Intro to Fiqh asSalah ~ Lesson Two

The Importance of Congregational Salah

• The Messenger sallah Allahu ‘Alayhi wassallam said: A man’s Salah in congregation equals 27 folds the Salah by oneself (in some other narrations it says… 25 folds the Salah by oneself)

• It strengthens the principle of unity among Muslims. Though we can’t and probably wont see our Ummah as “one” in a lot of its affairs, when it comes to the Salah, you will find them all do the same actions, facing the same directions, at the same times which is rare to find in any nation.

• It fosters the social aspect of the community by helping to build relationships regardless of their race, background, and/or language.

• Praying in congregation makes this act of worship a lot easier. This is very obvious in Ramadan and the Friday prayers.

• It promotes and stresses the concept of equality among people. An Arab is equal to a non-Arab, the rich is equal to the poor, white is next to the black, the youth and the elders, the rulers and those who are being ruled. It is one of my absolute armaments when I walk in to the Masjid for Salah and next to me from one side is a black brother and from the other is a Hispanic brother and in front of me is the Desi brother and next to him is the white brother… a mix of races, languages, colors, backgrounds and yet…. the direction and the purpose of our actions is the same… truly amazing.

• The story of Ibn Umm Maktoom radiya Allahu ‘anho who Allah revield Surat Abasa blaming His Prophet sallah Allahu ‘Alayhi wassalam for frowning in his face. This great sahabi who was blind came to the Prophet and asked him for an excuse to not to come to the salah (at fajr) in the masjid due to the fact that he lives far and he has nobody to guide him in to the masjid so the prophet sallah Allahu Alayhi wassalam said that is fine and then he stopped and asked Ibn Umm Maktoom, “do you hear the the call for the salah (the Adhan)?” he replied, “Yes”.. then the prophet said, “Answer it”

This goes to show the importance of the salah in the masjid.

Etiquette of the Masjid:

Here are a few points that I believe sums up a big

1. Maintain its cleanliness.

2. Enter the Masjid with the right foot

3. Praying two rak’as saluting the Masjid. Here is something to think about: Ibn Hazm who is one of the great scholars of Andalus became religious and learned his deen because of a question about this two raka’s. The question was, if one enters the Masjid after Asr prayer (which is one of the prohibited times of praying nafl prayers) should he/she pray this two rak’ah or not?

4. Coming to the Masjid in the best attire..

5. Strive to smell good and avoid having bad smell. (please dont burp in public in general and specially in the masjid while you are praying… you wont do it in front of your boss at work, why do it in front of Allah?)

6. Avoiding having idols, pictures, or distracting decorations in the masjid. It is known that one of the minor signs of the Day of Judgment is seeing decorations in the masajid. This by the way doesnt mean that decorating the Masajid is Haram (I learned this in an AlMaghrib class, Rays of Faith: Aqeedah 201 by Sh. Waleed Basyouni)

7. Avoiding playing any music. Try to please keep your phone on silent or vibrate if you are in the masjid

8. Avoiding buying and selling in the Masjid. Based on the hadith of prophibiting buying and selling “in” the masjid. Question: What constitutes a masjid? Is it the area inside the fence including the parking lot? is it the building itself? what is considered the “masjid”? Post your answers in the comment section.

9. Reciting the proper dua’ while going, entering, and leaving the Masjid

Intro to Fiqh

Usọool AlFiqh (Arabic: أصو ل الفقه)

• Is a term which literally translates to the roots of the law.

• It is the science that Fuqahaa used to drive Fiqh

• It is the science that specializes in how to extract Fiqhi ruling from the evidence presented to the faqih, unlike the science of Fiqh, which specialize in the actual rulings.

• The purpose of studying Usool AlFiqh is to be able to :
o Extract the info
o Understand WHY do we have to do a certain act of worship

What is considered a Daleel?
• Quran – Sunnah – The understanding of the companions – The first three generations – Arabic Language…………… Why? (post your answers in the comment section please)

• What is Bid’ah (innovation)?
To answer this question, we have to understand the categories of Fiqh
Fiqh is divided in to two main sections: Fiqh of ‘ibadaat (Worship) and Fiqh of Mu’amaalat (Dealings)

Fiqh of ‘ibadaat is the fiqh that is concerned with the acts of worship.
Fiqh of Mu’amaalat (dealings) is the fiqh that is concerned with every thing other than the fiqh of worship.

The question here is, how can one differentiate between the both of them?
The answer is simple, ask yourself this question: Am I doing this action for the sake of Allah alone? or is it for the sake of Allah and somebody else? For example, Salah is considered an act of worship. That is because its done for the sake of Allah only. While marriage is considered an act of dealings because its done for the sake of Allah as well as yourself. Is this clear?

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In acts of worship, the default ruling is “EVERYTHING IS HARAM UNTIL PROVEN HALAL ” This means that if somebody comes to you and say its mandatory to pray on a prayer rug, the first thing you should do is to ask yourself is praying an act of worship or not, if it is an act of worship then you ask the next question, what is the evidence that proves that praying on a rug is mandatory? If there is no evidences that proves that, then this is haram to say its mandatory to pray on a rug.

While in acts of dealings,, the default ruling is “EVERYTHING IS HALAL UNTIL PROVEN HARAM” . This means that if somebody comes to you and say TV is haram, the first thing you should do is ask yourself if watching TV is an act of worship, if its not, then ask the next question, what is the evidences that proes that watching TV is haram? If there is no evidences that proves that, then this act is permissible and halal.

Bid’ah means innovation. In our deen, the word bid’ah refers to any act that is considered an act of worship, yet its not part of our deen. So in essence, its an act of innovation in our “worship” to Allah. Which also means that its an act of worship that has no proof from the quran and/or Sunnah.

I hope this above point is clear.. if its not, post your question and I will try to explain it further inshaAllah.

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What is a Madh-hab (School of thought)?
• Is an Imam’s way of extracting the rulings (i.e. Halal, Haram, Sunnah, Muba’ah (permissible), Mustahab (recommended), Makrooh (disliked)… etc)

• The most famous ones are Abu Hanifah, Malik, ash-Shafe’I and Ahmed.

• There are other scholars who formed a school of thought, but it died down because their students didn’t carry it further down the generations.

• The founders of these madh-habs asked their followers and those who will come after them NOT to blindly follow their schools of thought, but rather to extract the rulings from the same place they extracted their understanding from, which is the Qur’an, the sunnah conditioned by understanding of the companions.

• Although obviously this is not possible in every aspect of life, we should do so (try to extract rulings and understand the evidence behind the rulings we go-by) in as many issues as possible.

Some of the statements of the 4 Imams:
• Abu Haneefah (rahimahullaah) said “It is not permitted for anyone to accept our views if they do not know from where we got them for we are mortals: we say one thing one day, and take it back the next day..”

• Maalik ibn Anas (rahimahullaah) said “Truly I am only a mortal: I make mistakes (sometimes) and I am correct (sometimes). Therefore, look into my opinions: all that agrees with the Book and the Sunnah, accept it; and all that which does not agree with the Book and the Sunnah, ignore it.”

• Shaafi’i (rahimahullaah) said “If you find in my writings something different to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah, then speak on the basis of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah, and leave what I have said.”
In one narration: “… then follow it (the Sunnah), and do not look sideways at anyone else’s saying.”

• Ahmad ibn Hanbal (rahimahullaah) said “The opinion of Awzaa’i, the opinion of Maalik, the opinion of Abu Haneefah: all of it is opinion, and it is all equal in my eyes. However, the proof is in the narrations (from the Prophet and his Companions).”

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Next lesson inshaAllah will cover:
o Tahaara (Cleanliness)
o Wudu’