بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Description of the Prophet's صلى الله عليه و سلم Prayer
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1 – Facing the direction of the Ka’bah
1- When you stand up to pray, face the direction of the Ka’bah wherever you are, in both fard (obligatory) and naafil (supererogatory) prayers. This is one of the pillars of prayer, without which prayer is not valid.
2- The obligation of facing the direction of prayer does not apply to one who is engaged in warfare, when he prays the fear prayer (salaat al-khawf) or is engaged in heavy fighting. It also does not apply to those who are unable to do it, such as one who is sick, or one who is traveling on a ship, in a car or on a plane, if they fear that the time of the prayer will elapse (before they reach a place where they can find the correct direction). And it does not apply to one who is praying a naafil prayer or witr prayer whilst riding on a riding-animal etc., but it is mustahabb for him to face the qiblah if he is able to do so when pronouncing the takbeer of ihraam (at the beginning of the prayer), then he may face whatever direction he is facing.
3- Everyone who can see the Ka’bah must face it; those who cannot see it must face its direction.
Ruling on not facing the Ka’bah in prayer by mistake:
4- If a person prays not facing the qiblah, because of clouds [preventing him from working out the direction from the position of the sun] or some other reason, after he did his best to work out the right direction, his prayer is valid and he does not have to repeat it.
5- If someone whom he trusts comes – whilst he is praying – and tells him of the right direction, then he must hasten to turn that way, and his prayer is valid.
2 – Qiyaam (standing in prayer)
6- It is obligatory to pray standing. This is a pillar (essential part of prayer), except for the one who is praying the fear prayer or at times of intense fighting, when it is permitted to pray whilst riding; for the one who is sick and unable to stand, who should pray sitting if he is able, otherwise lying on his side; and the one who is praying a naafil prayer, who may pray whilst riding or sitting if he wishes, and he indicates the rukoo’ and sujood with his head. The one who is sick may also do this, and he should make his sujood lower than his rukoo’.
7- It is not permissible for one who is praying sitting down to put something raised up on the ground in order to prostrate on it. Rather he should make his sujood lower than his rukoo’ – as we have mentioned – if he is unable to touch the ground directly with his forehead.
Prayer on board a ship or airplane
8- It is permissible to pray fard prayers on board a ship or airplane.
9- It is permissible to pray them sitting down if one fears that one may fall.
10- It is permissible to lean on a pillar or stick when standing, if one is old or weak in body.
Combining standing and sitting in prayer
11- It is permissible to pray qiyaam al-layl standing or sitting with no excuse, or to do both. So a person may pray and reciting sitting down, and just before doing rukoo’ he may stand up and recite the rest of the aayahs standing up, then do rukoo’ and sujood, then he can do likewise in the second rak’ah.
12- If he prays sitting down, he should pray sitting cross-legged or in whatever position he finds comfortable.
Praying wearing shoes
13- It is permissible to pray barefoot, or to pray wearing shoes.
14- It is better to pray sometimes barefoot and sometimes wearing shoes, according to what is easy; one should not make it difficult to put shoes on or to take them off in order to pray If a person is barefoot, he should pray barefoot and if he is wearing shoes then he should pray wearing shoes, except when there is a reason not to do so.
15- If he takes them off, then he should not place them to his right; rather he should place them to his left, if there is no one on his left, otherwise he should put them between his feet. There is a subtle hint that he should not place them in front of himself. This is the etiquette which most worshippers ignore, so you see them praying facing their shoes! This is what was narrated in the saheeh reports from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
Praying on the minbar
16- It is permissible for the imaam to pray on an elevated place such as the minbar, in order to teach the people. So he should stand up on it to pray, then say takbeer, recite Qur’aan and do rukoo’ whilst he is on that place, then he should come down backwards so that he can prostrate on the ground at the base of the minbar, then he may go back to it and do the same in the second rak’ah as he did in the first.
It is obligatory to pray facing a sutrah and be close to it
17- It is obligatory to pray facing a sutrah (screen or cover), there is no difference whether that is in the mosque or elsewhere, whether the mosque is big or small, because of the general meaning of the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), “Do not pray except facing a sutrah, and do not let anyone pass in front of you, and if he insists then fight him, for he has a companion (qareen) with him” – meaning the Shaytaan.
18- It is obligatory to be close to the sutrah, because this is what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded.
19- Between the place where the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) prostrated and the wall there would be a space nearly big enough for a sheep to pass through. Whoever does that is close enough [to the sutrah] as is required. I say: from this we known that what people do in all the mosques that I have seen in Syria and elsewhere, by praying in the middle of the mosque far away from the wall or pillars is but negligence towards the command and action of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
How high should the sutrah be?
20- The sutrah should be approximately a handspan or two above the ground, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When one of you places in front of him something such as the stick on the end of a saddle, he should pray and not worry about anyone who passes in front of that.” This hadeeth indicates that a line on the ground is not sufficient, and the hadeeth narrated concerning that is da’eef (weak).
21- He should face the sutrah directly, because this is apparent meaning of the command to pray towards the sutrah. Stepping slightly to the right or left so that one is not facing it directly, is not correct.
22- It is permissible to pray facing a stick planted in the ground and the like, or a tree, or a pillar, or one’s wife lying down in bed underneath her blanket, or an animal, even if it is a camel.
Prohibition of praying towards graves
23- It is not permitted to pray facing graves at all, whether they are the grave of Prophets or of others.
Prohibition of walking in front of one who is praying even in al-Masjid al-Haraam
24- It is not permitted to walk in front of one who is praying if there is a sutrah in front of him [i.e., it is not permissible to come between him and his sutrah]. There is no difference in this regard between al-Masjid al-Haraam and other mosques, all of them are the same in that this [walking in front of one who is praying] is not permitted, because of the general meaning of the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “If the person who passes in front of one who is praying knew how great a burden of sin resulted from that, standing for forty [years] would be better for him than passing in front of one who is praying.” This refers to passing between him and the place of his prostration. The hadeeth which speaks of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) praying in Haashiyat al-Mataaf without a sutrah and with people passing in front of him is not saheeh, even though it does not say that they were passing between him and his place of prostration. It is obligatory for the one who is prostrating to prevent the one who wants to pass in front of him, even in Masjid al-Haraam.
25- It is not permissible for the one who is praying towards a sutrah to let anyone pass in front of him, because of the hadeeth quoted above, “Do not let anyone pass in front of you…” And because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When one of you is praying towards something which is a sutrah between him and the people, and someone wants to pass in front of him, then he should push him in the upper chest and repel him as much as he can.” According to another report: “… he should stop him twice, but if he insists then he should fight him, for he is a devil.”
Stepping forward to prevent someone passing in front of him
26- It is permissible for a person to take one or two steps to the front, in order to prevent one who is not responsible from passing in front of him, such as an animal or a small child, and to make them pass behind him.
What breaks prayer
27- The sutrah is so important to prayer that it prevents a person’s prayer from being invalidated, if someone passes in front of him. This is in contrast to the one who does not use a sutrah, whose prayer is broken if an adult woman, a donkey or a black dog passes in front of him.
3 – Niyyah (intention)
28- The worshipper must have the intention of praying the prayer for which he is standing. He must have the intention in his heart of performing a specific prayer, such as the fard (obligatory prayer) of Zuhr or of ‘Asr, or the Sunnah of those prayers. This is a condition or pillar (essential part) of the prayer, but uttering the intention verbally is a bid’ah which goes against the Sunnah, which was not suggested by any of the imams who are followed.
4 – Takbeer
29- Then he should start the prayer by saying “Allaahu akbar (Allaah is Most Great).” This is an essential part of the prayer, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The key to prayer is purifying oneself (wudoo’), it is entered by takbeer (saying ‘Allaahu akbar’) and exited by tasleem (saying ‘al-salaamu ‘alaykum’)” i.e, once you say takbeer, certain things are prohibited and this prohibition ends when you say tasleem.
30- He should not raise his voice when saying takbeer in all the prayers, unless he is acting as an imaam.
31- It is permissible for the muezzin to convey the takbeer of the imaam to the people, if there is a need to do so, such as if the imaam is sick and his voice is weak, or because there are many worshippers praying behind him.
32- The one who is following the imaam should not say takbeer until the imaam has finished saying takbeer.
Raising the hands – how it is to be done
33- He should raise his hands when saying the takbeer, or before or after doing so. All of these are proven in the Sunnah.
34- He should raise them with the fingers stretched out.
35- He should raise them level with his shoulders, or sometimes until they are level with his earlobes. I say: with regard to touching the earlobes with the thumbs, there is no basis for this in the Sunnah, rather in my view this has to do with waswaas (insinuating whispers of the Shaytaan).
Placing the hands – how it is to be done
36- Then he should place his right hand on his left, immediately after the takbeer. This is the way of the Prophets (peace be upon them), and this is what the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) enjoined upon his companions. It is not permissible to let the arms hang at the sides.
37- The right hand should be placed on the back of the left hand, wrist and forearm.
38- Sometimes the left hand may be grasped with the right. The combination of placing and grasping, which was favoured by some later scholars, has no basis.
Where they should be placed
39- The hands should be placed on the chest only; there is no difference between men and women in this regard. I say: placing them anywhere other than on the chest is da’eef (weak) or has no basis.
40- It is not permissible to put the right hand on the waist.
Humility and looking at the place of prostration
41- The worshipper must be humble in his prayer, and should avoid everything that may distract him from it, such as adornments and decorations. He should not pray where there is food that he wants to eat, or when he needs to urinate or defecate.
42- Whilst he is standing, he should look towards the place where he will prostrate.
43- He should not look to the right or the left, because looking here and there is a snatching away which the Shaytaan steals from the prayer of the slave.
44- It is not permissible for him to look up at the sky.
Du’aa’ al-Istiftaah (du’aa’ at the start of prayer)
45- Then he should start the prayer with some of the du’aa’s which are narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). There are many of these, the most famous of which is “Subhaanaka Allaahumma wa bihamdika, wa tabaaraka ismuka wa ta’aala jadduka, wa laa ilaaha ghayruka (Glory and praise be to You O Allaah, blessed be Your name and exalted be Your Majesty, and there is no god but You).” The command to do this is proven so we should adhere to it. Whoever wants to see the other du’aa’s may refer to Sifat al-Salaah, p. 91-95, Maktabat al-Ma’aarif, Riyadh, edition. [In English, see “The Prophet’s Prayer described” by Shaykh al-Albaani, al-Haneef Publications, p. 14-19]
Continued