Meetings at home Removing anything that may distract the worshipper Anas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “ ‘Aa’ishah had a decorated, colourful curtain which she used to cover the side of her house. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to her, ‘Take it away from me, because its decorations keep distracting me when I pray.’” (Reported by al- Bukhaari, Fath al-Baari, 10/391). Al-Qaasim reported that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) had a cloth with decorations on it, which she used to cover a small sunken alcove (used for sleeping or storage). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to pray facing it, and he said, ‘Take it away from me, because its decorations keep distracting me when I pray.’ So she took it away and made pillows out of it. ” (Reported by Muslim in his Saheeh, 3/1668). Another indication of this is the fact that when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) entered the Ka’bah to pray in it, he saw two ram ’s horns. When he had prayed, he told ‘Uthmaan al-Hajabi, “I forgot to tell you to cover the horns, because there should not be anything in the House to distract the worshipper.” (Reported by Abu Dawood, 2030; Saheeh al -Jaami ’, 2504). This also includes avoiding praying in places where people pass through, or where there is a lot of noise and voices of people talking, or where they are engaging in conversations, arguments etc., or where there are visual distractions. One should also avoid praying in places that are very hot or very cold, if possible. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us to delay praying Zuhr in summer until the hottest part of the day was over. Ibn al -Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Praying when it is intensely hot prevents a person from having the proper khushoo’ and presence of mind, and he does his worship reluctantly, so the Prophet wisely told them to delay praying until the heat had lessened somewhat, so that they could pray with presence of mind and thus achieve the purpose of prayer, i.e., having khushoo’ and turning to Allaah.” ( Al-Waabil al-Sayib , Daar al -Bayaan edn., p.22) Not praying in a garment that has decorations, writing, bright colours or pictures that will distract the worshipper ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stood up to pray wearing a checkered shirt, and he looked at the patterns in it. When he had finished his prayer, he said, “Take this shirt to Abu Jaham ibn Hudhayfah and bring me an anbajaani (a garment with no decorations or checks), because it distracted me when I was praying.” According to another report: “These checks distracted me.” According to another report: “He had a checkered shirt, which used to distract him whilst he was praying.” (Reports in Saheeh Muslim , no. 556, part 3/391). It is better not to pray in a garment that has pictures on it, and we should be especially careful to avoid garments with pictures of animate beings, like many garments that are widely available nowadays. Not praying when there is food prepared that one wants to eat The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not pray when there is food prepared.” (Reported by Muslim, no. 560). If food has been prepared and served, or if it is offered, a person should eat first, because he will not be able to concentrate properly and have khushoo’ if he leaves it and gets up to pray when he is wanting to eat. He should not even hasten to finish eating, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If the dinner is served and the time for prayer comes, eat dinner before praying Salaat al -Maghrib, and do not rush to finish your meal.” According to another report: “If dinner has been put out and the iqaamah has been given for prayer, eat dinner first and do not rush to finish it. ” (Agreed upon. Al- Bukhaari, Kitaab al- Aadhan, Baab idhaa hadara al -ta’ aamu wa uqeemat al -salaah ; Muslim, no. 557-559). Not praying when one needs to answer the call of nature No doubt one of the things that can prevent proper khushoo’ is praying when one needs to go to the washroom. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade praying when one is suppressing the urge to urinate or defecate. (Reported by Ibn Maajah in his Sunan, no. 617; Saheeh al -Jaami ’, no. 6832). If anyone is in this position, he should first go to the bathroom and answer the call of nature, even if he misses whatever he misses of the congregational prayer, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you needs to go to the toilet, and the prayer has begun, he should go to the toilet first. ” ( Reported by Abu Dawood, no. 88; Saheeh al -Jaami ’, no. 299) If this happens to a person whilst he is praying, he should stop praying, go and answer the call of nature, purify himself then pray, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “There is no prayer when there is food prepared or if one is suppressing the urge to expel waste matter.” ( Saheeh Muslim , no. 560). Without a doubt, this trying to suppress the urge takes away khushoo’. This ruling also applies to suppressing the urge to pass wind. Not praying when one feels sleepy Anas ibn Maalik said, “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you feels sleepy when he is praying, he should sleep until he [is rested enough to] know what he is saying,” i.e., he should take a nap until he no longer feels drowsy. (Reported by al -Bukhaari, no. 210). This may happen when one is praying qiyaam al-layl, at the time when prayers are answered, and a person may pray against himself without realizing it. This hadeeth also includes fard prayers, when a person is confident that he will still have enough time to pray after taking a nap. (Fath al-Baari, Sharh Kitaab al -Wudoo’, Baab al- wudoo’ min al-nawm ). Not praying behind someone who is talking (or sleeping) The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade this; he said: “Do not pray behind one who is sleeping or one who is talking.” ( Reported by Abu Dawood, no. 694; Saheeh al- Jaami ’, no. 375. He said, a hasan hadeeth). -because one who is talking will distract the worshipper with his talk, and one who is sleeping may expose something that will distract the worshipper. Al-Khattaabi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “As for praying behind people who are talking, al -Shaafai and Ahmad ibn Hanbal considered this to be makrooh, because their talk distracts the worshipper from his prayer.” (‘Awn al-Ma’bood, 2/388). As regards not praying behind someone who is sleeping, a number of scholars thought that the evidence for this was weak (including Abu Dawood in his Sunan, Kitaab al -Salaah, Tafree ’ Abwaab al- Witr, Baab al-Du ’aa’, and Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Baari, Sharh Baab al -Salaah khalf al -Naa’im, Kitaab al -Salaah ). Al-Bukhaari, may Allaah have mercy on him, quoted the hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah in his Saheeh, Baab al-Salaah khalf al -Naa’im: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to pray whilst I was lying across from him on his bed…” (Saheeh al -Bukhaari, Kitaab al-Salaah ). Mujaahid, Taawoos and Maalik thought it makrooh to pray facing someone who was sleeping, lest he expose something that would distract the worshipper from his prayer. (Fath al- Baari, ibid.) If there is no risk of that happening, then it is not makrooh to pray behind someone who is sleeping. And Allaah knows best. Not occupying oneself with smoothing the ground in front of one Al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported from Mu’ayqeeb (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said concerning a man’s smoothing the ground when he prostrates, “If you have to do that, then do it only once.” (Fath al-Baari, 3/79). The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not wipe (the ground) when you are praying, but if you have to, then do it only once.” ( Reported by Abu Dawood, no. 946; Saheeh al -Jaami ’ , no. 7452). The reason for this prohibition is so as to maintain khushoo ’, and so that a person will not make too many extra movements in prayer. If the place where one is going to prostrate needs to be smoothed, it is better to do this before starting to pray. This also applies to wiping the forehead or nose when praying. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to prostrate in water and mud, which would leave traces on his forehead, but he did not bother to wipe it off every time he raised his head from sujood. It remained there because he was so deeply absorbed in his prayer and his khushoo ’ was so strong that he took not notice of it. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Prayer is an occupation in itself.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, Fath al- Baari, 3/72). Ibn Abi Shaybah reported that Abu’l-Darda’ said: “Even if I were to get red camels, I would not like to wipe the gravel from my forehead.” ‘ Ayaad said: “The salaf did not like to wipe their foreheads before they finished praying.” ( al-Fath, 3/79). Just as a worshipper should avoid anything that will distract him from his prayer, by the same token he should avoid disturbing others. This includes: Not disturbing others with one’s recitation The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “All of you are speaking to your Lord, so do not disturb one another, and do not raise your voices above one another when reciting” or he said, “in prayer. ” (Reported by Abu Dawood, 2/83; Saheeh al -Jaami ’, no. 752). According to another report, he said, “Do not compete with one another in raising your voices when reciting Qur ’aan. ” ( Reported by Imaam Ahmad, 2/36; Saheeh al - Jaami ’, 1951). Not turning around during prayer Abu Dharr (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Allaah continues to turn towards His slave whilst he is praying, so long as he does not turn away, but if he turns away, [Allaah] turns away from him. ” (Reported by Abu Dawood, no. 909; Saheeh Abi Dawood ). Turning away during prayer is of two types: The turning away of the heart to something other than Allaah. The turning away of the eyes. Both of them are not allowed, and are detrimental to the reward for the prayer. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was asked about turning away during prayer, and he said: “It is something that Shaytaan steals from a person ’s prayer.” ( Reported by al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-Adhaan, Baab al-Iltifaat fi’l -Salaah). The one who turns away with his heart or his eyes during prayer is like a man who is called by the ruler and made to stand before him, and when the ruler starts to address him, he turns away, looking to the right and the left, not listening to what the ruler is saying and not understanding a word of it, because his heart and mind are elsewhere. What does this man think the ruler will do to him? The least that he deserves is that when he leaves the ruler, he is hated and no longer valued. One who prays like this is not equal to one who prays with the proper presence of mind, turning to Allaah in his prayer in such a way that he feels the greatness of the One before Whom he is standing, and he is filled with fear and submission; he feels too shy before his Lord to turn to anyone else or to turn away. The difference between their prayers is as Hassaan ibn ‘Atiyah said: “The two men may be in one congregation, but the difference in virtue between them is as great as the distance between heaven and earth. One of them is turning with all his heart towards Allaah, whilst the other is negligent and forgetful.” ( Al-Waabil al-Sayib by Ibn al- Qayyim, Daar al-Bayaan, p. 36). As for turning away for a genuine reason, this is OK. Abu Dawood reported that Sahl ibn al-Hanzaliyyah said: “We started praying – Salaat al -Subh (Fajr) – and the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was looking at the ravine.” Abu Dawood said: “He had sent a horseman at night to guard the ravine.” This is like when he carried Umaamah bint Abi’l-‘Aas, and when he opened the door for ‘Aa’ishah, and when he came down from the minbar whilst praying in order to teach them, and when he stepped back during Salaat al -Kusoof (prayer at the time of an eclipse), and when he grabbed and strangled the Shaytaan when he wanted to interrupt his prayer. He also ordered that snakes and scorpions should be killed even during prayer, and a person who is praying should stop and even fight one who wants to pass in front of him whilst he is praying. He told women to clap during prayer [if they spot a mistake on the part of the imaam], and he used to wave or gesture to people who greeted him whilst he was praying. These and other actions may be done in cases of necessity, but if there is no necessity, then they are just idle gestures that cancel out khushoo ’ and are therefore not allowed during prayer. (Majmoo’ al -Fataawa , 22/559). Not raising ones gaze to the heavens The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade us to do this and issued a warning against it. He said: “When any one of you is praying, he should not lift his gaze to the heavens, lest he lose his sight. ” ( Reported by Ahmad, 5/294; Saheeh al -Jaami ’ , no. 762). According to another report, he said: “What is wrong with people who lift their gaze to the heavens whilst they are praying?” According to another report, he said: “that they raise their gaze when they make du ’aa’ during salaah? ” (Reported by Muslim, no. 429). He spoke out strongly against it, to the extent that he said, “Let them stop it, or their eyesight will be taken away.” (Reported by Imaam Ahmad, 5/258; Saheeh al- Jaami ’, 5574). Not spitting in front of one when praying This is incompatible with khushoo ’ and good manners before Allaah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When any one of you is praying, let him not spit in front of himself, for Allaah is before him when he prays. ” ( Reported by al- Bukhaari in his Saheeh, no. 397). He also said: “When any one of you stands up to pray, he should not spit in front of himself, because he is talking to Allaah – may He be blessed and exalted – as long as he is in his prayer place; and he should not [spit] to his right, because there is an angel on his right. He should spit to his left, or beneath his feet, and bury it. ” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, al -Fath, no. 416, 1/512). He said: “When one of you stands to pray, he is talking to his Lord, and his Lord is between him and the qiblah, so none of you should spit in the direction of his qiblah, but to his left or under his feet. ” ( Reported by al-Bukhaari, al- Fath al- Baari, no. 417, 1/513). If the mosque is furnished with carpets and so on, as is the norm nowadays, if a person needs to spit, he can take out a handkerchief or whatever, spit into it, and put it away again. Trying not to yawn when praying The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “If any one of you feels the urge to yawn during prayer, let him suppress it as much as he can, lest the Shaytaan enter…” (Reported by Muslim, 4/2293). If the Shaytaan enters, he will be more able to disturb the worshipper’s khushoo ’, in addition to laughing at him when he yawns. Not putting one’s hands on one ’s hips when praying Abu Hurayrah said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade putting the hands on the hips during prayer.” (Reported by Abu Dawood, no. 947; Saheeh al- Bukhaari , Kitaab al- ‘Aml fi’l - Salaah, Baab al -Hadhr fi’l - Salaah). Ziyaad ibn Subayh al -Hanafi said: “I prayed beside Ibn ‘Umar and I put my hand on my hip, but he struck my hand. When he had finished praying, he said, “This is crossing in prayer. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to forbid this. ” ( Reported by Imaam Ahmad, 2/106 and others. Classed as saheeh by al-Haafiz al- ‘Iraaqi in Takhreej al - Ihyaa’. See al-Irwaa ’, 2/94). It was reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that this posture is how the people of Hell rest; we seek refuge with Allaah from that. (Reported by al -Bayhaqi from Abu Hurayrah. Al- ‘Iraaqi said, its isnaad appears to be saheeh). Not letting one’s clothes hang down ( sadl) during prayer It was reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade letting one’s clothes hang down during prayer or for a man to cover his mouth. (Reported by Abu Dawood, no. 643; Saheeh al - Jaami ’, no. 6883. He said, this is a hasan hadeeth) . In ‘Awn al -Ma’bood(2/347) al -Khattaabi said: “Al-sadl: letting ones clothes hang down all the way to the ground.” It was reported in Marqaat al-Mafaateeh(2/236): “Al-sadl is completely forbidden because it has to do with showing off, and in prayer it is even worse.” The author of al -Nihaayahsaid: “It means wrapping oneself up in ones garment, leaving one’s hands inside and bowing and prostrating in it. ” It was said that the Jews used to do this. It was also said that al-sadl meant putting the garment over one’ s head or shoulders, and letting its edges come down in front and over one ’s upper arms, so that a person will be preoccupied in taking care of it, which reduces khushoo’, unlike garments that are tied up properly or buttoned, which do not distract the worshipper or affect his khushoo’. These kinds of clothes are still to be found nowadays in some parts of Africa and elsewhere, and in the way some Arabian cloaks are worn, which distract the worshipper and keep him busy adjusting them, retying them if they become loose and so on. This should be avoided. The reason why it is forbidden to cover one’ s mouth was explained by the scholars as being because that prevents a person from reciting Qur ’aan and doing sujood properly. (Marqaat al-Mafaateeh, 2/236). Not resembling animals Allaah has honoured the son of Adam and created him in the best way, so it is shameful for the son of Adam to resemble or imitate animals. We have been forbidden to resemble or imitate a number of postures or movements of animals when we pray, because that is contrary to khushoo ’ or because it is ugly and does not befit the worshipper who is praying. For example, it was reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade three things in prayer: pecking like a crow, spreading one’s forearms like a carnivore, or always praying in the same place like a camel keeping to its own territory. (Reported by Ahmad, 3/428). It was said that when a man always prays in the same place in the mosque, making it his own, it is like a camel keeping to its own territory. (Al- Fath al- Rabaani, 4/91) . According to another report: “He forbade me to peck like a cockerel, to sit like a dog or to turn like a fox. ” (Reported by Imaam Ahmad, 2/311; Saheeh al- Targheeb, no. 556). This is what we were able to mention about the means of attaining khushoo ’, so that we may strive for them, and about the things that detract from khushoo’, so that we can avoid them. There is another issue that has to do with khushoo ’, to which the scholars attached so much importance that it is worthy of mention here:
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 21:26:54 +0000
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