skills/sistani-guidance/references/books/jme/pages-097-108.md

# Jurisprudence Made Easy

PDF pages 97 to 108. Physical PDF numbering, not inferred printed labels.

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Previous block: [pages 85 to 96](pages-085-096.md).

Next block: [pages 109 to 120](pages-109-120.md).

## PDF PAGE 97

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97
doubt is more than what is normally expected of the
average person. For instance, they may doubt that they
did something wrong in one out of every three prayers
they had performed.
5. When you are unsure how many ruku you have done in
subh, maghrib, or between the first and second ruku of
every four-rak’a prayer, to the extent that you can not
decide the number of ruku either way, the prayer shall be
invalid.
* Could you give me an example?
- Say, you were praying Subh, and you became doubtful as
to whether it was the first ruku you were in or the second.
After a short pondering, you should make up your mind as
to which ruku you were in. If this does not materialize
either way, i.e. the first or second ruku, you must assume
that your prayer is null.
* If I had a strong inkling that it was, the first ruku for
example?
- In this case, you should act on that probability and carry
on your prayer by doing the second ruku; your prayer
should, accordingly, be valid.
* And what about the possibility of growing doubtful
between the third and fourth ruku of a four-rak’a prayer?
- Should you make up your mind as to the number of ruku,
you should act accordingly and do the remaining ruku.
* If I remain undecided?
- This needs discussing in some detail as each case has its
own ruling. Here, though, are some of these situations:
1. If the doubt arises as to whether the ruku was the third
or the fourth, no matter at what stage the doubt took
place, you should assume that it is the fourth. You should,
therefore, carry on with the prayer and after you have
finished it, you either do two ruku from a sitting position
```

## PDF PAGE 98

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98
or one ruku from a standing position. This is called salatul
ihtiyat (precautionary prayer).
2. If the doubt arises as to whether the ruku was the
fourth or the fifth, after having placed your forehead on
the sujood spot for the second sujood, albeit before
starting the utterance, you should assume that it is the
fourth ruku. You should, therefore, carry on with your
prayer; after you have finished it, you should perform
sajdatay-as-sahu (two compensatory prostrations in lieu of
any commision or omission in prayer due to forgetfulness).
3. If the doubt arises as to whether the ruku was the first
or the second, at the time of executing the second sujood,
you should assume that it is the third ruku. You should,
therefore, carry on with your prayer, doing the fourth
ruku. Once you finish prayer, you should perform salatul
ihtiyat [in this case, it should be one ruku from a standing
position].
* How should I go about salatul ihtiyat?
- Immediately after you have finished the prescribed
prayer, you should begin salatul ihtiyat. That is, without
any turning with your body to either side. In short, you
should refrain from any action or saying which could
invalidate prayer.
The way to say salatul ihtiyat is by starting with takbiratul
ihram, then recitation of the Chapter of al-Fatiha [in a
lowered voice]. There shall be no need to recite a second
chapter. The subsequent movements and utterances
would be bowing for ruku, sujood, tashahhud, and
tasleem. That is, if the choice was for salatul ihtiyat to be
said from a standing position. If it was for it to be said
from a sitting position, there must be a second ruku before
you do tashahhud and tasleem.
* What about sajdatay-as-sahu?
```

## PDF PAGE 99

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99
- After you do niyyah, immediately after you have finished
prayer, it is preferable you do takbiratul ihram too. You
should, then, do sujood. And as you are in a prostrating
position, you should say (Bismillahi wa Billah. Assalamu
Alaika Ayyuhan Nabiyu wa Rahmatul Lahi wa Barakatuh:
In the name of God. May peace and blessings be with you,
Oh Prophet). You should raise your head, go to a
crouching position, and do a second sujood in exactly the
same way. After you have finished the second sujood, you
should do tashahhud and tasleem.
It should be noted, however, that sujood-as-sahu is a
means of making up for other lapses that could happen
during prayer. These are:
a. [When you inadvertantly speak, while you are praying].
b. [When you inadvertently utter any sentence of tasleem
prematurely, i.e. while the prayer is still in progress].
c. Should you forget to say tashahhud, it is preferable that
you say it first before you do sajdatay-as-sahu.
d. [If, after you have finished your prayer, doubt arises
about omitting any act or utterance, or unnecessarily
comissioning something, you should perform sajdatay-as-
sahu]. It is also advisable that you perform sajdatay-as-
sahu, if you have forgotten one of any two sujoods in your
prayer. That is, after you do the sujood in lieu. You can
also resort to doing sajdatay-as-sahu, if you have
suspected that you were in a standing position instead of
a sitting one. To sum up, it is advisable that you perform
sajdatay-as-sahu if you realized that you either omitted
and/or comitted any deed or saying during prayer.
e. You can perform sajdatay-as-sahu as many times as
need be.
* Now that you have explained to me how prayer should
be conducted and what to do when one realizes that they
have made a mistake or an oversight during prayer, I’d
appreciate it, if you could demonstrate to me how you say,
```

## PDF PAGE 100

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111
for example, isha prayer. (My aim was to observe him
while he was saying it). He agreed. The following is a
description of what he did:
He first performed ablution (wudhu). After reciting adhan
and iqamah, he set his face towards the qiblah, raised
both his hands and put them close to his ears and, in a
raised voice, uttered (Allahu Akbar).
He then started reciting the Chapter of al-Fatiha and
followed it by the Chapter of al-Ikhlas. Immediately after
he finished reciting the second chapter, he bowed, by
placing both his hands on his knees, and said while in that
posture (Subhana rabiyal adheemi wa bihamdih), and as
he was going back to an upright position, he said
(Sami’allahu limen hamidah: May God accept the words of
that who chants His praise). From the standing position,
he went down for prostration. After he placed his
forehead on the sujood spot, he said (Subhan rabiyal ‘ala
wa bihamdih). Upon raising his head, he went back to a
sitting position and said (Astaghfirul lahi wa atoobu ilaih: I
seek forgiveness from God and declare my repentance in
His presence). No sooner had he uttered these words, he
went for a second sujood, after which he went back to a
sitting position, uttering the same phrase while he was
sitting. Thereafter, he stood upright again.
When he stood upright for the second time, he repeated
the recitation of the two chapters, and before bowing, he
raised both his hands for qunoot and recited (Rabij’alni
muqeemas salati wa min thurayyati, rabbana wa taqabbal
du’a. Rabanagh fir lee wa liwalidaya wa lilmu’mineen
yawma yaqumul hisaab: My Lord! make me, and my
offspring, keep up prayer, O our Lord! and accept my
prayer. O our Lord! grant me protection, my parents, and
the believers on the day when the reckoning shall come to
pass).
On completing the supplication, he went for the bowing
```

## PDF PAGE 101

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position for the second time now, repeated the same
utterances while bowing (ruku). On raising his head, the
two sujoods then followed in exactly the same way in the
first ruku. As soon as he completed the second sujood,
and in a sitting position, with his hands resting on his
thighs, he pronounced tashahhud by saying (Ashhadu
alla illaha illal lah, wahdahu la shareeka lah, wa ashhadu
anna Mohamman abduhu wa rasuluh. Allahumma salli ala
Mohammadiu wa aali Mohammad: I bear witness that
there is no god but God, and that Mohammad is His
servant and messenger. May God’s peace be with
Mohammad and his Pure Progeny).
My father then stood up for the third ruku. In his upright
and still position, and in a lowered voice, he recited
(Subhanal lahi, wal hamdu lillahi, wala illaha illal lahu, wal
lahu akbar: Glory be to God, praise be to God, there is no
god but God, and Allah is great); he recited these phrases
three times. He then did ruku and sujood, and stood up
for the fourth ruku, which he did in exactly the same way
as the third one.
On going back to the sitting position after he performed
the second sujood, he uttered tashahhud and tasleem
(Assalamu alaika ayyuhan nabiyu wa rahmatul lahi wa
barakatuh. Assalamu alaina wa ‘ala ibadil lahis saliheen.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatul lahi wa barakatuh: May
God’s peace and blessings be with you, O Prophet! May
peace be with us and the good among God’s servants.
May peace be with you).
It is worth noting, though, that I observed my father while
he was praying dhuhr and asr, which are a four-ruku
prayers. He said both in the same way he said isha prayer.
The only difference, however, was that he recited both
the chapters in a lowered voice, except for basmalah. In
maghrib prayer, he concluded it at the end of the third
ruku, by uttering tashahhud and tasleem after he
```

## PDF PAGE 102

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completed the second sujood. As for subh prayer, he
concluded the prayer at the end of the second ruku, for
subh is a two-ruku prayer.
Having observed how my father goes about conducting
prayer, I have noticed few points I would like to share with
you:
1. He is very keen on saying prayers at their prescribed
times. In this regard, he used to cite the hadith (saying or
tradition) from Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.), “The precedence
of the onset of the time of a prayer, over saying it at the
end of that time, is similar to the precedence of the
Hereafter over this world”.
2. At times, he used to say asr prayer immediately after
dhuhr. He often does the same when it comes to isha
prayer which he says immediately after maghrib. When I
asked him as to why he used to do that, he said you have
the choice of saying these prayers either consecutively or
separately.
3. When he gets ready for prayer, his appearance assumes
a dimension of humility and submissivenes; I often hear
him recite the Holy Verse, “Successful indeed are the
believers, who are humble in their prayers”. (23/1)
4. He made a habit of paying great attention to the proper
execution of all actions and utterances of prayer, be it a
pause, a stillness of posture, or the sequence and
continuance of movements and utterances.
5. My father did his best in executing the recitation of the
two chapters of the Holy Qur’an during prayer, by giving
due attention to the proper pronunciation of the letters in
a word and the word itself in relation to other words in
```

## PDF PAGE 103

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the particular verses. He treated other utterances in the
same way.
6. I have also noticed that he used to perform special
prayers either before the time of the five daily prayers or
after he had finished. When I asked him as to what they
mean, he told me that those were voluntary prayers that
are mustahab to offer.
7. Among other meritorious acts of worship he used to do
after prayer, is asking God’s forgiveness for himself, his
parents, his relatives, and the brethren. Also, he often uses
his rosary beads to chant the praise of the Almighty in a
particular way, in that he chants (Allahu Akbar) thirty four
times, (Alhamdu Lillah), and (Subhanal Lah) thirty three
times each. He told me it is called Tasbihuz Zahra’
(Praising of the Lord as used to be carried out by the
daughter of Prophet Mohammad, Fatima az-Zahra’ ‘a.s.’).
```

## PDF PAGE 104

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Dialogue on prayer (2)
While we were still on the subject of prayer, in this part
two of the dialogue, I wanted to test my memory as to the
information I had acquired.
So, before my father resumed the talk, I asked him if I
could say isha prayer by doing two rukus only.
- No, didn’t I tell you it is a four-ruku prayer.
* The reason why I asked is that I saw you once perform it
as such.
- On that occasion, were we on a journey?
* Yes.
- It is true. The reason being that there is a concession for
the believers, in that when they are on a journey, they are
required to do only two rukus, i.e. qasr prayer of the four-
raka’ prayers of dhuhr, asr, and isha prayers, provided that
certain requirements are met. These are:
1. The distance covered by any trip, from the home of the
mukallaf, must be at least forty four kilometres, be it one
way or return.
* What is the point of calculating the distance?
- If you satisfy what is generally accepted as travel, the
point starts from the last building on the periphery of the
town you live in.
2. The continuity of the purpose of travel, i.e. if you
change your mind and abort your journey, say half way,
you should perform your prayer in full. That is, if the
distance covered in both directions was less than forty
four kilometres. If, however, the distance of the outgoing
journey and the return one was more than the stipulated
minimum, you should say your prayer qasr.
3. The aim behind the travel must be legitimate, i.e. not
```

## PDF PAGE 105

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aiming at committing a haraam act, such as stealing, or
the travel was unauthorized, as in the case of a wife
embarking on a trip without the permission of her
husband. Travel for fun, such as going on a hunting
expedition, does not yield qasr prayer.
4. Travellers who do not intend to stop at their home
town, those who do not intend to stay a minimum of ten
days, and those who remain undecided as to the length of
their stay for a period of thirty days qualify for qasr prayer.
* And if a) The intention to stay in one’s home town ten
days and over, b) intention to stay for ten days in the
destination, and c) they remain undecided for thirty days?
- The people in the first two examples should say their
prayer in full (tamam). For the undecided, they should say
tamam prayer after the thirtieth day for the duration of
their stay thereafter.
5. If someone’s job involves travel, such as a driver, or their
work entails frequent travel, they should say their prayer
in full.
* What about, say, a businessman, a student, or an
employee who live in a town, more than twenty two
kilometres away from their respective place of work or
university, and need to cover that distance, more or less,
on daily basis?
- They must say their prayer in full (tamam).
6. Those who have no permanent abode, such as roving
tourist, should say their prayer in full.
* If, during the journey, it was time for prayer, yet I did not
say prayer there and then, until I returned to my
hometown, what sort of prayer should I say?
- You should say your prayer in full.
* And if it was the other way round, i.e. I was in my
```

## PDF PAGE 106

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hometown when it was time for prayer but could not say
it there and then, and set out on a journey that qualifies
for the minimum distance of forty four kilometres?
- You should say your prayer qasr.
* Some times, I see a group of believers say prayer
collectively.
- Yes, this is called congregational prayer (salatul jamaa’).
* How is it said?
- If there are two or more people, they can conduct
congregational prayer. The important requirement here is
that the person who is going to lead the prayer (imam)
must fulfil certain conditions. Those taking part in
congregational prayer shall receive added thawab
(reward from God).
* Does this mean that conducting it is a mustahab act?
- Yes, particularly when the imam is a learned man. Also,
the more people were praying congregationally, the more
thawab there will be for them.
* You mentioned the qualifications that must be present in
the person who lead the prayer. What are they?
- He must be adult, sane, devout, just, and not rebellious
against the injunctions of God; he should also be of a
legitimate birth, and male, where the worshippers are
male.
* What is the criterion of identifying a person with these
qualities so that I could pray behind them?
- Their appearance should suggest that.
* Are there any other conditions that the imam must
meet?
- Yes, [It is imperative that he was not convicted according
to the Islamic penal code]. He must be able-bodied so that
he can execute the movements of prayer in full, especially
when the person who is praying behind him is able-
bodied too. As far as the direction of the qiblah is
concerned, both the imam and the person praying behind
```

## PDF PAGE 107

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him should be in agreement as to its right direction. The
person who is going to be led in congregational prayer
has to satisfy himself with the knowledge that the prayer
of the imam be in order. For example, if the person taking
part in congregational prayer knew for sure that the
wudhu of the imam was not in order because he
unknowingly used water that was najis, it is not
permissible for them to pray behind the imam.
* How should I go about performing congregational
prayer?
- If there were two of you, one should stand to the right,
and lightly behind, the one who leads the prayer. If,
however, there are more than two, the rest must stand
behind the imam without a barrier such as a wall
separating them from the imam. The place where the
prayer is conducted should be even. The imam’s position
should not be higher than the position of those following
him in prayer. The gap between the imam and the rest of
the congregation must not be great. Nor should the gap
separating the worshippers, standing side by side in
prayer.
* Can I say that the gap between the imam and each one
of the rows of worshippers be a meter or so?
- [Yes, approximately one meter]. To achieve linkage
between the imam and the rest of the congregation, it
suffices that it be done through one worshipper in any
direction.
* And what else?
- The worshippers must follow the imam in what he says
and does from takiratul ihram to tasleem, i.e. they must
not say or do anything before him. The only difference is
that the worshippers could choose not to recite the two
chapters, for the imam’s recitation makes up for theirs.
* Suppose I was a bit late in joining the congregation.
When can I join in?
```

## PDF PAGE 108

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- You may join in while the imam is either in a standing
position or during a ruku. Should you join in during a
ruku, you need not worry about the recitation of the two
chapters.
* If I happened to join in while the imam was uttering the
tasbihat in either the third or fourth ruku’?
- You should utter takbiratul ihram and recite the two
chapters in a low voice, and if there is not sufficient time
for both the chapters, it suffices to recite al-Fatiha.
* Suppose the congregation were conducting asr prayer,
and I want to say dhuhr. Would it still be all right if I join
in?
- Yes, there are no restriction on joining congregational
prayer, irrespective of the form of difference between the
prayer you intend to say and that the congregation is
engaged in. Matters such as the nature of recitation
(inaudible or audible), qasr and tamam prayers, and
qadha’ or ada’ are overlooked.
* Can women conduct congregational prayer?
- Yes, it is permissible for women to join in congregational
prayer behind a male imam. A woman can also lead the
prayer for other women. However, when a woman leads
the prayer for other woman, [she must not stand ahead of
them; rather she must stand in the same line].
When women take part in a congregational prayer with
men, they must occupy the rear lines, or to the side, but
with a barrier, such as a screen.
* I hear of another prayer called Juma (Friday) prayer. Is it
different from congregational prayer?
- Yes, it consists of two ruku, like subh prayer. However,
where it differs is that in Juma prayer the imam gives two
sermons before the performance of the prayer.
The minimum content of the first sermon is to praise Allah
[in Arabic]. He could remind the worshippers to be fearful
of God. He, then, should recite a short chapter from the
```