Establishing the Prayer

Introduction | Definition | Importance of Prayer I | Importance of Prayer II | Importance of Prayer III | Why Prayer is an Obligation | Establishing the Prayer

Starting where we left off, we’ll cover the meaning, conditions and exceptions that apply to Iqamul Salaah, which is literally translated as “Establishing the Prayer”. This entails performing the Prayer to the best of your ability, praying at regular times without shortcomings in the pillars and conditions. The Prayer must also be performed according to the Sunnah (way of life or practice) of the Prophet (pbuh).

The scholars have complete consensus that it is impermissible to delay the Prayer beyond its specified time. The reasons for this ruling are as follows:

1) From the Qur’an

Verily the Prayer is enjoined upon the believers at appointed times (An-Nisa’ 4 : 103)

2) From the Sunnah

Truly it is not sleep that is neglect. Rather, the neglect is that a person does not perform the Prayer until the time for the next Prayer enters ( Muslim no. 681)

3) Shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah

Intentionally delaying the Prayer until after the time has finished will never be accepted from a person, nor will it remove from him the sin of neglect, even if her were to do the qada – by complete consensus of the believers. (Majmoo’ Al-Fatawa 21/456)

Make sure if you ever miss a Prayer that it wasn’t intentional.

4) Ibn Uthaimeen

If he does not have any excuse, then his Prayer will not be correct, even if he were to pray a thousand times. The proof for that is in the statement of the Prophet (pbuh): ‘Whoever does an action which we have not sanctioned will have it rejected’ . (Fiqhul-Ibadaat p. 145)

This statement is indicating that since the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) never ordained the delay of Prayers, it is not acceptable.

These conditions apply to everyone, whether that person is healthy or sick, in a state of safety or in fear, busy working or not, fighting in battle or in the safety of their home – each of them must offer the Prayer upon its time irrespective of his situation. The person must struggle to abide by all the conditions of Prayer, its pillars, its obligations, its sunan (plural of sunnah) as much as possible. There’s a total consensus on this matter and the reference is from Majmoo’ Al-Fatawa 22/31.

Whatever he cannot do then he is excused from it, this is due to the verse that says:

So fear Allah as much as possible (At-Taghabun 64: 16)

To avoid over-complicating things it’s safe to say that you must try your absolute best to come up with the obligations. This is regardless of your excuse at the time. You’re the only one who knows if you’ve done the utmost to fulfill your obligations or not. So be fair to yourself and try your hardest.

Exceptions to the Rule

These two types of people are generally the one’s who are allowed to delay the Prayer from its proper time, according to many scholars:

A) The one who intends to combine two Prayers

Combining prayers is permissible for the one who is in difficulty. It is important to remember that shortening is only allowed for travelers. Joining, on the other hand, is permissible during difficulty as mentioned above. So it is incorrect to assume that whenever you are allowed to join prayers that you can shorten them as well and vice versa. Each has its own requirements and they aren’t automatically both applicable to a situation.

I’m going to go slightly off-topic and discuss the joining and shortening of Prayers briefly.

Shortening and Joining Prayers

Shortening is only allowed during travel. The instructor explained that the actual term travel refers to the time from when you leave the borders of your city of departure till the last house in that direction. Once you reach your actual destination, or the border of the city, you are no longer traveling. So at that point you would only be eligible for joining if you meet the conditions of joining.

Shortening is done to Duhr, Asr and Isha, which are normally 4 raka’at long and are shortened to 2 raka’at each. Maghrib is never shortened, and neither is Fajr (obviously).

Joining is allowed for the following reasons:

a) Serious sickness

b) Fear (of an enemy or wild animal)

c) Extreme heat (which can be relative, depending on what you’re used to)

d) Rain or snow

c) Difficulty (due to travel or profession)

With all of these conditions the boundaries aren’t set in stone and there is room for personal interpretation (such as the condition of extreme heat – I mean how hot is hot?) but it all goes back to your fear of Allah (swt), so if you think the situation was dire enough to join prayers, and you’re willing to witness in front of Allah that it was the case, then go for it.

Joining can only be done between Duhr and Asr and between Maghrib and Isha, by which both prayers are prayed at the same time. This can be at the time for either of the two. So if you’re combining Duhr and Asr you can pray them both as Duhr time or at Asr time all the same. Fajr is never combined with any other prayer.

B) The one who is busy with the performance of one of the conditions of Prayer

This is according to the latter Hanbali and Shafi’i schools of thought. However, the vast majority of the scholars of Islam are of the opinion that the person is not allowed to delay his Prayers, even if they are busy attending to one of the pre-conditions of Prayer (for example wudu or ablution).

Some scholars have reported a consensus of the Muslims before this difference in opinion took place (Majmoo’ Al-Fatawa 22/56) The latter opinion is the stronger opinion in the issue because the fact that the Prayer is limited by time, whereas the pre-conditions are limited by ability. So the timing is part and parcel of the Prayer.

The proof for this is that Allah (swt) has not allowed us to delay our Prayers to purify ourselves with water. Rather we are ordered to do tayammum (a form of purification using soil or dust) if water cannot be found within the time of Prayer.

The rest of the preconditions of Prayer are therefore similarly overlooked if leads to the expiry of the time of Prayer.

For example, a person who is a new Muslim and doesn’t know the Fatihah and tashahhud as yet, is not permitted to delay the Prayer until s/he has learned them. They are obliged to pray in their current situation, before the time expires. Another example is that of a woman in a state of irregular bleeding (non-menstrual), and the ruling is that she is required to pray in her current state before the Prayer time expires. Even if she can pray with full purity later, if the latter will mean delaying the Prayer until it expires.

What all this means is that the timings of Prayer are more important to abide by than the pre-conditions. If you’re short for time and there’s 2 minutes left till the next prayer comes in, you should make Tayammum and pray without wudu if need be. It’s also important to note that when the duration of a prayer starts and a woman is eligible to pray and she waits till some time passes and her period starts, she is required to make up that lost prayer because it was within her ability to perform it and she didn’t.

In our next post we’ll discuss giving up the Prayer and the rulings for those who don’t pray.

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Just as a closing thought, I want you to make dua for me, that Allah (swt) accepts my deeds and makes me among the people who learn knowledge, apply it and teach it to others. I ask that you make dua that I’m not punished for being one of the people who order others to do good – and forget about themselves. I ask Allah for guidance and that He blesses us all with beneficial knowledge and the strength to apply it in our lives.

Ameen.

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