeps doing
it loses his justice[1]. It is written in Tahtāwī: A person who keeps committing venial
sins becomes sinful. We must not perform namāz behind those imāms who are
sinful or who commit bidats; instead, we must perform namāz in another
mosque. The Sahāba and the Tābiīn always said the khutbas in Arabic both in
Asia and in Africa. For it is bidat and mekrūh to say the khutba in another
language. This was done even when those who listened did not know Arabic and
did not understand the khutbās. Nor did they have any religious information. It
was necessary to teach them. But still they said the khutbas in Arabic. It is
said in the book Al-adillatul-kawāti
written by Muhammad Viltorī, an Indian scholar and published in 1395 [1975]:
It is bidat to say the khutbas of Friday and Iyd in any language except
Arabic, either completely or partially. It is tahrīmī mekrūh. An imām who
continuously does so should not be followed when performing namāz in jamāat.
This fatwā is in Arabic. It was printed in Istanbul in 1396 [1976]. For six
hundred years, Islamic savants in Turkey had been desiring to have the khutba
said in Turkish so that the people could understand it, yet apprehending that
the khutba might not be accepted, they did not allow it. Instead, they appointed
Friday preachers who explained the meaning of the khutba before or after the
namāz. Thus the jamāat learned what was said during the khutba.
Hadrat Sayyid Abdulhakīm Arwāsī (quddīsa sirruh) said: To worship
means to do the commandments. It is worship to read the Qurān al-kerīm and to say the khutba. We have not
been commanded to understand their meanings. Therefore, it is not something
within the worship to understand them. Understanding the Qurān al-kerīm requires learning the seventy-two
subsidiary branches of knowledge along with its eight main branches. It is only
after this that one begins to have the aptitude for understanding the Qurān al-kerīm. And still, one can understand it
only if Allahu taālā graces one with the lot. To say that everyone must
understand the Qurān al-kerīm is to
belittle the religion. For understanding the Qurān
al-kerīm, a person with great talents has to work for ten years and
one with average talents has to work for fifty years. Therefore, we with little
ability can not understand it even if we study for a hundred years. In the
Sharīat, what is called knowledge is useful information. Useful information is
the information that serves as a means for
---------------------------------
[1] To lose one's 'adl means to become 'fāsiq', which, and its antonym, "ādil', (adjectival form of 'adl,) are defined in tenth chapter.
obtaining endless bliss, that is, for
receiving Allahs love. This information is called Islamic
knowledge.
The fifth condition is to say the khutba before the namāz. It must be
said in the presence of discreet men who have reached the age of puberty. But
it is not a condition for the jamāat to understand it.
[It is written in Hindiyya, in Durr-ul-mukhtār, and in Imdād: One mans presence during the khutba is
sufficient. If the entire jamāat is deaf or asleep, the khutba will be
accepted. But the khutba listened by women without a man being present is not
accepted. As we have discussed earlier, it is not necessary for the jamāat to
understand the khutba, and it is not even necessary for them to hear it. It is
written in Durr-ul-mukhtār: Saying the
khutba in any other language is like saying Allahu
akbar (in another language) when beginning namāz. The same applies
to the prayers and tesbīhs in namāz. Ibni Ābidīn
says, According to Imām-i Azam, it is permissible for an imām who can recite
them in arabic to recite them in any other language. Yet it is tahrīmī mekrūh.
According to the Imāmayn, however, it is not permissible for an imām who can
recite them in Arabic to recite them in any other language. [It is written in Majmāul-enhur that Imām-i Azams latest ijtihād
was the same as that of the Imāmayn.] It is written in Welwaljiyya that it is an act of worship to say
the takbīr of namāz and that Allāhu taālā does not like its being said in
another language. Therefore, even if it is permissible to say it wholely or
partially in another language, it is tahrīmī mekrūh within worships and tanzīhī
mekrūh outside of worships. It is unanimously reported that during salāt to
recite the āyat-i kerīmas in other languages is not jaīz (permissible). The
fatwā has also been given accordingly. Writing their ijtihād aggreeably with
that of our Imāmayn, the imāms of the other three Madhhabs said that the khutba
said in another language by a person who can read Arabic is not accepted. It is
written in Badāyi[1]: Saying the khutba partly in Arabic and
partly in
---------------------------------
[1] Badāyi'-us-sanāyi fī-tertīb-ish-Sharāyi', by Abū Bakr bin Mesūd Alāuddīn-i-Shāshī
Kāshānī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 587 [1191 A.D.], Aleppo,) the
son-in-law of Muhammad Semerkandī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 1117 A.D.,
Karaca Ahmed, Żstanbul.) The book is a commentary to his father-in-law's
work Tuhfa-t-ul-fuqahā.
another language spoils the Arabic verse,
which is mekrūh. A person who says it in another language has deviated from
the way of the Salaf-i-sālihīn and has committed a bidat. It is declared in
the hundred and fourteenth (114) āyat of Nisā sūra that the deviated people
will go to Hell. And those who use a television or a loudspeaker in their
worships should take this āyat into account].
According to Imām-i Azām, by only saying Alhamdu lillāh or
Subhānallah or Lā ilāha il-lal-lah the khutba will have been completed.
However, it is tanzīhī mekrūh. According to the Imāmayn, it is necessary to
prolong it long enough to say the prayer of Attahiyyātu. It is sunnat to make
two short khutbas. It is sinful not to sit between the two khutbas. Our Prophet (sallallāhu alaihi wasallam) would say an āyat
or a sūra in the Friday khutba. In the khutba or for any other occasion the
Aūdhu and the Basmala is said before saying a sūra. According to the majority
of the ulamā, only the Aūdhu is said before saying an āyat. The Basmala is
not said. It is sunnat for the khatīb to wear a black robe and to perform the
sunnat on the right hand side of the minbar before the khutba. It is sunnat to
say the khutba standing.
The sixth condition is to perform the Friday prayer in jamāat. Three
men other than the imām in Hanafī, forty in Shāfiī, and twelve in Mālikī, are
sufficient. It is acceptable if the entire jamāat listening to the khutba
leave and other people come and perform the namāz. The jamāat may also be
formed by musāfirs or by the invalid in Hanafī Madhhab.
The seventh condition is for the mosque to be open for everybody. If
the door is locked and the namāz is performed inside the mosque it will not be
accepted. However, it does not hurt the namāz not to allow women into the
mosque in order to prevent fitna.
There are nine conditions of wujūb
for the Friday prayer. That is, for it to be fard for a person requires the
existence of the nine conditions that follow: 1- To live in a city or town. It
is not fard for musāfirs or for villagers. It is fard for a villager who is in
a city and who hears the azān. It is fard for a person whose house is one
fersah, that is, one hour [six kilometres], from the outskirts of the city. 2-
To be healthy. It is not fard for a sick person, for a person who looks after a
sick person when he cannot leave, or for a very old person. 3- To be free.
Friday prayer is fard for workers,
for civil servants, for soldiers. Their
bosses and directors cannot prohibit them from namāz. If the way is long so
that they cannot work for a few hours, they can cut their wages. 4- To be a
man. Friday prayer is not fard for women. 5- To be discreet and at the age of
puberty. 6- Not to be blind. It is not fard for a blind person even if he has
someone to lead him. But it is fard for a blind person, and for a sick and
squint-eyed person, who can walk along streets without anyone to help him. 7-
To be able to walk. Even if there are vehicles, it is not fard for a paralysed
person or for a person without feet. 8- Not to be in prison, not to have fear
of an enemy, the government, or the cruel. 9- There must not to be too much
rain, snow, or mud. And the weather must not to be too cold.
A man who does not have one of these conditions may perform Friday
prayer if he wants to. The hadīth-i-sherīfs
declaring that Friday prayer is not fard for women are written in Tafsīr-i Mazharī and in Mishkāt-ul-masābih.
A musāfir or a sick person may conduct Friday prayer. It is harām for a
person who has neglected a Friday prayer without a good excuse to perform the
early afternoon prayer in a city before the Friday prayer is performed. But
later it becomes fard for him to perform the early afternoon prayer[1] . It is mekrūh for
those who have omitted the Friday prayer with a good excuse to perform the
early afternoon prayer in a jamāat in the city.
A person who arrives while the imām is sitting or making the sajda-i
sahw begins to follow the imām. When the imām makes the salām he stands up and
completes the two rakats of Friday prayer. The same applies for a person who
arrives late for the namāz of Iyd.
After the imām climbs the minbar, it becomes harām for the jamāat to
perform namāz or to talk. As the khatīb prays the jamāat must not say āmīn
loudly. They say it silently. Also, they say the salawāt not loudly but
silently through their hearts. In short, everything that is harām to do while
performing namāz is harām while listening to the khutba, too. It is harām also
for those who are far behind and cannot hear the khutba. It is permissible to
warn and save those who are in danger of a scorpion, a thief, or a well. It is
good to warn such people by signalling with the hand or head. It is mekrūh for
muazzins to shout prayers during the khutba.
---------------------------------
[1] It goes without saying that it should be performed before the arrival of the time of late afternoon prayer.
It is fard for every Muslim who hears the first azān for the Friday
prayer to stop his work, shopping, or whatever he is doing, and to go to the
mosque for the namāz. The first azān did not exist during the time of our Prophet (sallallāhu alaihi wasallam). The azān used to
be said only in front of the minbar. Hadrat Uthmān (radiyallāhu anh) ordered
the first azān during his caliphate. Rasūlullahs minbar was on the left hand
side of the mihrāb and had three steps. [A person who stood towards the qibla
in front of the mihrāb would have had the minbar on his right hand side and the
Hujra-i saādat on his left.] It is an
unpleasant bidat to say the second part of the khutba after descending on the
lower step and then to ascend back to the higher step.
It is tahrīmī mekrūh for the khatīb to talk about worldly affairs
between the khutba and the namāz. He may advise to follow the commandments and
to avoid the prohibitions. If he delays the namāz by talking about things that
are not a part of the khutba, his khutba will not be accepted. He will have to
say the khutba again. It is permissible for a child to say the khutba, yet the
namāz must be conducted by the imām. On Friday it is permissible to set out on
a journey before noon. However, after noon it is mekrūh before performing the
Friday prayer.
In cities conquered by warfare, such as the blessed Mekka and Bursa,
the khatīb holds a sword in his left hand when he mounts the minbar. He says
the khutba leaning on the sword.
If the azān is said while a person is eating, he stops eating if
otherwise the prayer time will expire. If he will only be late for the jamāat
he does not stop eating. He performs namāz alone. But he must not miss the
jamāat if it is a Friday prayer.
If a villager comes to the city for Friday prayer and to shop, if his
intention for the namāz is stronger (than his intention for shopping) he
attains the blessings of coming for the Friday prayer. The blessings of namāz
are another matter. He will attain those blessings anyway. Likewise is the case
with every kind of worship mixed with some worldly intentions. [See the
beginning of Hajj in the fifth fascicle.]
Before the khutba begins, it is permissible to pass through the lines
(of Muslims) in order to be closer to the minbar and the mihrāb, provided that
you will not step on others shoulders and clothes. While the khutba is being
said, it is harām to change your place or to vex those sitting beside you by
pressing against them.
It is harām to beg among the jamāat or to
give alms to a person who does so. Such a beggar must be sent out of the
mosque.
On Friday there is a moment at which any duā (prayer) will be accepted.
There are many savants who say that that moment is between the khutba and the
Friday prayer. During the khutba all prayers must be sent through the heart. It
is not permissible to say them aloud. That moment is different for every city.
Friday itself is more valuable than Friday night. During the day or at night
there are many blessings in reciting Sūra-i kahf.
[Tafsīr-i Mazharī].
It is sunnat to make a ghusl ablution, to put on fragrant scents
(alcohol-free), to put on new, clean clothes, to have a haircut, to cut the
nails, to burn incense in the mosque, to make Tabkīr
[to come to the mosque early] for Friday prayer. It is written in the fifth
volume of Durr-ul-mukhtār: It is sunnat
for every Muslim to have a haircut and to cut his nails before or after Friday
prayer on Fridays. It is better to do these after the prayer. As a matter of
fact, these are done after the hajj. He who does not cut them on Friday has to
cut them some other day. He must not wait until next Friday to cut them. In war
time it is mustahab to grow the nails and moustache. It is mustahab to get
clean by bathing and shaving the hairs in the arm-pits and pubes every Friday.
It is permissible to clean the hairs with a chemical [with a razor blade, or
Rosma powder] or by plucking. It is permissible to clean them every fifteen
days, too. It is tahrīmī mekrūh not to clean them for more than forty days. It
is written in the Imdād explanation of Tahtāwī that it is mustahab to remove the hairs
around the anus.
The sustenance of a person with long nails comes with difficulty, with
trouble. A hadīth declares: A person who cuts his nails on Friday becomes safe from
calamities for one week.
It is bidat to shave the moustache. It is sunnat to clip the moustache
so as to shorten it to the length of the eye-brows. It is sunnat to grow the
beard as long as a small handful and to cut the parts longer than that. It is
permissible to pull out the white hairs among the beard and moustache. It has
been said by savants that the beard longer than one small handful is a sign of
a weak mind.
[It is written within the subject concerning the fards of ghusl in [Tabyīn], and in its explanation of Shilbī
rahmatullāhi taālā alaih: A hadīth-i sherīf,
which exists in Muslim, declares,
Ten acts
are sunnat: To clip the moustache, to grow the beard, to use miswāk, madmada, (or mazmaza, to rinse out the mouth with
water when making an ablution), istinshaq.
(snuffing up water into the nostrils when making an ablution), to cut the nails, to wash the toes, to clean the arm-pits,
to clean the pubes, and istinjā with water. It is declared
clearly in the hadīth-i sherīf that it is sunnat
to grow a beard. It is sunnat to grow a beard as long as one handful and to cut
it when it is longer than one handful. To shave the cheeks and to grow a beard
only on the chin, as some people do, is to change the sunnat. Nor is it
compatible with the sunnat to grow a beard less than a handful. Maintaining a
short beard with the intention of following the sunnat is bidat. It is harām.
It becomes wājib to grow such a short beard as long as a handful. It is mekrūh
to shave a beard just because it is customary and in order to do as all other
people do. But when you live among disbelievers it is permissible and even
necessary to shave it altogether for fear you will be mocked, oppressed, or
lest you will commit an act of disbelief or harām, in order to carry out the
commandments, earn your living, perform amr-i marūf and nahy-i anilmunkar to
youngsters, serve Islam, help the oppressed, or to prevent fitna. These reasons
above are excuses for not doing the sunnat. But they are not excuses for
committing bidat.
It is written in the book Al-halāl
wal-harām: A hadīth-i sherīf
declares, Act contrary to polytheists. Grow your
beard! [The author of this book, Yūsuf Qardāwī, proclaims himself
to be a lā-Madhhabī in its preface. Therefore, his statements cannot be
witnesses. Yet he explains this hadīth-i sherīf
correctly and compatibly with the Ahl-as-sunnat.] Ibni Taymiyya said that this
hadīth shows that it is harām to shave a beard. The book Fath, quoting from Iyād, says that it is mekrūh.
There are also those who say that it is mubāh. The truth is that the hadīth-i sherīf does not show that it is wājib to grow
a beard. No savant has inferred that it is wājib to dye the beard from the
hadīth: Jews and Christians do not dye their
beard. Act contrary to them and dye (your
beard)! These hadīth-i sherīfs show that it is mustahab. The Salaf-i
sālihīn did not shave their beards; at that time it was customary to grow a
beard. He who slights the beard becomes a disbeliever. It is harām to shave in
order to look pretty or to make your face bright like that of a woman or to
shave the
chin and grow hair on the cheeks. For it
is harām for men to imitate women and for women to imitate men. It is written
in Kimyā-i saādat, at the end of the
chapter dealing with wudū that it is mekrūh to shave the beard in order to look
young and beautiful, without thinking of resembling a woman. It is mekrūh for
women to shave their hair without an udhr
(excuse). It is harām for women to cut their hair like a mans hair. Women have
been prohibited by a hadīth-i sherīf to shave
their head or to gather their hair together to make a knot like the lump of a
camel on top of the head or on the neck. This hadīth-i
sherīf is quoted in Berīqa and Hadīqa, and in Yūsuf Qardāwīs Al-halāl wal-harām fil-islām. If it is difficult
for a woman to cover her long hair, or if it would cause fitna, it is
permissible for her to have it cut and shorten it up to the ear lobes.
It is written in Hadīqat-un-nadiyya[1], on the hundred and forty-first page:
Sunnats are of two kinds: sunnat-i hudā
and sunnat-i zawāid. Sunnat-i hudā are
like itikāf in a mosque, calling the azān or iqāmat, and performing salāt in
jamāat. They are the characteristic traits of Islam, properties peculiar to
this Ummat. [It is written in Ibni Ābidīn,
at the end of the last volume that circumcision of children is also a sunnat of
this kind.] If the inhabitants of a city abandon any one of these sunnats, they
are to be fought against. The rawātib,
that is, the muakkad sunnats, of three of the fard five daily prayers are of
this kind, too. Sunnat-i zawāid involve
doing the customs which Rasūlullah, (sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam), habitually
did in clothing, eating, drinking, sitting, housing, sleeping, walking,
beginning the good deeds with the right-hand side, eating, and drinking with
the right hand. It is written in the second volume, page five hundred and
eighty-two, In some hadīths, dyeing the beard has been ordered. In some
others, it has been prohibited. It has been declared: Christians dye. You must not dye. Do not be like them!
This is why some of the salaf-i sālihīn dyed and some others did not. For, it
is not wājib to obey this order or prohibition. Therefore, in this respect, the
custom of the city in which one is living is to be followed. It is an act of
notoriety not to follow the local customs and usage. It is mekrūh. In the
second volume, page three hundred and twenty-four of the book At-tafhīmāt by Shāh Waliyyullah-i Dahlawī, an
ālim from India, the great ālim Muhammad Thanāullah
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Muhammad Baghdādī.
Pāniputī declares; Rasūlullah (sallallāhu
alaihi wa sallam) used to cover his head with a head-scarf, wear an antārī
(loose long robe), strapped shoes and the like. The Khalīfa Umar (radiyallāhu
anh) also ordered his soldiers in Azerbaijan to clothe themselves in this way.
But, today, it is not customary to clothe ones self in this way. It brings
notoriety not to wear things customary in a country. It causes one to be
pointed out, and fitna. A hadīth-i sherīf
declares: Being singled out is an evil enough for
any person. Therefore, it is necessary to follow the Muslims
customary usage in clothing. It was customary among Believers in the time of
Hadrat Umar to wear loose long robes, head-scarfs and strapped shoes. Wearing
them in this way did not cause distinction, fame or being singled out. But it
would cause trouble today. Imām-i Rabbānī states in his three hundred and
thirteenth letter: It is understood from valuable Hanafī books that Muslim
women used to wear antārīs (long robes) open in the front. It is necessary for
men to wear antārīs closed in the front in places where women wear them open,
and open in the front where women wear them closed. Fame brings calamities. It
causes disasters. In the two hundred and eighty-eighth letter, he states: May Allahs curse be upon the one who arouses mischief!
is a hadīth-i sherīf.
This is why Abdulhāk-i Dahlawi (rahmatullāhi taālā alaih) in the
first volume, page two hundred and twelve of Ashiat-ul-lamaāt,
has said that it is wājib to grow a beard as long as a handful in his
explanation of the hadīth-i sherīf, Ten beautiful things are Prophets sunnats. The
reason why he says wājib about growing a beard, separating it from the others
while these ten things are clearly classified as sunnats in the hadīth-i sherīf, is because it will cause fitna to
shave or to grow a beard shorter than a handful in places where it is customary
to grow a beard. For, a person who incites fame or arouses fitna has been
cursed in a hadīth-i-sherīf. As shaving the
beard will cause fitna in a place where it is a custom to grow a beard, so it
may arouse fitna to grow a beard in places where it has become customary to
shave the beard. Growing a beard shorter than a handful, however, is a bida.
In order not to cause this fitna or bida, it becomes wājib for a Muslim to
shave his beard to follow the custom of the country in which he lives.
It is written on the one hundred and
forty-eighth page of Al-hadīqa:
Committing a bida is more harmful than abandoning a sunnat. A bida should be
avoided while a sunnat need not be done. It is necessary to follow the custom
of a country in order not to cause fitna concerning the mubāhs and the things
that are permissible, and in the sunnat-i-zawāids. But, in doing things that
are fard, wājib, sunnat-i hudā, and in keeping away from harāms, mekrūhs and
bidats, customs are not to be followed. These may be altered only in cases
involving appropriate excuses and to the extent prescribed in the fiqh books.
This hadīth-i sherīf shows clearly that growing
a beard is not Islams characteristic sign, that it is not peculiar to the dīn
of Islam, and therefore, that it is not sunnat-i hudā. Hence, it is seen that
growing a beard is sunnat-i zawāid. For the professional men of the dīn, it is
never permissible, that is, not even with an excuse to follow the customs, to
omit the sunnat-i zawāid or the mustahabs. Such people should always grow a
beard as long as a handful. It is an alteration of the sunnat to keep a beard
shorter than a handful. Calling the short beard a sunnat is bidat, which is a
grave sin. It is written in fiqh books that no savant said it is mubāh to keep
a beard shorter than a handful. A handful is four fingers in width. Measuring
it is done by beginning from the lower lip. It is fard for a person who keeps a
beard to wet the skin under the beard when performing a ghusl. If he does not
wet it, his ghusl and his ablution and consequently his namāz will not be
sahīh.
It is permissible for men to dye their hair or beard any colour except
black. Also there are those savants who have said that it is permissible to dye
it black, too. It is not permissible for them to dye their hands, feet, or
nails. For it would be an act of imitating a woman. It is permissible for a
woman to dye those parts with a dye, provided that it will not prevent them
from being washed in an ablution and in a ghusl, and provided they will not
show them to men.
It is written on the twelve hundred and twenty-ninth page of the second
volume of the 1284 - Istanbul edition of the book Berīqa
by hadrat Muhammad Hādimī (rahmatullāhi taālā alaih): It is not permissible
for women to shave their hair and for men to shave their beard. If a woman has
a beard she is permitted to
shave it. A hadīth-i
sherīf declares: Shorten your moustache!
Grow your beard. According to this command, it is against the
sunnat to shave the beard. If this hadīth-i sherīf
denoted wujūb, it would be harām to shave the beard. The book Tātārhāniyya says, borrowing from Tajnis[1], that this hadīth-i
sherīf means: Do not shave your beard, nor grow it shorter than a small
handful. Such statements as, A person who shaves his beard or who grows it
shorter than a handful is not permitted to be the imām. Also the namāz which he
performs alone becomes mekrūh. He is accursed and refused both in this world
and in the next, which are said to have been derived from Tahtāwī, or words like them that are said to have
been derived from Tafsīr-i Qurtubī[2], do not have any foundation, nor have
they been proven to be true. It is written on the thirteen hundred and
thirty-sixth page, It is also harām for women to slenderize their eye-brows by
plucking them, and it is permissible for them to pull out or to shave the hairs
growing on their foreheads, cheeks, and chins. After cutting the hair, the
beard or other hairs, the hairs cut must be buried or put on a grave or on a
place that is not trodden upon, or in the sea. It is not sinful to throw them
away. It is mekrūh to throw them into toilets or into wash-basins where kitchen
utensils are washed. It is mekrūh to cut the nails with the teeth. It causes
the disease called speckles. It is harām for women to show their cut parts to
men.
It is sunnat for men to shave their head or to grow their hair and comb
it by parting it into two. It is mekrūh for them to curl or plait their hair.
It is written in the book Bahr-ur-rāiq, in the chapter Al-karīhiyya: It is
permissible for a man to shave the top of his head and grow the surrounding
hair. Yet it is mekrūh to curl and plait it. To plait the hair is to be like
some kafirs (disbelievers.) Also it is seen that it is mekrūh, not harām to do
something forbidden because it is like the customs of disbelievers. Therefore,
the hadīth-i sherīfs Do
not be like mushriks (polytheists). Grow a beard! and Perform your salāt with nals on. Do not be like the
Jews! show that it is mekrūh, not
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Burhān-ad-dīn Alī bin Abī Bakr Merghinānī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (martyred by the hordes of Dzengiz Khān in 593 [1197 A.D.].)
[2] Written by Abū Abdullah Muhammad bin Ahmad Qurtubī (of Cordova)
'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 671 [1272 A.D.].)
harām to shave the beard and to perform
salāt with bare feet. See the chapter on the mekrūhs
of namāz, article 25!
It is mekrūh to fast only on Fridays or to perform
the namāz of tahajjud (the namāz performed after midnight) only on Friday
nights. It is harām to perform any namāz when the sun is right on top, [that
is, during the time beginning from the moment as long before the time of early
afternoon prayer as the time called Tamkīn till the early afternoon prayer.] A
more dependable word is that of those savants who say that it is harām to
perform any namāz during that time even on Fridays.
On Fridays souls come together and meet one
another. Graves are visited. Torment in graves is stopped on that day.
According to some savants, Believers torment does not begin again. But a
disbelievers torment continues until Rising Day except on Fridays and in
Ramadān. Those Believers who die on that day or during that night are never
tormented in their graves. Hell is not very hot on Friday. Hadrat Adam
(alaihissalām) was created on Friday. He was taken out of Paradise on Friday.
Those who will be in Paradise will see Allahu taālā on Fridays.
The following passage is translated from Riyād-un-nāsihīn:
Allahu taālā has assigned Friday to Muslims. He
declares at the end of Juma sūra: O my slaves who
have been honoured with imān! When the adhān (azān) of early afternoon prayer is
said on Friday run to the mosque to listen to the khutba and to perform Friday
prayer. Stop buying and selling! Friday prayer and the khutba are more useful
to you than your other businesses. After performing Friday prayer you may leave
the mosque and disperse so that you can do your wordly affairs. You work, and
expect your sustenance from Allahu taālā. Remember Allahu taālā very often so
that you will be saved! After the namāz those who want to work may
go out to work, and those who want to spend their time reading the Qurān al-kerīm and praying may stay in the
mosque. Buying and selling is sahīh during the prayer time, yet it is sinful.
Rasūlullah (sallallāhu alaihi wasallam) declared: If
a Muslim makes a ghusl and goes to the mosque for Friday prayer, his weeks
sins will be forgiven and he will be given blessings for each step. A hadīth-i sherīf declares: The most
valuable of days is Friday. Friday is more valuable than the days of Iyd and
the day of Ashūra (the tenth day of
Muharram). Friday is the Believers day of
feast in this world and in the next. Another hadīth-i sherīf
declares: Allāhu taālā seals the hearts of those who do not perform
the Friday prayer. They become unaware. Another hadīth declares: If a person does not perform three Friday prayers though
there is no hindrance, Allahu taālā seals his heart. That is, he can never do
any good. A person who does not perform a series of three Friday
prayers without a good excuse becomes a munāfiq. Abū Alī Daqqāq[1] advised three things
as he died: On Friday perform a ghusl! Every night go to bed with an ablution!
Remember Allahu taālā every moment! A hadīth-i sherīf
declares: On Fridays there is a moment when any
prayer a Believer sends is not refused. Some savants said that that
moment is between the late afternoon and evening azāns. Another hadīth-i sherīf declares: If
you say a certain prayer, Estaghfirullāh-al-azīm-allazī lā ilāha illā huwal
hayyal qayyūma wa atūbu ilayh, before the morning prayer of Friday all your
sins will be forgiven. [But this is conditioned upon your having
paid all your (material and spiritual) debts which you owe to creatures,
performed the prayers of namāz which you have omitted, and ceased from
committing harāms.] Another hadīth declares: If a
person says the sūra of Ikhlās and the sūras of Muawwazatayn seven times after
Friday prayer Allahu taālā protects him against calamities, troubles and evil
deeds for one week. Worships done on Friday are given at least
twice as many blessings as those that are given for worships done on other
days. And sins committed on Friday are registered two-fold. A hadīth-i sherīf declares: As
Saturday was given to Jews and Sunday to Christians, Friday has been given to
Muslims. On this day there are uses, barakats and goodnesses for Muslims.
The
following prayer of istighfār must be
said on Fridays and every day: "Allāhummaghfirlī
wa Ii ābāī wa ummahātī wa li ebnāī wa benātī wa li ihvetī wa ahawātī wa
li-a'māmī wa ammātī wa li ahwālī wa hālātī wa li zawjatī wa abawayhā wa li-esātizetī
wa li-l-muminīna wa-l-mu'mināt wa-l-hamdu-li-llāhi Rabb-il-'ālemīn!"
---------------------------------
[1] His name is Hasan bin Muhammad, (d. 405 [1014 A.D.], Nishāpūr.) He was the father-in-law and master of Abul-Qāsim Qushayrī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (376 [986 A.D.] - 465 [1072], Nishāpūr.)