# Summary of the Rules of Worship PDF pages 1 to 12. Physical PDF numbering, not inferred printed labels. Mechanical text extraction, not a verified transcription. Read the full rule or dialogue across page boundaries and retain its footnotes. Source characters are preserved except corrupt control glyphs, which are marked. Blank layout lines are removed. Do not silently repair other wording. Next block: [pages 13 to 24](pages-013-024.md). ## PDF PAGE 1 ```text Summary of the Rules of Worship According to the Verdicts of the Esteemed Religious Authority Al-Sayyid Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani Translated by Jawid Akbari ``` ## PDF PAGE 2 ```text In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the Merciful ``` ## PDF PAGE 3 ```text 3 | S u m m a r y o f t h e R u l e s o f W o r s h i p In the Name of Allah, the Most High This treatise (Summary of the Rules of Worship) is in accordance with the verdicts of the esteemed religious authority, al-Sayyid al-Sistani (may he live long). Whosoever acts upon the Sharīʿa rules contained herein, shall be fulfilling his religious obligations. Office of Al-Sayyid Al-Sistani The Holy City of Najaf ``` ## PDF PAGE 4 ```text Contents Introduction ..................................................................................... 6 Rules of Taqlīd (Emulation) ................................................................ 7 Rules of Purity (Ṭahāra) .................................................................... 11 Chapter One ....................................................................................... 12 Purification from Minor Impurity ...................................................... 12 1. Wuḍū (Ablution) ............................................................................ 13 2. Ghusl (Bathing) ............................................................................. 16 Rules for Ghusl with Bandages (Ghusl Jabīra) ......................... 17 Causes Requiring Ghusl ............................................................ 17 A) Janābah .................................................................................... 18 Causes of Janābah ..................................................................... 18 Acts Requiring Ghusl Janābah .................................................. 18 B) Menstruation (Hayḍ) ................................................................. 19 C) Postnatal bleeding (Nifās) ......................................................... 20 D) Istiḥāḍa (Irregular Bleeding) .................................................... 21 E) Death ......................................................................................... 22 F) Touching a Dead Body .............................................................. 22 Recommended Ghusls ................................................................... 22 3. Tayammum ................................................................................. 23 Chapter Two ....................................................................................... 26 Purification from Impurities .............................................................. 26 Purifiers ......................................................................................... 27 First Purifier: Water ................................................................... 27 Second Purifier: Sun .................................................................. 29 Third Purifier: Removal of the Essential Impurity .................... 29 Fourth Purifier: Earth ................................................................. 30 Fifth Purifier: Subservience (Taba'iyat) ..................................... 30 Sixth Purifier: Converting to Islam ............................................ 30 Seventh Purifier: Absence of a Muslim ..................................... 30 Eighth Purifier: Transfer ............................................................ 30 ``` ## PDF PAGE 5 ```text 5 | S u m m a r y o f t h e R u l e s o f W o r s h i p Ninth Purifier: Transformation (Istiḥāla) .................................. 30 Tenth Purifier: Excretion of Blood ............................................ 31 Eleventh Purifier: Conversion (Inqilāb) .................................... 31 Twelfth Purifier: Confinement of Animal that Eats Impurities.. 31 Rules of Prayer .................................................................................. 32 Components and Obligations of Prayer ......................................... 37 Things Which Invalidate Prayers ................................................... 41 Doubts in Prayer ............................................................................ 42 Congregational Prayer ................................................................... 44 Traveler’s Prayer ............................................................................ 49 Qaḍā Prayer ................................................................................... 51 Prayer of Signs (Ṣalāt al-Ᾱyāt) ...................................................... 52 Friday Prayer ................................................................................. 53 Rules of Fasting ................................................................................. 54 Rules of Ḥajj ...................................................................................... 59 Rules of Zakāt .................................................................................... 62 First Category: Zakāt on Wealth .................................................... 62 Taxable limit for camels: ........................................................... 62 Taxable limit for sheep: ............................................................. 63 Conditions for Zakāt on Trading Goods: ................................... 65 Disposal of Zakāt ....................................................................... 65 Conditions for Recipients of Zakāt ............................................ 66 Second Category: Zakāt al-Fiṭr ...................................................... 66 Rules of Khums ................................................................................. 68 Rules of Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil .................................. 72 ``` ## PDF PAGE 6 ```text Introduction In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon the best of His creation, Muḥammad, and his pure and noble family. The following treatise is a summary of the rules of worship, covering the most important rulings on the five acts of worship (prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, Zakāt, and Khums). It also includes selected rulings on purity, taqlīd, and enjoining good and forbidding evil. This treatise has been prepared and organized in accordance with the fatwas of the esteemed religious authority, Al-Sayyid Ali al- Husayni al-Sistani (may he live long), at the request of a group of his followers. We ask Almighty Allah that this treatise be beneficial for the believers and that He grants us success in pursuing what pleases Him. ``` ## PDF PAGE 7 ```text 7 | S u m m a r y o f t h e R u l e s o f W o r s h i p Rules of Taqlīd (Emulation) Issue 1: The sacred Sharīʿa law includes obligatory acts (wajibāt) and prohibitions (muḥarramāt). Every duty-bound person (mukallaf) must adhere to these laws and ensure his actions align with them. For most non-jurists (non-mujtahids), acting upon Sharīʿa law is usually possible through one of two methods: 1. Taqlīd (emulation): This means the duty-bound person performs his actions according to the fatwa (juridical opinion) of a qualified mujtahid. 2. Iḥtiyāṭ (precaution): This involves acting on such precaution which should assure him that he has fulfilled his religious obligation. For example, if there is a possibility that announcing the call to prayer (Iqāma) is obligatory, one must perform it. Similarly, if one suspects that smoking is forbidden and wants to be cautious, he must abstain from it. In other cases, precaution might require performing an act in multiple ways. For instance, a traveler who wants to be cautious might need to perform the Ẓuhr prayer both in its shortened (qaṣr) and complete (tamām) forms. It is worth noting that understanding the methods to exercise precaution often requires extensive knowledge of jurisprudence, which is not accessible to most people in the Islamic community. Additionally, precaution can often be difficult or sometimes impossible. These factors make taqlid the best option for most mukallafs to fulfill their religious obligations. Issue 2: The age of religious obligation (taklīf) begins for girls after they complete nine lunar years (approximately eight years, eight months, and twenty days in solar years) and for boys when they complete fifteen lunar years (approximately fourteen years, six months, and fifteen days in solar years). However, if a boy exhibits any of the following signs before reaching fifteen lunar years, he is considered to have hit puberty: 1. Growth of coarse hair below the navel, above the genital area. 2. Emission of semen, whether awake or asleep. ``` ## PDF PAGE 8 ```text 3. Growth of coarse hair on the face or above the lips (moustache). Issue 3: A mujtahid who meets the following criteria is qualified for taqlid: 1. Be of legal age (bāligh). 2. Be of sound mind (ʿaql). 3. Be male. 4. Be of legitimate birth, i.e., he should have been born in accordance with Islamic laws, not from adultery. 5. Be a believer (muʾmin), i.e., follow the Ithnā ʿAsharī Shīʿa. 6. Be just (ʿādil), meaning he is steadfast in the ways of Islam, performing obligatory acts, and refraining from prohibitions. 7. Not make frequent mistakes, forget, or be negligent in matters related to jurisprudential expertise. Issue 4: If multiple mujtahids meet the aforementioned criteria and have differing fatwas in many jurisprudential matters, as it is usually the case, the following scenarios apply: First Scenario: If it is proven to the duty-bound person that one mujtahid is more learned (aʿlam) than the others, he must follow him. Second Scenario: If it is proven that two mujtahids are more learned than the others but are equal in knowledge, or it is unknown which one is more learned, and if it is also proven that one of these two is more pious -- he is more precise and exercise more precaution in the sense that he applies all his faculties to find out what in all probability is the law -- then it is obligatory to follow the more pious one. If this is not proven, the duty-bound person can follow the fatwa of either one, except in certain specific cases as explained in Islamic Laws. Third Scenario: If it is proven that one mujtahid is the most learned but the duty-bound cannot identify who he is, he must exercise precaution among the fatwas of the mujtahids of whom one is believed to be the most learned. Exceptions to this rule are also detailed in the book of Islamic Laws. Issue 5: The preeminence in knowledge (aʿlamiyya) of a mujtahid can be established through one of two ways: ``` ## PDF PAGE 9 ```text 9 | S u m m a r y o f t h e R u l e s o f W o r s h i p 1. Testimony from a reliable person with sufficient expertise in this area, such as qualified mujtahids and experts, or individuals with knowledge close to ijtihād. This testimony is valid unless contradicted by others of the same qualifications, in which case, the testimony of those with greater expertise and specialization is preferred. 2. The mukallaf (duty-bound person) attains knowledge or certainty about the mujtahid's preeminence in knowledge through generally accepted rational means, such as widespread acknowledgment among scholars or by personally evaluating the mujtahid's scholarly level if he himself the necessary expertise. Issue 6: If a person believes that a certain mujtahid is more learned and follows his rulings, but later becomes convinced of the scholarly preeminence (aʿlamiyya) of another mujtahid, he must switch his taqlīd to the second mujtahid. Issue 7: If the mujtahid whom the mukallaf follows passes away, and the deceased mujtahid is more learned than all the living mujtahids, the mukallaf should continue following the deceased mujtahid. This applies regardless of whether the mukallaf has acted according to the deceased's fatwas or learned them. However, if over time a living mujtahid becomes more learned than the deceased mujtahid, the mukallaf must switch to the living mujtahid, as the validity of taqlīd is based on following the most learned. Issue 8: It is not permissible to begin following a deceased mujtahid, even if he is more learned than all the living mujtahids. Issue 9: If the most learned mujtahid has no fatwa on a specific issue, or the mukallaf cannot access his opinion when needed, it is permissible to refer to another mujtahid, making sure he is the next most learned one. Issue 10: The rulings in this treatise that are expressed as "obligatory precaution" are those cases where one can refer to another mujtahid, observing the hierarchy among the mujtahids in terms of preeminence in knowledge. It should be noted that "obligatory precaution" is expressed in various ways in this treatise: 1. Sometimes it is explicitly stated, such as "as an obligatory precaution, one should wipe the feet up to the ankle joint." ``` ## PDF PAGE 10 ```text 2. Sometimes it is implied, as in "if one washes the face starting from the bottom or the middle, the ablution is problematic." 3. Sometimes a ruling or fatwa is conditioned with the phrase "based on precaution," such as "one who travels after the call to noon prayer must, based on precaution, complete their fast." 4. In some cases, only the term "precaution" is mentioned without specifying a ruling or fatwa, such as "if a dog's saliva falls into a container, the precaution is to first rub the container with earth and then wash it three times with water." ``` ## PDF PAGE 11 ```text 11 | S u m m a r y o f t h e R u l e s o f W o r s h i p Rules of Purity (Ṭahāra) The sacred Islamic law places great emphasis on cleanliness and purification, which extends beyond merely defining impurities; it also does not content itself with explaining the methods of cleansing from them—referred to in Islamic jurisprudence as "purification from khabath (filth)." It encompasses the spiritual purification of a person as well. This is because humans can experience states of spiritual darkness (najāsat) where they are not fully prepared to turn their attention towards their Lord. This state in Islamic jurisprudence is called "hadath" and it is divided into two types: minor (ḥadath aṣghar) and major (ḥadath akbar). Each type has its causes and means of purification. Islamic law has designated ablution (wuḍū) as the means to remove the effects of minor impurity (ḥadath aṣghar) and the ritual bath (ghusl) as the means to remove the effects of major impurity (ḥadath akbar). In certain special circumstances where these two are not feasible, dry ablution (tayammum) is prescribed as a substitute. Given the importance of spiritual aspects, Islamic law encourages the mukallaf (legally responsible individual) to perform ghusl in certain states and times, even if no impurity has occurred. These ritual baths are considered mustaḥabb (recommended), such as the Friday bath (Ghusl al-Jumuʿah) and the baths on the nights of Qadr in the holy month of Ramaḍān. With these principles clarified, we will now present the laws of purification in the following two chapters. ``` ## PDF PAGE 12 ```text Chapter One Purification from Minor Impurity ```