Prayers

Thefive daily mandatory prayersare the pillars of Islam. Referred to
assolaah, the Muslim form of prayer comprises of a series of postures
in which Qur'anic verses are recited and Allah SWT is praised and
supplicated.
Theprimary purposeof prayer is to instill Allah-consciousness in an
individual. It is our duty as a creation of Allah SWT to worship Him
at any time or under any circumstances. It will make a Muslim more
disciplined and help him avoid committing deeds that are forbidden by
Allah SWT.
Prior to performing prayer, the Muslimpurifieshimself/herself. He/she
must be clean and pure from any najaasah orimpuritiesbefore performing
the prayer. The purification process, viaablution or a complete bath,
is with water. In the absence of water, one can perform the tayammum
with sand or other alternative substances.
The five obligatory prayers that Muslims perform every day areFajr,
Zuhr ,Asr, Maghreeb and Ishaa'. In countries where there are large
Muslim communities, the call to prayer (azaan) is announced loudly to
indicate the time of each prayer. That is followed by the iqaamah
which denotes that the prayer is about to begin. The command
concerning prayer is contained in the following Qur'anic verse:
"Verily! I am Allah (SWT)! Laa-ilaaha-illa Ana (none has the right to
be worshipped but I), so worship Me, and perform As-Solaah
(iqaamat-us-solaah) for My Remembrance. [Taaha: 14]
While in prayer, astate of full concentration or khushookshould be
attained to ensure that the person's heart is attuned to make his/her
act a true remembrance of Allah SWT and is turned to Him for
forgiveness. When khushook is attained, the worshipper feels a kind of
calmness and strength to obey Allah SWT and to avoid what He forbids.
There are severalblessingsthat Muslims should notice while performing
their prayers. Prayer makes us fully aware that we are servants of
Allah SWT and thus we should adore and obey Him by performing what has
been prescribed to us. That is why the prayer has been described as
'remembrance' in the Qur'an - its true meaning and purpose lie in
remembering Allah SWT.
Regular establishment of prayer makes one constantly aware that we
live in His presence and His love, and at the same time fear His power
so as to avoid whatever that may displease Him.This is emphasized in
the following Qur'anic verse:
"Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee; and establish
regular Prayer, for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds;
and remembrance of Allah (SWT) is the greatest (thing in life) without
doubt. And Allah (SWT) knows the (deeds) that ye do." [Al-Ankaboot:
45]
On theimportance of prayer, Prophet Muhammad SAW said:
"The first matter that the slave will be brought to account for on the
Day of Judgment is the prayer. If it is sound, then the rest of his
deeds will be sound. And if it is bad, then the rest of his deeds will
be bad." [Bukhari]
Apart from the daily five, there are also several recommended
prayersthat Muslims can perform in order to please Allah SWT and to
gain rewards in the Hereafter.
The other Arabic word that can be translated as prayer in English
isdu'aa, which means supplication or asking assistance from Allah SWT
to fulfill a specific need of this life or in the Hereafter. In Islam,
worship means to revere, serve and obey Allah SWT in one's life wholly
and completely. The word du'aa indicates a direct relationship between
the worshipper and his Creator.
Affirming this, the Prophet SAW said:
"Du'aa is worship." [Abu Dawood]

Fathwa, - False claim about early marriage of..

Question
Assalaamu alykum wa rahmataullahi wa barakatuh. a person has told me
that they believe islamicaly a father should marry his daughter to a
practicing muslim brother before her third menses. if she is not
married after that then it is a sin on the father. i wanted to know
whether this is correct or an innovation. if this is correct what is
the daleel? jazakal'Allah khair
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that
Muhammadis His slave and Messenger.
We did not exactly understand what you meant by marrying off one's
daughter before she gets the third menses. Perhaps what is meant is
the third menses since she reaches puberty and first starts to
menstruate. In any case, there is no evidence for this statement and
it is not true.
However, a guardian should take the initiative to marry off the girl
who is under his guardianship and the earlier the better as this
protects her and keeps her chaste.For more benefit, please refer to
Fataawa 116746and 13907.
It should be noted that it is permissible for the guardian to offer
his daughter in marriage to righteous men as'Umar ibn Al-Khattaabdid
regarding his daughterHafsah.
Allaah Knows best.

Fathwa, - They do not know if the witness to ..

Question
I hope you can answer this question regarding Nikkah. If a couple had
the marriage contract performed in a masjid with the wali present and
one witness was the Imam of the mosque and the second witness was
provided by the mosque and there were no other witnesses present and
the Imam introduced the second witness as our respected trustee of the
mosque. The couple didn't ask if he prayed but assumed he did because
of his position as trustee but he didn't have beard. Should we doubt
he prayed ? and is he a valid witness and is the nikkah valid? )There
is nothing to suggest he didn't pray just doubts in the mind (.
Jazakallah hu Khair
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that
Muhammadis His slave and Messenger.
In principle, a Muslim is innocent until proven otherwise, so it is
not permissible to think evil of a Muslim without evidence. Allaah
says )what means(: }O you who have believed, avoid much ]negative[
assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin.{]Quran 49:12[
It is even more recommended to think good of the Muslim if he is
introduced by the Imaam of the Masjid as a witness. Moreover, the fact
that he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Masjid repels to a
great extent the doubt that he does not pray.
Therefore, if the marriage contract took place in the presence of the
guardian and two Muslim witnesses and they witnessed the marriage
contract, then this marriage is valid and it leads to its effects. For
more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 86384.
Hence, such doubt should be ignored and this married couple should
continue their marital life and base it on affection and kindness.
Allaah Knows best.

Fathwa, - This statement does not necessarily..

Question
Asallam U alaikum, Could you tell me if husband said statement in
anger 'get out of here' without intention of divorce, however because
couple were unsure of ruling wife said say 'take me back' and husband
said 'i take u back ' on the wife's request however he didn't have any
intention of divorce to begin with, is this still not counted as one
divorce as there was no intention of divorce in the first place? Or
does his saying 'I take you back ' make it count as one?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad,
is His Slave and Messenger.
If the husband says to his wife 'get out of here', this does not make
divorce take place unless he intends to initiate a divorce. Kindly,
refer to the Fataawa 90531and 98703about the metaphors of divorce.
As for the statement of that husband to his wife 'I take you back',
believing that divorce had taken place, this does not entail the
occurrence of divorce and it has no effect at all.
Allaah Knows best.