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Your Questions Answered
Queries
Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
Friday Congregation
Question: I usually attend the Friday Congregation in the mosque in my locality. Last Friday I went to offer Friday Prayer in another mosque in my town. The imām, during the sermon, said that a person who doesn’t attend three consecutive Friday sermons is no longer regarded as Muslim. I am greatly disturbed to hear this. Last year, during a visit to Karachi, I did not go for Friday Prayers for the fear of suicide bombers. Please let me know how I stand as a Muslim.
Answer: In Islam, the Friday Prayer is an obligation. Every believer is obliged to attend the weekly congregation. There is however, a little difference between the five daily prayers and the Friday Congregation. The former can be offered individually whereas the latter is necessarily a congregation. It is also acknowledged that the Friday Prayer is originally the zuhr rayer, which it replaces. This means that basically it is sufficient if we offer all the obligatory prayers individually when we cannot offer them in the congregations in the mosques. However, Friday Prayer has some additional value and corresponding degree of added stress. This additional value is obtained by the fact that it has political ramifications. In the Islamic State, the believers have to show loyalty to the rulers and help them in discharging their duties.
Originally the Friday Prayers were led by the rulers. If a commoner among the believers dared to lead the people in the Prayer without permission by the rulers and their deputies, it amounted to mutiny. In that case it marked one’s expression of being loyal to the state and being subservient to the rulers to attend the Friday Congregations in which the rulers could discuss political matters, seek the advice and help of the public and issue some policy statements. The first sermon was reserved for this purpose.
In such a situation setting up a separate congregation was considered rebellion and failing to attend the congregation meant that the believer no longer openly stood with the community. This is why such a failure could mean one’s departure from the community of the believers who were organized in a political set up to which they all adhered to. It needs to be appreciated that failing to attend the congregation led by the rulers was a sign of one’s departure from the apparent and political body of the believers. It did not mean loss of faith. This means that if one failed to offer the Prayer in the congregation, he could be declared to have left the community. It was a political decision and not a religious verdict affecting one’s faith.
Now when the rulers are no longer fulfilling their religious duty and it is only the religious scholars who consider it a duty to keep the practice alive albeit in a changed form, we cannot declare that attending the Friday congregation is the obligation of the same status. If someone cannot attend the congregation, he cannot be declared non-Muslim not to say a disbeliever (kāfir). This is because the necessary elements of the Friday congregations are no more alive in the practice.
Consummation of Marriage before Payment of Mahr
Question: Can a man have sexual relationship with his wife without paying mahr? What is mahr-i mu’ajjal and ghayr mu’ajjal? I have recently entered into nikāḥ with a girl but she has not moved with me: rukhsati has not yet been done. I want to talk to her freely and discuss with her every matter of life but I am not sure I should do so because I have not paid her mahr completely. About one fourth has been paid as jewellery on the day nikāḥ was contracted and the rest is payable. And can I talk to her freely? Can I have sexual relationship with her?
Answer: It is not obligatory to pay the agreed amount of mahr before consummation of marriage. Mahr can be paid at the time of nikāḥ. The amount paid at the time of nikāḥ is termed ghayr mu’ajjal while the part left over to be paid within a determined time period is termed mu’ajjal.
Nikāḥrenders both of you legally husband and wife. This entails two things. First, you both have legal right to live together and can establish marital relationship. Second, you both have some responsibilities towards each another.
The responsibilities on the part of the husband include the protection and complete financial support to the wife. It also includes his being responsible of the offspring both will have.
The marital relationship in the present situation cannot be objected to on the legal grounds. But social norms would not accept this. If the society comes to know this kind of relationship between you both prior to the time your wife moves with you and you openly start living as a husband and wife, they would not welcome it. It will cause a huge fall in your and your wife’s repute. Please note that it is in fact recognition by the society which makes your relationship acceptable. And it is only the society that makes sure that any of the party does not neglect the duties entailed by the union. If a couple has sexual relationship prior to rukhsati and the woman gets pregnant, it would harm her repute.
I would suggest you should not think of consummating your marriage. However, there is no restriction on your meeting with her as any two believing Muslim and Muslimah can. You should try to bring your wife over as soon as possible. You both can talk your elders into doing that very soon.
Some Queries Regarding Ṣalāh
Question: I want to ask you few questions about the Ṣalāh:
1. Living in Saudi Arabia, I saw that most of the Saudis do not have wuḍū and just start offering the ṣalāh. A few days ago I noticed that our imām did the same. I feel he was not in the proper state of purification obtained by performing wuḍū. I, however, offered the ṣalāh. Please tell me if I did right or wrong?
2. Sometimes when I am happy and I start offering the ṣalāh. As soon as I start offering the prayer, a lot of things run in my heart and mind. I forget Allah and things pop up and run in my mind. What should I do?
3. I have tried my level best in the ṣalāh and also socially but sometimes when I am with my friend I feel to be a bad boy. But when I am alone or moving somewhere durūd (prayer formulas for seeking blessing for the Prophet (sws)) fills my heart and wets my tongue.
4. I am going to offer ‘umrah tomorrow. Please tell me the right way to pray to God about our tensions and, as you know, the problems in everyday life.
Answer: Here are the answers to your questions:
1. I understand that you have offered ṣalāh led by an imām who, you believe, had not performed wuḍū properly. Please note that it is not your responsibility to check that. It is upon the imām to perform wuḍū properly. You can at best politely discuss this with him and bring your concern to his notice. His failure in this regard does not harm your ṣalāh.
2. God does not hold us into account for involuntary thoughts. If, for example, I think of something that takes away my mind and I lose my concentration that is not my fault. It will only be my fault if I just knowingly give in to such thoughts and continue daydreaming or solving all my problems and doing arithmetic. As long as you are aware of the fact that thoughts disturb your prayers and that you need to avoid indulging in them and you continue going back to what you are doing, nothing more is required. I suggest you can learn the meaning of the words you utter in the prayer and the verses and sūrahs you recite. When we say something we know the meaning of we can keep our concentration and if we start chanting something we do not know then we can lose concentration easily.
3. We are obliged to try not to involve in bad things. We can also choose our circle of friends. I suggest trying to live in a good company. It is very hard to live up to religious and moral standards in an environment unfriendly to the religion. However, extenuating circumstances are always considered by God and we should repent and seek His forgiveness and ask Him to grant us a good environment. May God bless you and increase your taqwā. Remembering God in solicitude is a great virtue.
4. I believe a prayer to God does not need any language or eloquent expression or a set method. It is the voice of heart which even a child can try and a dumb can express. It is the force of trust in God and our faith in Him. I suggest you to put your prayers before the Lord God who knows our wishes more than we do and keep faith in Him. He will definitely hear your cries and grant you your wishes.
Shortening the Prayer While Travelling
Question: I want to clarify my doubts about the qasr Prayer during travel. My questions in this regard follow:
1) If a person travels from Lahore to Gujranwala (Around 63 km), will he start to pray qasr prayer as soon as he embarks on the journey?
2) When a person travels from Bahrain to the US, he gains nearly one day due to the time zone difference. In this case should he pray for the day he has gained during travel? The opposite applies to when he travels back, when he looses one day.
3) What if a person travels for Bahrain to the UAE and stays there for 15 days and then travels on the 16th day to Doha for 5 days and comes back to the UAE for 10 Days again before flying back to Bahrain. Will he pray qasr throughout this trip?
4) If a person leaves Lahore in the morning and travels nearly 200 km towards Rawalpindi and then returns in the night back to Lahore. During the day will he pray qasr prayer?
Answer: I will try to explain our understanding of the question ofqasr prayer ass a whole and will not treat the specific questions you have raised. I hope you will be able to form a view on all these issues if I have communicated to you a principle stance in this regard. Please note that all these issues are left to the believer to decide. That is another reason why I would not pronounce a judgement on them.
First of all, please consider the verse of the Holy Qur’ān that deals with the issue. A simple translation of the verse is produced below:
When you set out in the land there is no blame on you if you shorten your prayers, if you fear that the disbelievers may attack you. Indeed these disbelievers are your open enemies. (4:101)
This verse clearly guides us that one can cut his Prayer short when he is travelling and is in fear. The basic reason of the allowance is the presence of fear (or anxiety to be more accurate). This fear was felt from the attacks of the enemy during that period which led to the issuance of this directive. Obviously, it is the fear that is the cause for the allowance. A fear of attack from the enemy entails anxiety. It can significantly hinder our concentration and mental involvement in the prayers. Nevertheless, this state of mind can be caused by any other factor, for example, if one thinks that one may miss a bus from the next station or may miss a plane for one’s destination and because of that will be stranded for days. There can be numerous examples of mental anxieties, while one is in a state of travelling. Such circumstances, obviously, cause a comparable unrest and mental disturbance and make one anxious.
The Prophet (sws) applied the directive of the Holy Qur’ān, regarding the allowance of shortening of prayers in a state of fear and war, to other situations which could cause a similar mental and psychological state for a traveller. Such extensions of directives can only be made in situations entailing similar causes.
In the light of the foregoing discussion you can decide where you find it necessary to take this allowance and where you should offer the complete prayer.