Question 258 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 3

Ahmed al-Hasan Response:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the Imams and the Mahdis, and grant them abundant peace. Answer to Question 1: First: Order is obligatory in ablution. Washing the face begins before the right arm, the left follows it, wiping the head is third, and the feet are last. If one contravenes this, he repeats the ablution-whether intentionally or forgetfully-if the ablution has dried. If moisture remains, he repeats from the point that establishes the order. Second: Continuity is obligatory. It means not separating the two washings and two wipings by an interval that would customarily take them outside being one act, namely ablution. Thus, after washing his face, he proceeds promptly to wash his hands, then promptly wipes his head, then promptly wipes his feet, without delay or negligence. Third: The obligation in washing is once, the second is a sunnah, and the third is an innovation. Wiping is not repeated. Fourth: In washing, whatever is called washing suffices, even if it is like applying oil. Whoever has a ring or strap upon his hand must cause the water to reach beneath it. If it is loose, moving it is recommended. Answer to Question 2: According to the Arabic rules established by people, coordination with the nearer term is correct, so the reading with kasrah is correct, not the reading with fathah. If you choose the fathah, it is coordinated with the syntactic position of ‘your heads,’ which occupies the accusative position as an object. Answer to Question 3: From the sun’s decline until sunset is the time for noon and afternoon prayers. The beginning is exclusive to noon prayer for the time required to perform it; likewise, the end is exclusive to afternoon prayer for the time required to perform it, and the time between them is shared. Likewise, when the sun sets, the time for sunset prayer enters. Its beginning is exclusive to it for the time required to perform three units, after which night prayer shares the time with it until midnight for one acting by choice, and until dawn for one compelled. The end of the time is exclusive to night prayer for the time required to perform four units. The time for morning prayer is from the second dawn-which spreads across the horizon-until sunrise. The sun’s decline is known by the shadow increasing after having decreased, and sunset by the disk disappearing. Waiting for the redness in the east to disappear is preferable in order to become reassured that the disk has set. The best of deeds is prayer at the beginning of its time. For night prayer, it is preferable to delay it until the western redness disappears, and for afternoon prayer, one or two hours after the sun’s decline according to the length or shortness of the day. The times of the daily supererogatory prayers are: For noon: from the sun’s decline until half an hour afterward. For afternoon: until an hour and a half or two and a half hours, according to the length of the day. If the time ends after one has begun the supererogatory prayer, even by one unit, he completes it in a shortened manner even though it overlaps the obligatory prayer. If he has not prayed any of it, he begins with the obligatory prayer and then performs the supererogatory prayer. It is not permissible to perform it before the sun’s decline except on Friday. Four units are added to its supererogatory prayer, two of them at the sun’s decline. The sunset supererogatory prayer: after the sunset prayer until the western redness disappears, minus the time required to perform the obligatory prayer. If the time reaches that point and he has not completed the supererogatory prayer, he begins with the obligatory prayer. Two units performed while seated after the night prayer. Their time extends for as long as the obligatory prayer’s time, and one should make them the conclusion of his supererogatory prayers. The night prayer: after midnight. The closer it is to dawn, the better. It is not permissible to perform it before midnight except for a traveler whose serious travel prevents him, or a young man whom the moisture of his head prevents (^[97]); making it up later is better. Its final time is the second dawn. If dawn rises and he has not begun four of its units, he begins with the two units of dawn before the obligatory prayer until the redness in the east rises, at which point he turns to the obligatory prayer. If he has begun four units, he completes them in a shortened manner even if dawn rises. The time of the two units of dawn is after the first dawn. It is permissible to perform them before that, but repeating them afterward is preferable. Their time extends until the redness rises, after which the obligatory prayer takes precedence. It is permissible to make up the five obligatory prayers at any time so long as the time for the current obligatory prayer has not become constrained. Likewise, one performs the remaining obligatory prayers, and performs supererogatory prayers so long as the time for an obligatory prayer has not entered, and likewise makes them up. Answer to Question 4: It is not a condition for the prayer’s validity that prostration be upon soil in general or specifically upon soil from al-Husayn. It is not permissible to prostrate upon what is not earth, such as leather, wool, hair, or fur; nor upon something from the earth if it is a mineral, such as salt, agate, gold, silver, or pitch, except in necessity; nor upon what grows from the earth if it is eaten, such as bread and fruit, or worn, such as cotton and linen. It is not permissible to prostrate upon mud; if compelled, one gestures. It is permissible to prostrate upon paper, although it is disliked if it bears writing. One does not prostrate upon any part of his body. If heat prevents him from prostrating upon the earth, he prostrates upon his garment, and if he cannot, then upon his palm. What we have mentioned applies only to the place of the forehead, not the remaining points of prostration. He must observe that it is owned or that permission has been granted, and that it is free of impurity. If the impurity is in a confined place, such as a house or the like, and its location is unknown, he does not prostrate upon any part of it. It is permissible to prostrate in spacious places to avoid hardship. Answer to Question 5: In sighting the crescent, the Imam of truth is meant to be followed so that people unite upon one day. Answer to Question 6: It is permissible to break the fast when the time for sunset prayer enters. Answer to Question 7: The middle prayer is Friday prayer and the authority of the one around whom the sphere revolves-that is, the Imamate and guidance. Answer to Question 8: I addressed zakat, khums, and other acts of worship in detail in the book The Laws of Islam. Zakat has areas of application different from khums; read them there, and if you need further clarification, send your questions. Ahmed Alhasan