How Precise Must You Face the Kaaba?

Brothers and sisters, respected guests, thank you for joining us on another edition to our series on the book Zad al-Ma'ad authored by the great and esteemed late scholar of Islam, Shams al-Din Up till now, we have discussed how the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would usually stand for prayer, what he would say at the beginning of his prayer. We discussed the pause that would take place. We discussed that Ibn al-Qayyim in summary has essentially told us that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he wished to pray, he would stand for salah, raise his hands to his ears or to his shoulders, this way and that, and he would face his hands towards the qibla,.

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And this would initiate his prayer. Ibn al-Qayyim tells us that the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam would never verbalize his intentions for prayer. That he Sallallahu alaihi wasallam would never put into words, I intend to pray such and such, and we discussed that in depth. We also discussed that the way a person should stand for prayer as the scholars of Islam mention, and this is a general rule we're going to give now. And that is that the scholars of Islam agree that one of the conditions of prayer is that an individual face towards the qibla. And this is what we want to discuss here for a few minutes. What do we mean by face towards the qibla? Well, let's take the verse from the Quran first. This is an issue that I hope everybody will pay very close attention to. It's actually not very difficult to understand, but it is an issue that has a few details, and many people are mis- construed about this issue of facing the qibla. When a person stands for prayer, he can only face one direction. One direction at a time. And at the beginning of Islam, the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam would face in his prayer towards Baytul Maqdis, towards al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Palestine. And he Sallallahu alaihi wasallam did this because this is what he was commanded at the beginning. He was always commanded to pray towards al-Masjid al-Aqsa. This is the direction that the Jews prayed towards. This is the direction that the Christians prayed towards. Now, Sheikh ul Islam ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah tells us that this was never the actual qibla of the prophets and messengers. He mentions rahimahullah that the direction of salah for every single prophet and messenger was always towards al-Kaaba al-Bayt al-Haram. It towards Mecca. All of them. From Adam alayhis salaam in one opinion all the way to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam their direction of prayer was always towards al-Bayt al-Haram. He mentions that in the time between Isa alayhis salaam and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam there was about a 500-year gap. This is known as al-Fatra. Fatra fur-rusul. There was a about a 500-year gap between Isa bin Maryam and the Prophet.

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During those years the direction of prayer was actually changed amongst the people of the book. And they started to face towards Bayt al-Maqdis. And one of the reasons is that Isa ibn Maryam alayhis salaam was born in those areas. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in Surat Maryam that Maryam alayhas salaam that she had taken a place of solace and a place of seclusion for herself, Makan ash-Sharqiyyah, in an eastern part, away from everyone.

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Where the innovation of praying towards al-Bayt al-Maqdis came from amongst ahl al-kitab." And he mentions this verse, which is in Surat Maryam. And so the point here is that the direction of prayer always for all of the prophets and messengers was towards Mecca. It was an innovation that was introduced by some of the followers of the prophets in the time between Musa, Isa, and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, in which they started to face towards Bayt al-Maqdis. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, when he was commanded to pray, at first and in Mecca, he was commanded to pray towards Bayt al-Maqdis. Why? Because this is the direction that the people of the book were praying at that time. And a test for the people was being formulated. And so the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, being in Mecca, what he would do is he would face the Kaaba and place the Kaaba between himself and Bayt al-Maqdis. So when he's standing for prayer, he's actually facing towards the Kaaba and Bayt al-Maqdis. Right? So he's facing both. Now when he migrated, alayhis salatu wassalam, from Mecca to Medina and the reason he did this is because he knew salallahu alayhi wasallam that the original direction of prayer for all of the prophets and messengers was the Kaaba. However, because due to a wisdom that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was implementing, he at first was commanded to face towards al-Bayt al-Maqdis. And so, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam, you could say two birds with one stone. He would stand with the Kaaba between himself and Bayt al-Maqdis. He would make his prayers and he would be facing both at the same time. Well, when he migrated from Mecca to Medina, now we can no longer do that. A person is either facing towards the Kaaba, hence facing away from Bayt al-Maqdis, or a person is facing towards Bayt al-Maqdis and hence facing away from the Kaaba. When the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam arrived in Medina, he was disturbed by this. Because he wanted to pray towards the direction of prayer that his brothers from amongst the prophets and messengers always prayed to. And so, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam would ask often that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala direct him back to the Kaaba, al-Bayt al-Haram, towards Mecca to make salah. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala finally answered his request in Surat al-Baqarah. He says subhanahu.

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Fis sama' falana walihanna ka'ba latin tar da'a fawalli wajhaka shatral And so, without too much detail, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in so many words, "We see that your face looking up to the heavens, awaiting when you will be given permission to direct your prayer back to the direction of al-Masjid al-Haram. And we will now answer that request of yours." Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, and he says, and this is the point here, "Direct your faces in prayer towards the center of al-Masjid al-Haram." He says this to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, he says this to the followers of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. At that point, prayer was then shifted from the direction of Bayt al-Maqdis to the direction of Mecca. Now, what is it meant when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, "Fawalli wajhaka shatr al-Masjid al-Haram"? Direct, because the word shatr in the Arabic language literally means the center or the middle or the half, right? So, Allah says, "Direct yourself towards the center of al-Masjid al-Haram, which is the Kaaba." And so, the scholars of Islam differ on what is meant by this. The majority of the scholars of fiqh say that what is meant by "Direct yourself towards the center," meaning the dead center of the Kaaba, is that if you see if it is in it's in sight, then you must direct your prayer towards the Kaaba directly. However, if the Kaaba is out of sight, you're in some other land, you cannot see it, what is meant by shatr, and this is the opinion of Ali ibn Abi Talib Amir al-Mu'minin, shatr al-Masjid al-Haram, meaning nahwahu, meaning towards its general direction. What does that mean? Well, the scholars of fiqh tell us it's roughly 45°. Right? So, what is meant by direct yourself towards al-Masjid al-Haram, meaning in its general direction. The Prophet said, Ma bayna al-mashriqi wal-maghrib qibla. He said, "Between the he says, "Between the east and the Ma bayna al-mashriqi wal-maghrib qibla. Between the east and the west, there is the direction of prayer, meaning generally." And so, a person doesn't have to have a laser compass to direct him exactly, precisely towards the center of the qibla, of the Kaaba. This is the opinion of that it has to be as precise as possible. However, when we look back to the mosques that were around in the time of the Prophet and I could say the majority of the mosques on earth that were built prior to about 100 years ago are all slightly off of the exact direction of the qibla. And that is fine. There is nothing wrong with that in the correct opinion of the scholars of Islam because what is intended is the general direction of the Qibla. That if a person prays towards the Qibla, as long as his shoulder this is 45°. Is not facing towards the Qibla. In other words, you are completely facing away from it. Then the prayer is correct. And we have this problem all through. I know this is a little bit off of the subject, but it all falls into the generality of our review here. That people will come and bring you these spreadsheets and coordinates almost as if you need a a a military expert on ballistics, right? And missile dynamics on how to direct your prayer to the center of the Kaaba. This is not necessary. And some people will come and insist that everybody in the entire masjid their prayer is invalid. They're slightly off. They're 5° or 10° off of the exact direction of the Kaaba. None of this is necessary because the majority of the scholars of Islam mention that what is intended is the general direction of the Kaaba. If this were the case, and the Kaaba is finite in its in its width. If a person had to pray directly towards the Kaaba, no matter where he was in the earth that means that our rows in prayer could not be any wider than the Kaaba. Because eventually our row in prayer is going to be going beside the Kaaba. And none of the scholars of Islam have ever said this. So, when Allah says that we are to direct ourselves towards the Qibla, meaning we face the the Kaaba. And based on this verse in the Quran, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam would face every part of his body towards the Qibla. So, he would stand with his chest towards the Qibla. His feet would not be standing out nor in. His feet would be standing His toes would be straight. Shoulder width pointing directly towards the Qibla, directly ahead. When he would raise his hands, his hands would be directly ahead. Right? Some scholars mention even the face should be directly ahead. Some even mention even the eyes should be directly ahead. Because this is what is meant by face the Qibla, meaning every part of your body possible to face towards the Qibla. And so, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, when he would make ruku, when he would make sujud, when he would put his hands on the ground to make sujud, again, his hands would be shoulder width apart and the fingers would be facing towards the Qibla. This all falls into the generality of facing towards the Kaaba. And so, when Ibn al-Qayyim Rahimahullah tells us that the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, when he would raise his hands, he would raise them palms out facing towards the Qibla, this is where this comes from. And this is correct. And so, Ibn al-Qayyim then went on to to discuss some of the ad'iyat al-istiftah, which are the du'as that are made at the beginning of the prayer before Surat al-Fatiha. We discussed the two brief pauses in the Imam's recitation. We as well discussed the way that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would generally recite the Quran one verse at a time, elongating its final vowels. As well, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and his companions would all say "Amen" together unanimously. Now, Ibnul Qayyim Rahimahullah is going to detail to us the verses that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would recite usually, customarily, either by name or approximate length, what he would recite in the various in the various prayers. What he would recite in Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, right? And how long each of these prayers was, and how long the recitation would be in each. Now, you need to prepare yourself to be very shocked because much of what the Muslims do today, much of what we are forced to do now as Imams in recitation and in salah is not very close to this. And the reason for that is people are in too much of a rush. People do not often have the patience to listen to the Quran this much. And that's unfortunate, right? However, it doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that the prayer is somehow deficient. No, the command of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala in the Quran is Faqra'u ma tayassara minhu. Recite as much as is easy for you to recite in prayer. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said to one of his companions that he had assigned the Imam of the Masjid of his village, he said, He says, "And make your recitation and the length of your prayer, make it according to the weakest amongst the patrons that that the congregants that pray behind you." Meaning if the weakest person, the person who is sick or ill or unable to stand or old or whatever it is, is only able to stand for 5 minutes and the rest, everybody else is able to stand for 20, then we will go with five in order to make things easy for everyone. In the prayer of at night time, pray as long as you like. But after you if you are leading others in prayer, this is something that is very important to take into account. Prayer is not meant to be an exercise of how much pain you can tolerate, standing on your feet and so forth. It is not meant to frustrate. It is meant to alleviate and maintain a connection and a reminder for the people that pray throughout their day. However, we will mention how the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would lead salah and as a resident and as a traveler, and there are many differences and we will actually see how different the length of our prayer and the quality of our prayer has changed, unfortunately. That if the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in an audible prayer Fajr, Maghrib, Isha, Salat al-Jumu', Salat al-Eid, the Eid prayer, or Salat al-Kusuf wal-Khusuf for lunar and solar eclipses the prophet or al-Istisqa كذلك is an audible prayer. The prophet upon concluding Surat al-Fatiha would start to recite any other part of the Quran after. He says, "Occasionally, the prophet would make his prayer exceptionally long and lengthy." Meaning in leading the companions in prayer in these five obligatory prayers. And sometimes he would make his prayer in leading his companions exceptionally brief due to some circumstances such as travel or other than that. Maybe war, travel, battle, sickness, fear, whatever it is, the prophet may shorten his prayer to accommodate for those set of particular circumstances. Ibn al-Qayyim then gives us the norm, however. He says the norm Most of the time his prayer would be medium length, neither long nor short. Right? So, the norm is a a well-balanced medium length that is neither long nor short, and the exception would be lengthiness and shortness. Now, what is meant by that? And the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam in salat al-fajr would usually read in the two raka' dispersed between the two raka' between 60 and 100 verses. Now, what what kind of verses? We're not talking about Surat al-Ma'idah verses. We're not talking about Surat al-Rahman verses. Right? Neither extremely long nor extremely short. We're speaking about medium length verses. Right? Salat al-fajr would be about 60 to 100 verses. Which is very different than what we recite today. Most of the time in our prayer in about 10 minutes for salat al-fajr we will usually hear no more than about 15 to 20 verses. He says, "Wa sallaha bi Surat Qaf.".

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He had also recited Surat al- salat al-fajr in by reciting Surat Qaf, which is about two and a half pages. "Wa sallaha bi Surat al-Rum." And he's also recited in salat al-fajr Surat al-Rum. Surat al-Rum is from al-mi'in, which are roughly 100 verses each. And Surat al-Rum is about seven or eight pages in the pages of the popular mushaf today. Also, the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam was narrated in fajr to have prayed led his companions in fajr reciting Idha shams kuwwirat, which is about a page long. He as well recited in salat al-fajr in both rak' idha zulzilatil ardu zilzalaha, which is about a third of a page. It's a very short chapter, which most of us are familiar with. And it was narrated that he recited in both rak', the first and second of fajr, idha zulzilatil ardu zilzalaha. So, he was and this was in travel. He was traveling. And so, he recited surat az-zalzalah in the first and second rak' of the prayer. The companion who narrates this, he says fala adri ata'ammada dhalika am nasi. The companion who narrates this, he says the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam recited in the first rak' and the second rak' idha zulzilatil ardu zilzalaha. So, he recited surat al-fatiha az-zalzalah second rak', surat al-fatiha and az-zalzalah. And the companion said, "I'm not sure if he did that on purpose or if he merely had forgotten." And that's something that can happen with the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Either way, it shows us that if a person repeats the same verses in the first rak' and the second, that this is fine. This is all into the generality of recite anything that is easy for you of the Quran. But a strong opinion is that this was out of forgetfulness, meaning he didn't mean particularly to do this on purpose that people after him would continue to recite occasionally in salat al-fajr az-zalzalah in both rak'. How do we know this? Because he never repeated it. It only happened once. And we see that his companions, radiyallahu anhu, Abu Bakr, and Umar, and Uthman, and Ali were not narrated to have done this either in leading prayer. So, many scholars mentioned that this was out of forgetfulness. And that has that has nothing to do with his prophethood, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Meaning, he is a human being. He may forget things, right? Just we humans forget. However, it does not mean that he would be made to forget something that is crucial to his prophethood, right? for example, forgetting some principles of Islam or something like this. This is a different issue. And this is an issue of belief and creed, which is found elsewhere in other types of classes. Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, he continues. He says, wa sallaha bil mu'awwidhatayn,.

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And it's mentioned, it's narrated that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, also led Salat-ul-Fajr reciting the last two chapters of the Quran, surah al-Falaq, surah an-Nas. Qul a'udhu birabbil falaq, qul a'udhu birabbin nas in the second rak'. The first in the first rak'. And he was in travel during this time. So, we see that Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, he begins, and this is why this book is so important. He starts with giving us a general principle. Meaning, if we look at all the body of information that we have about the traditions and the ways of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, his statements, his actions, his legislation. If we look at all that, we start to see patterns. The only way you can see that pattern is you have to be very, very high on the ladder of knowledge. Only the major scholars can pick up on patterns like that because the body of information is just so vast. Ibn al-Qayyim happens to be one of those scholars who can tell us of these patterns. So, he gives us the pattern, he gives us the general principle, and then he mentions the narrations for us. And this is why this book is so crucial. He says, "Wa sallaha meaning Surat al-Fajr fastaftaha Surat al-Mu'minun.

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Fi al-rak' al-ula akhadhathu sa'lah faraka'a." He says, "And also, it was narrated that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam began in Salat al-Fajr to in the first rak' to recite Surat al-Mu'minun. And he reached roughly the halfway point or maybe let's say a little over a third of the chapter where he reached the story of Musa and.

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Which is towards the middle, but it's actually part of the first half. This is in the first rak', and then he began to cough. Whatever, he started to cough, whether he was ill that day or you know, something in swallowing or breathing, whatever, he started to cough Sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and this coughing persisted, and so he chose to make ruku', which tells us something. And that is that if the Imam is presented with some kind of unique problem in his prayer, such as some people have allergies, and I'm sure you've seen this, once they start sneezing, they can't stop. They just sneeze and sneeze and sneeze and sneeze 20 times, 30 times, right? If this happens to an Imam while he's leading prayer, nobody is going to benefit the Imam or the people praying behind him to listen to him sneeze all day or all night in the prayer. If the sneezing will not stop, and it will be a disturbance, then he needs to leave the prayer and have somebody else from behind him lead in his place, and he can excuse himself, right? And this goes for anybody who is praying as well in Jama'. I mean, I've prayed in salah where somebody starts to sneeze. Of course, this is before Corona day. If it happened during Corona day, you know, Allah help him, whoever this is that sneezes. But before this, a person would start to sneeze because of some dust or something on the carpet or chemicals or whatever, whatever it is. Some people have very very sensitive sinuses, and sit there and sneeze literally for 10 minutes straight in the prayer. Not any one of us is enjoying our prayer. He's definitely not praying, right? The Imam, we can't hear the recitation, and we'll just continue to sneeze and sneeze and sneeze. This is inappropriate. If a person starts salah, they shouldn't just stop for no reason. But if they have an excuse to stop, sometimes they must stop. If a person breaks his wudu, if there's a fire, if there's an emergency, right? A person doesn't just continue to pray. Prayer is not supposed to be something that, you know, once you're locked into it, you can't stop. There are instances where a person can stop and there are instance when instances when a person must stop. If a person is coughing or if a person is sneezing, the Imam, and it's, you know, three, four times, something where he needs to catch his breath, let's say. Or let's say the Imam is reciting a part of the Quran and he misrecites some part and he gets confused because of his, you know, memorization. It happens to every single person, right? No matter how perfectly you memorize the Quran, you must keep in mind that this is the words of Allah, the sublime, the divine. You will never conquer the Quran. It will never happen, right? No matter who you are, you will misremember, misspeak, misrecite some part of the Quran because the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the ultimate in will will always win. You will never conquer it in that sense. Even the companions, even the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam, in very rare instances, was narrated to have missed a verse in his recitation, right? And the companions radiyallahu anhu would remind him of it. this is a momentary thing. This doesn't mean that the Quran has somehow become corrupted. It means that we are all human beings and this is the divine words of rabbil alameen, which we will never conquer, right? And so, if the Imam catches on a verse and can't figure it out, he doesn't need to sit there and have a shouting match with him and the people behind him, right? It's fine for him to collect his thoughts, make ruku. Just as the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam here started to cough, he made a little core, right? To catch his breath, to regain his composure. And this happens. Unfortunately, we have strayed from many of our much of our proper understanding of the Quran and Sunnah. I'm going to give you an example. The Sunnah, the way that a person must correct the Imam. This is called al-fath alal Imam. It's a huge problem, right? So, the Imam is praying, he's leading salah. People are behind him who happen to have memorized the same verses that this Imam has memorized. If the Imam makes a mistake in his recitation, there is an etiquette and a way that he is corrected, if at all even. There are instances where he should just be left and not even corrected, because it will cause more problems than it will solve, right? And this is an issue of masalih and mafasid. Because the Quran is it is established, it's not going to change. Because an Imam misremembered and misrecited doesn't mean that the Quran has become corrupted, right? It just means that he had misremembered. This is one person of millions and millions and centuries of centuries of preservation of the Quran. And so for me to insist that the Imam must correct himself in the middle of his recitation in salah, this actually may cause anxiety, it may cause discord, and the Quran was never meant to cause those things. And so, we flip things, right? Because we have become so detached from the tradition of our prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So for example, the sunnah is if the Imam makes a mistake in the prayer, meaning he stands up for an additional additional rak' that he's not to stand for, or he misses a rak'. Instead of praying four for salat al-isha, he forgets and sits down on the third to make tashahhud, and he thinks it's the fourth. The sunnah is that every single person in the masjid who notices that mistake, if they are male to say subhanallah, and if they are female to to clap their hands. Right? Cuz the men and women usually it's now we've become very comfortable and have big big masajid, and the women have their own section, but usually we would all be in one masjid. The women would line up for prayer behind the men, and the women would not shout, they would be in the back, they would clap their hands, and the men would say subhanallah to remind the Imam, to alert him that a mistake has been made. However, the sunnah, the etiquettes of prayer is that the person who prays directly behind the Imam that this be a person who is most well recited and most knowledgeable of the Quran after the Imam. Right? Why? Because when the Imam makes a mistake in his recitation and articulates in his demeanor that he needs somebody to help him to get on course with that mistake in his recitation. Then the Sunnah is only one person who is directly behind the Imam closest to him correct him. Right? I've I've prayed where people the Imam is praying in a completely other building. And he makes a mistake and the people in the other building start to scream out the correction of the verse. And unfortunately, this is very very unfortunate. Why? Well, there's a number of reasons, but one of the main reasons is this is my time to show that I know. And this is very very dangerous. The scholars of Islam teach us that hub al-zuhur yaqsim al-zuhur. Desiring to be noticed and be you know, on a pedestal in front of people will actually lead to a person's destruction, their moral compass. The point is is that if the Imam makes a mistake, usually in his recitation, you'll have no fewer than 10 people shouting at him from all directions. And sometimes shouting completely different verses. They don't even know what what surah he's reciting. He's in one valley and they're a completely other one. Shouting conflicting verses at the Imam. He has no idea who is saying what. This is not helpful to anybody at all. Yet, we still we see as well that if the Imam makes a mistake in something that everybody should have noticed, such as he stands up for a fifth rak' in Isha or he sits at a third rak' in Isha. Maybe one person will say subhanallah ala istihya. And this is exactly the opposite of how it should be. This is the reason why the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam said that those who are most mature and most knowledgeable amongst you are the ones who should pray directly behind me. Why? The scholars of Islam mention that one of the reasons is that those who are of most understanding and those who are of most memorization of the Quran, they are the ones who should pray directly behind the Imam for a number of reasons. Number one, perhaps the Imam will need somebody to correct him in his recitation and there is a very there's a complete methodology to that, which we will get into at another time inshallah. Or the Imam something may happen. He may break his wudu. He may remember that he doesn't have wudu. Something may occur. Maybe he has some kind of pain or something happens where he needs to excuse himself from the prayer, in which case the person directly behind him, the Imam should appoint that person to step forward and complete the leading of that prayer. So, this is these are some of the rulings with regards to the salah and what the prophet sal alaihi wasallam would recite and how he would lead prayer. We will continue in our next installment inshallah. thank you for watching. subhanakallahumma.

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Ajma'in walhamdulillah rabbil alamin.

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