Fiqh-us Sunnah SECTION 8. Prerequisites Of The Prayer

Section : Knowledge that the time for prayer has begun. If one is certain or fairly certain that the time has begun, he may pray. How he reached his decision is not important.

Section : Purity From Major and Minor Impurities. Says Allah in the Qur’an, “O you who believe, when you rise for the prayer, wash your faces, your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your hands and (wash) your…

Section : Purity of the Body, Clothes and Place. Such objects should be clean of physical impurities as much as possible. If one can not remove them, he may pray with the impurities present and does not have to repeat…

Section : Covering the ‘Aurah. Says Allah in the Qur’an, “O Children of Adam, take your adornment (by wearing proper clothing) for every mosque” (al-A’raf 31). The meaning of “adornment” here is the covering of the ‘aurah. The meaning of…

Section : A man must cover the front and back of his pubic region. There is disagreement about the navel, thighs and knees. The reports seem to contradict each other. The following hadith are used to prove that such parts…

Section : Exposing a man’s thigh. Says ‘Aishah, “The Prophet was sitting with his thigh exposed when Abu Bakr asked, and received, permission to enter. The same thing happened with ‘Umar. However, when ‘Uthman sought permission to enter, the Prophet…

Section : Woman’s aurah & hijab. There is no such dispute over what constitutes a woman’s ‘aurah. It is stated that her entire body is ‘aurah and must be covered, except her hands and face. Says Allah in the Qur’an,…

Section : Preferred to wear two garments in salat. It is preferred for a person to wear at least two garments, but he can wear just one if that is all he has. Ibn ‘Umar reported that the Prophet, upon…

Section : Uncovering the Head During the Prayer. Ibn ‘Asakir related that the Prophet would sometimes remove his cap and place it in front of him as a sutrah. According to the Hanifiyyah, one can pray with his head uncovered.…

Section : Facing the Qiblah. All scholars agree that one must face the Masjid al-Haram (in Makkah) during every prayer. Says Allah in the Qur’an, “Direct your face to the Masjid al-Haram. Wherever you may be, turn your faces to…

Section : If one can see the Ka’bah, he must face that particular direction. If he can not see it, he must turn in its direction, as this is all that he is able to do. Abu Hurairah reported that…

Section : If one can not determine the direction of the qiblah. He should ask one who knows. If he finds no one to ask, he should try his best to determine it. In such a case, his prayer will…

Section : Two cases in which one doesn’t have to face the Ka’bah. The first one is performing voluntary prayers while riding (an animal, car and so on). The rider may bend his head slightly for the bowings and prostrations…

Section : The state of prayer, salah. There are many prophetic hadith on this topic. Here, we will mention just two of them, one describing his actions and other quoting his statements. ‘Abdullah ibn Ghanam related that Abu Musa al-Ash’ari…