Why the Prophet Used a Lance During Prayer

Alhamdulillah.

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Before we begin with the questions, inshallah I have a question for everyone here. Let's see who amongst us knows the answer to this question for the benefit of all the rest of us. There's a narration in where the companions narrated to us the way that the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam would make he would make salah outside of the masjid. Actually he'd make salah outside of the city limits. He sai wasam along with all the other companions from Medina. Everyone would go to the outskirts of Medina out to the desert where it was flat. There's nothing there. And he would make there most of us, many of us know this already. The question that I have is a detail that the companions mentioned that is a little bit curious. They mentioned that when he would go that when he would go, he would have one of his companions, whether it's Bil or whether it's Ib Masoud or whoever, any one of his servants or companions, he would have them carry with them something that is called a anaz.

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In the Arabic language is a lance. What were you going to say?

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What is.

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Is still alive. One of my first mash, he'd always say, and then the person would be like, very good. But you're wrong. It's a It's a lance, right? Huh? So, it's a lance. It's a spear, but it's shorter, right? Spears are very long. This is a lance. It's a very short lance that usually would be used with a shield. So, they'd take that with them out into the desert for something. He'd use it. What were they using that for? Why would he have them take this? And why is this detail important that the companions felt they needed to tell us about it? Any takers? What What would you imagine a spear needs to be for? Huh? Protection. It is for a type of protection, but not the kind of protection we're thinking.

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He would use it as a sutra. A sutra in the Arabic language is a covering. That's what it literally translates to, a covering. Because the desert is flat and because they'd go to a flat area, he would take this spear, this land, and it would be stuck in the ground for him to pray towards so that it's not open in front of him. It would be stuck in the ground ahead of him and he would pray towards it. Right now he mentioned our brother mentioned an addition there a hashia which is so that people wouldn't move in front of him or walk in front of him. Everybody's behind him. Who's going to be walking around in the desert in front of him? Nobody. He's the imam in the front. He's got this lance right in front of him. He prays towards it and makes a salah towards it. This is called a sutra. The prophet sallall.aii Wasam said in Muslim about this. He saidnone of you is to pray except to a sutra in front of him. Meaning anytime you pray, you have to pray towards a a covering or a shield, which is exactly what it means and translates to a sutra. And what this means is that anytime a person goes to pray, he's commanding the companions, you never pray with it just open in front of you. Even if you're out in the desert all by yourself, you always pray towards a sutra. The exact wording of the hadith, none of you is to pray except to a sutra in front of him. Now, a sutra could be anything. Obviously, he took the lance because it could be stuck in the ground. It would remain erect on its own. But it could be anything. A wall, a pillar. If he found himself traveling, he would use his camel and pray towards it and the the saddle that's on the camel and sometimes they would st the companions would stack up stones in front of them and pray towards those. Sometimes even Iban Abbass if he was in the masid and couldn't find an adequate sutra he would pray towards the back of the person that is in front of him. They would always pray towards a sutra. Why would they pray towards a sutra? The prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam tells us because a shan passes in front of a person during his prayer and depletes the reward of a person's prayer even if they're praying alone. This is something unseen, something we can't we can't see. And so we're commanded to pray towards a sutra. And the sutra is also very important in a public area so that people know that you're praying and that you set up a parameter for yourself to where someone would not pass between you and your sutra. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam would pray and keep the distance between himself and his sutra as three cubits. What are three cubits? In the Arabic language is from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. This is called a dra. Right now notice that the prophet sallall.aii wasallam's cubit is going to be longer than mine and yours because they were much bigger in their bodies back then. But as our bodies got smaller and our cubits got shorter, the same distance is to be kept with our cubits from ourselves and our sutra. So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam commanded that if a person is in the masid in the wild by himself at home wherever a person is alone in company and especially if a person is leading salah as an imam they always pray towards a sutra. Often times we see a person will come into the masid, stand at the very back of the masid with the whole masid in front of them and start praying. And then you watch, you observe this and you see people are kind of confused. How close is too close for me to pass in front of them? Right? So sometimes people will see someone praying all the way in the back. They'll walk. They're trying to cross over this way. They'll walk all the way like there's a fence there to behind them and come all the way back in the front. This is unnecessary. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam sutra is three cubits ahead of him. Meaning that when he would make sujud, there was about a foot as described in Bkari between his head and the wall or the sutra that he would be making salah in front of. And so what is the maximum distance or the minimum distance that a person can cross in front of another person making salah? Because we all know it's haram to walk across someone making salah. Correct. The question is how far ahead? Anybody know? Very good. The place where their head would be in sujud. The four mib mention at most three cubits which is a little bit past where your head would be in sujud mjut. This is the maximum distance that is reserved for a person when they are praying. If a person walks across beyond that distance in front of a person, they're not walking in front in front of the person's prayer. What is walking in front of a person is between them and their place of sujud as the scholars and jurists mention anything beyond that it's not walking in front of them. So for instance here in our masjid we have these lines. When a person makes sjud they have this line in front of them. If a person were to cross in front of another person beyond this line that distance is sufficient. Beyond that they don't have to they don't have to avoid walking in front of a person because walking in front of a person praying is only considered walking across a person's prayer when it is between them and their place of sujud. So having said that inshallah I know that last week I had mentioned that we would start directly with the questions but sometimes I feel a cold start with questions. the juices aren't really flowing yet and so people don't really have any questions. There's kind of an icebreaker inshallah. So we'll start with the questions now. just pertaining to what you just said about sutra does this apply in Caba and Medina Madina.

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Is does this issue of having a sutra apply in Mecca and Medina? The majority of the scholars who who view this rule as being applicable and a person is to adhere by this rule of not crossing in front of a person in Salah. Most of them mention that this is specific for Mecca, not for Medina. Right? Mecca because of the way that the prayer is set up around the cabba. Everywhere around that cabba is the direction of salah. Whereas in Medina, it's all one direction. Everybody is facing. So there's less of a need to have to cross in front of someone in order to get out. But in Mecca, it it's almost anywhere you go, you're passing in front of someone. And so the correct opinion is that a person is to avoid crossing in front of another person praying anywhere they are whether Mecca or elsewhere. However, if it is necessary to do so then it is permissible in Mecca and possibly in Medina in the opinion of some scholars when it is needed when it is necessary. Now, it doesn't mean that a person should just be strolling around you know, walking in front of everybody as they're praying, even if they're at the Cabba. The reason that the scholars view Mecca and some mention Medina as exempted from this ruling is not necessarily because of the place, but because of the sheer amount of people and the sheer amount of influx of people that will make it almost impossible for a person to move or leave or come in or enter adequately without having to cross in front of someone. So in the situation where a person is in Mecca in Medina, some scholars mention anywhere where it is excessively overpacked and and and it's not possible to move around then it becomes an issue of necessity and it becomes permissible. But a person should always be conscious of this and not you know make a habit of crossing in front of somebody praying even if they're at the Caba or Mecca. Very good question. But another part of the question is should a person still use a sutra if they're praying in Mecca? And the answer is yes. All of the scholars view that as being preferred if a person is able to do so. Right? The issue that the scholars exempted was walking in front of someone who's praying, not necessarily you taking a sutra. But it's permissible and and the prayer is valid if a person doesn't have a sutra albeit their reward is is can be grossly depleted. now okay over here we got two we got over.

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These etiquette of the salah? Okay. So this is another very good question. As soon as they are able to understand the teaching, right? Whether they be 3 years old or four years old, as soon as they're able to understand the difference between this is right and this is wrong, this is my right hand and this is my left hand. this is appropriate and this is inappropriate. At that moment, we begin teaching these etiquets, right? Sometimes people fail to do that because they say, "Well, you know, it's just a kid." No, kids, kids need to learn these things as soon as they're able in order to start to see the world around them as structured in the way that Allah has commanded, rather as being something that they turn on and off a switch depending on where they are. So as soon as an a child reaches the age of te means the age of discrepancy where they're able to discriminate between right and wrong and good and bad and then they should be taught this right and at the age of seven when they begin to pray when they are commanded to pray now now they are to be held accountable for breaking these rules. But sometimes it's a a very young child a toddler that has no idea what they're being, you know, shued away for or even an animal. So in Sah Muslim, the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam was praying and he was leading the companions in salah and suddenly a sheep came running across and was going to cross in front of him right they were in the masjid a person may say what's a sheep doing in the masjid the masjid didn't have doors okay it was just open it was open air place and it didn't even have a ceiling only the front had some kind of tent over it and So, , sheep would come in and dogs and and and foxes would come in and snakes would get in and so forth. And so, a sheep wandered into the masjid one day. And while he was in prayer, he saw the sheep coming to cross in front of him. The companion said that he walked forward in prayer until his stomach was against the wall of the masid and the sheep walked behind him and then he backed back up and took his former position in salah. So even an animal a person is not to allow anything to cross in front of him while he is in salah. And this might mean that a person has small children. They're still not old enough to understand that when I'm praying, don't come in front of me. Maybe you need to have a a room with a with a door that when you pray, you go in there to pray, right? Until the children are old enough to understand not to cross in front of mom and dad when they're in salah. Now, I think brother Well here had a question. Yes.

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It's kind of a follow-up question or maybe just two follow-up question. One for today and the one two weeks ago. I didn't have chance to follow up but for tonight you you mentioned that sutra.

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A hadith ofas that talks about the the sin of that where he mentioned you'll be either going back 40 and some people said is 40 40 days 40 years.

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That? So that's just a follow up on that. So this is the the narration you're referring to is the narration of in which he told his companions his students said.

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He for.

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So the narration that you're referring to is is the narration of and in this narration he said that I heard the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam say if the person cry crossing in front of another insah only knew the kind of punishment for doing so that awaits him. He would stand there for 40. Meaning he would rather stand there and wait for him to finish his prayer. Even if that were to stand there for 40 and then he stopped. So his student said 40 what? 40 years. He said, "I refuse to say anything." They said, "40 months." He said, "I refuse." What this means is that Abu Huray was uncertain of that last part of the narration. Was it years? Was it months? Was it weeks? He couldn't remember. So, he didn't want to say anything that the prophet didn't say. Sallallam. So, he said 40. Many of the scholars if not most of the the scholars that explain the this hadith they mentioned that the correct opinion is that it is 40 years right meaning a for 40 years of they would rather stand for 40 years there than cross and interrupt a slave and his master in prayer if they only knew what repercussions awaited them for doing so in the hereafter. So it's a very stern warning against taking another person's salah for granted. never walk in front of a person praying and that's not just in prayer but from this narration we understand any disruption of prayer. any disruption of prayer, loud voices, loud sounds, doing things that will interrupt anyone's prayer. You never want to impede a man or woman trying to earn Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's favor and someone who is engaged with Allah in that very sacred exchange that is.

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Ago I just don't want to stop but when you mentioned that parents have to be fair with their kids.

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To give the other one.

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Time did not permit. So what if for instance you set up certain things because you wanted to reward the kids based on you say okay if you guys do your chores you will get this and get that. What if one of them gets it the other one doesn't and then you end up rewarding one? Is that considered that you're not fair or you're not supposed to even do that?

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Considered fair. Why? because both of them had a fair opportunity, right? So, I have two kids. I say, "Guys, you got to clean the dishes, take out the trash, blah blah blah, and whoever does that gets $5, right? One of them did that and the other didn't. I gave one and not the other." Why? Not because I'm giving them a gift. Because the narration is speaking about giving a gift, right? If you give a gift to one of your children, you have to give the rest of them. However, this is not a gift. This is something that they earn. You gave them both the opportunity equally. One of them capitalized on it, the other did not. There's nothing wrong with this at all. And this is one of the ways that even the companions would raise their children and and commend their children for for doing good deeds and and reprimand them for not doing right. Reward is not just punishment. Reward is also a part of the equation in raising children. Now.

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That brother over there had a question. So what are the requirements for the sutra? Can it be a static object like the wall or do you have to physically place it? And if you do physically place it, are there height requirements? Are there any width requirements? Anything that? Very good. So, I I'll mention something to you as an anecdote and maybe someone here could relate, but my mother, she used to say all the time, tell me a little, a little knowledge is dangerous. Meaning when you don't have the full story, it can be very dangerous to implement half of a teaching. So when I was a kid, they would teach us the our elders in and you know fall when I was growing up, they would teach us that your sutra when you put something in front of you as a sutra, it has to be something that can draw blood. Something that can draw blood. What does that mean? Someone somewhere, Allah knows who, probably picked up a book and saw that it was a spear and made this deduction somehow and it started to be as almost a wives tail that your sutra has to be able to draw blood. So he they would tell us you can use a a nail, you can use a thumbtack, you can use a sewing needle, you know, anything that draws blood. This is not at all correct or relevant. rather the sutra has no width requirement and it has no depth requirement. The only requirement that the sutra has that the prophet sallall.aii wasallam mentioned is a height requirement. And the height is he said that the sutra should be relative in height to the end of a camel's saddle. Now I'll explain what that means. So the saddle of a camel is very different than a horse. But to make a long story short, when people would sit on their camel, they had a stick, , kind of board, better to say, a board that would come out at the back of the saddle and it would stand up like this and you could lean your back up against it while you were riding, kind of a, you know, a back rest while you were riding. This is called and Iben Mandur and others of the scholars mention that is about a cubit and a fourth. So it's about a cubit and a little bit that is the height the average height of so when the prophet sallallah.aihi alaihi wasallam told the companions it should be at least the height of the back rest of a camel saddle. It is roughly a cubit and a little bit or a cubit. Even if it's less than a cubit, a little bit less. So we could say a cubit is roughly 18 in let's say right? It would be if it were 16 or 15 in or if it were 22 in that's not a problem right it's an approximation the minimum height requirement is all that is necessary the next thing is that the sutra should be from the ground up meaning that if it hangs or is above the ground then it would not count. So for instance, let's say there were curtains hanging and they are that long but they are not touching the ground. This would not be a sutra. Or let's say for instance I have a table and I pray towards the center not towards the legs of the table. This would not be a sutra. A sutra has to start from the ground or touch the ground and go up. These are the two requirements that the Islamic jurists mention with regards to the parameters of what a sutra is and what kind of sutra is considered valid. Very good question. I think we could probably take maybe one or two more questions real quick. You got one here and you got one over there. Go ahead over there and then come back here. And this guy's double dipping. You know, double dipping is is bad manners in America, right? Okay. Go ahead. Asalam alalaykum.

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Where you can't be certain about the direction of the.

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Direction this direction but you tried your best to to pray to the direction of the.

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A whole day you discovered that actually it was not accurate. It was a little bit the other direction. So what should you do about your salah? Should you make up for the ones or what exactly happens here? Okay. So this exact thing happened to the companions while they were traveling with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So the caravan it was a cloudy night and they had lost their bearings and they couldn't see the stars. So they were not certain which direction the pibla was and so some companions prayed in one direction others prayed in another direction they weren't praying together okay but they were each you know each person is in his tent or whatever in his area and he's think I my best judgment is the is this way so the companions actually made lines in the sand or in the dirt so that the next morning when the sun rose they'd be able to determine who had actually made salah in the correct direction and obviously they were opposing directions so some of them were wrong and only one of them was right. However, none of them was commanded by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam to remake his salah and none of them remade their salah because they asked and he did not instruct them to redo their salah. Why? Because that is the overarching principle upon which all commands of Allah are built and that is no soul shall be burdened beyond its ability. You are commanded to make salah towards the you are commanded to make and try to use your best judgment and every tool at your disposal to make sure that your salah is in the correct direction. If you use everything you can and you do your best to make salah in that correct direction and then later find out that it was in the wrong direction, your prayer is valid and you do not have to make up your salah. Second of all, there is a part that you didn't ask about but perhaps would be beneficial and that is how accurate is making salah towards the that is necessary. What kind of accuracy is necessary? I mean do I have to use a laser compass? Do I have to use satellite GPS coordination? , do I have to use ballistic charts to make sure that my salah is exactly exactly towards the center of the the Kaa? The answer is no. The answer is no. And that is the opinion of the three other than the and that is that explain the verse in. So he said the verse states to face towards the approximate direction of the kappa. What is approximate? The scholars of Phil have said that it is 35°. 35 degrees is an approximation of the general direction of the right. so excuse me 35 45° so a fourth. So 45 degrees is the direction is actually to my right or to my left. If the is anywhere within this 30 to 35° okay some mention a little more it has to be at least that then the salah is correct. Most most massaged are built slightly off especially the older massagid in many countries most countries as a matter of fact you would be hardressed to find a masid that is pointing precisely towards the cabba right and even in North America this was a thing you know in the 80s and 90s most people were facing towards which direction southeast right and then later you know it became s northeast and so on and so forth many massaged many were made towards that direction if a person is facing south east or northeast you've got this kind of thing going on as long as you do not have your face completely away from the thel the salah is correct And so 30 35° off this is acceptable as an approximation of the direction of the I can't remember a single major masid that I was a part of that I served in in which eventually someone will come to me as the imam and bring me a bunch of paperwork and a bunch of essays talking about the masid is actually 3° off of the Kaa and so what do you want me to do? You want me to tear the masid down and rebuild it? What what is your solution here? And they want to make a big fitna about it and a big issue and we got to put lines and instead of facing this way, we need to change three degrees and have all the lines f this is insanity, right? It's not a ballistic missile. It's not a tra it's not a projectile that is going to make it over. We don't have to you know worry about gravity and the coralis effect and so forth in our salah. It is an approximation. In the time of the companions the prophet sallall.aii Wasallam said and Muslim he said if the if the south is to your left and the north is to your right then pray. That is for them when they were where when they moved to Medina they would make their salah towards the towards the west. When they later changed and started to make their salah towards the east, which is towards Mecca, they north would be on your left. The south would be to your right. And you would make salah. We all know that Mecca is slightly south east. It's not exactly east, but that's how he taught the companions to pray. That's where got this. If our salah had to be precisely to the then we would not be able to make our rose any wider than the ka is correct because if we made our rose or in the masid wider than the ka somebody invariably is going to be praying off of the ka but none of the fukah have come to this conclusion. So a slight deviation from the exact direction of the Cabba is acceptable. It's not only acceptable but it is expected. Now we'll have one last very quick is it a quick question or we got to keep it till next week.

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Let's go.

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Minutes over here.

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I heard something a little bit concerning and it came to mind because we're on the topic of salah and the parenting came up. I heard that someone taught their kid that if they miss the salah then the rest of their prayers are invalid. So I want to you know clear that up. No, there's no narration that is authentic that articulates that one prayer one prayer's invalidity or one prayer's mi one prayer missed has any effect on another prayer and a narration of this meaning that whoever misses fudar then the rest of their prayers are invalid is not a narration It's not only I wouldn't even say it's not an authentic narration. It's not even a narration and it's a it would could never be a narration because that doesn't fit the pattern of the way that the laws of the Quran and Sunnah are set up. Furthermore, these kinds of mis quotings and kinds of fables and stuff, they are tools in the hands of a shanim to destroy the Muslims will and to break down our our march to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. comes and he says remember whoever misses fud the rest of their prayer isn't valid. Now we got a guy say, "Well, what's the point of praying? It's not going to be valid anyways. I'll start again tomorrow." This is more dangerous than poison. It's more dangerous upon the Muslims than alcohol and gambling. It's more dangerous than a loaded gun. These kinds of misconceptions and misquotations of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Thank you very much for bringing that up.

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Well, you know, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said the question that our brother Abu Gazi is Abui mentioned is that what what is the reaction or what is the course of action for a person who has someone attempt to pass in front of them? The pro right? So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said meaning stop him if he tries to cross path and he said he said and if the person insists to cross in front of you after alerting them that you're praying and not to cross in front of them then fight them off because with them is a shan some of the fukah have even mentioned you know very interesting things regarding this issue but the meaning of the narration is that you are not to allow anyone to pass in front of you and if they insist on crossing you are to insist on stopping them from crossing. However, what about if it's someone that sheep that tried to cross in front of him? If he was unable to walk and make the sheep cross behind him and that sheep insisted on crossing in front of him, would he have fought with the sheep? The answer is no, right? Because it's unable to understand. It doesn't know what's going on. A small child, same thing. A non-Muslim at at work is the same thing because they have no idea what you're doing. Right? So in that kind of situation, you would not hit someone or fight with them or anything that. The point of the narration is to alert the person that you're praying and how far in front of you just the place of sujud right here. And most people feel too uncomfortable to come that close to another person anyways. It's unnatural to be that close walking by a stranger. Most of us don't do this, right? And so that is the meaning of the narration. Now some people they take it too far. for instance as soon as someone tries to walk in front of them they'll hit them or they'll push them violently. This is not permissible obviously. And another thing is you know I'll mention this very quickly. Often times people misunderstand this as being for anyone who is in salah. And that's not correct. So if you are praying in Jama and you have an im that only applies to the im. It doesn't apply to anybody else in the in the in the salah. When you are in salah, your im is your or as the the say that the imutra is the sutra of the people behind him. So if people walk between the rows or it will not invalidate or affect a person's prayer at all. And maybe most of us even have been in the situation where maybe you remember that you don't have wudoo or you need to leave the masid. You're in salah and the rows are all set up. You try to come out of the prayer and you get an arm on this side. Then you turn around to go out the other way. You get another arm and you're stuck there standing waiting for people to finish prayer. This is ignorance. If a person has to leave the prayer, they leave and walk out between the rows. No problem at all. The next person steps forward and they fill in those gaps. If a person were to come in and observe the front row is not full, for instance, and there's other rows, they can come in in front of the rose rock between them and fill in those gaps. Actually, that would be obligatory is to fill in the front rows before the rear ones.

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Alhamdulillah. Seven. Love.