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April 15, 2008

Kaydani: Unlawful Acts in Prayer -Pt.10

*Chapter Five: The Unlawful Acts[1]
The general are fourteen:
1- Reciting the tasmiyah aloud[2]
2- Reciting the amin aloud[3]
3- Turning part of the face right and left[4]
4- Looking towards the sky[5]
5- Supporting oneself upon a pillar, or hand or similar without an excuse[6]
6- Raising the hands in other than what has been legislated[7]
7- Raising the toes from the ground when bowing and prostrating[8]
8- Sitting upon the heels of the foot for tashahhud[9]
9- Fidgeting with the clothing or body with less than three (movements)[10]
10- Pointing with the index finger as the people of hadith do[11]
11- Limiting the salam to one side[12]
12- Qunut in other than the witr[13]
13- Addition to the takbir, thana, tasbihat[14] or tashahhud[15] from that which is sunnah
14- Deliberately leaving of a compulsory act which has been mentioned, in ‘al-Muhit’[16] the unlawful acts have been mentioned with the disliked acts[17]
[1] The author of the text has been corrected by the other scholars of the madhab who have stated that the issues mentioned in this chapter are disliked at worst and should have been mentioned in the chapter of disliked acts within the prayer. The reader should therefore be aware of this.
[2] Al-Nablusi said in al-Jawhar: ‘The most that can be said is that loud recitation is not the sunnah and is disliked, so how can it be established that it is unlawful’.
[3] The most that can be said is that it is also not the sunnah, this does not necessitate that it is unlawful or that it is prohibitively disliked (makruh tahrimi). Al-Jawhar
[4] It is makruh tahrimi as mentioned in al-Jawhar
[5] Because the one praying will not be concentrating. Maraqi al-Falah (p.337)
[6] If the person praying supports themselves due to a reason then it is not disliked. With regards to the optional prayers it is not disliked to support oneself against a wall or a stick etc. al-Jawhar
[7] Such as raising the hands when bowing for and rising up from it, because it is an additional act in the prayer, however it does not invalidate according to the correct opinion within the madhab. Al-Jawhar
[8] As for placing the two feet on the ground, al-Quduri mentions that it is Fard in prostration. Therefore if one prostrates whilst raising the toes from the ground it is not correct, this was also mentioned by al-Karkhi and al-Jassas. If one of the two feet (plz. Check) is placed on the ground it is correct. However even this was stated by Qadi Khan to be disliked. Imam al-Tumurtashi held the view that the two hands and two feet were not obligatory (fard) to place on the ground, and this is what is indicated to by the words of Shaikh al-Islam in al-Mabsut as mentioned in al-Inayah (1/303), Durar al-Hukkam (1/75), al-Jawhar. Allamah Ibn Abidin discussed this issue at length in Rad al-Muhtar (1/498) and leaned towards the view that it was compulsory (wajib).
[9] Because it is not the sunnah method of sitting
[10] Perhaps the mention of three movements is made because of the author holding the view that this is what differentiates between slight and excessive movement. This is however is not what the generality of the hanafi scholars hold to be the strongest opinion. They regard excessive movement to be that which someone looking at the one praying would think that the person was not in the prayer. Al-Badai (1/241), al-Dur al-Muntaqa (1/120), al-Mabsut (1/191)
[11] It has been mentioned previously that there is a valid difference of opinion within the madhab regarding the issue of pointing with the finger in the tashahhud, therefore it is not correct to ascribe the pointing of the finger as being the practice of only the scholars of hadith, as it is also the practise of many of the hanafis. Al-Nablusi mentioned in al-Jawhar that because of this difference of opinion in the madhab, pointing with the finger should not be regarded as being disliked let alone unlawful
[12] Because the two salams are compulsory and leaving one of them is makruh tahrimi. It is said that the second salam is sunnah and leaving it is makruh tanzihi. Al-Jawhar
[13] Such as qunut in the Fajr prayer. If a hanafi prays behind an Imam performing qunut in the fajr prayer he stands silently. Al-Jawhar
[14] It is makruh tanzihi in the obligatory prayers, because not performing the sunnah is makruh tanzihi and not makruh tahrimi. Al-Jawhar
[15] Meaning an addition in the wording of the tashahhud which is reported from Ibn Masud (Allah be pleased with him) because this is viewed as leaving a compulsory act (wajib). Adding salutations upon the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) to the tasahhud in the first sitting of the prayer is also regarded as being makruh tahrimi. Al-Jawhar
[16] Meaning al-Muhit al-Burhani (p.317-334) authored by Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Abd al-Aziz ibn Mazah al-Bukhari, Burhan al-Din (d.616 AH). Al-Kafawi described him as a scholar who an Imam, an expert researcher, without peer in his time, having a firm grasp of a number of different sciences. From the works he authored are ‘Dhakhirah al-Fatawa’ more well known as ‘Dhakhirah al-Burhaniyyah’. For more details refer to al-Jawahir (3/233-234), al-Fawaid (p.291-292) and al-Kashf (2/1619).
[17] This has been mentioned by the author to explain his reason for mentioning the unlawful acts separately from the disliked, as he wished to point out that what he intends by the unlawful acts are the makruh tahrimi. The makruh tahrimi is unlawful according to Imam Muhammad bin Hasan al-Shaybani (Allah be pleased with him). And according to Imam Abu Hanifah and Qadi Abu Yusuf the makruh tahrimi is close to the unlawful (haram). Therefore if the author had mentioned them both in one general chapter of the disliked acts the distinction between them would not have been clear. Al-Jawhar

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Saleh Abu Hashim


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