Sunday, May 10, 2009

Pop Quiz! Anybody sleeping?


I know lessons are boring. Just to see if anybody is awake, here is a pop quiz:

3 brothers performing solah in jama'ah. Being recent reverts to Islam, they know only basic rules of solah. In the middle of solah a mouse ran by in front of the imam.

Imam: That was one big mouse!
Ma'mum #1 : Hey no talking in solah!
Ma'mum #2 : Good thing I didn't talk!

Note: Ma'mum #1 is correct in that talking disallowed during solah, but there are concessions...

Question: Whose solah just became invalid (batal)? Explain.
Be a sport will you? Voice out what you know by leaving comments below. And state your mazhab please.

I will provide answer according to Shafi'i fiqh next week insha Allah.

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11 comments:

  1. Salam brother,
    I'm wide awake but not sure if I can say the same about my fiqh.
    Lemme try...
    Question: Whose solah just became invalid (batal)? Explain.
    My naive initial response is that: Imam shouldn't have done that :) Ma'mum #1 should have said subhanallah but he did'nt and said sthg else instead so his solah became invalid. I thot Ma'mum #2 is funny, he could have said subhanallah too but didn't so his solah also became invalid. Imam is excused? No? In such circumstances women jemaah need only clap right?
    Hopeless student,
    E

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  2. Yes they're all funny. Tok Gurus usually throw out this kind of questions when they see students' head start to flip sideways. Sort of humor-in-disguise.:)

    Anyway tasbih/clapping fall under different category. Lets keep the suspense and wait couple more days shall we? You have few more chances.

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  3. Oooooh... does that mean my answer is completely wrong?!:( Anyway, this zen story reminds me of those 3-stooges. "The pupils of the Tendai school used to study meditation before Zen entered Japan. Four of them who were intimate friends promised one another to observe seven days of silence. On the first day all were silent. Their meditation had begun auspiciously, but when night came and the oil lamps were growing dim, one of the pupils could not help exclaiming to a servant: 'Fix those lamps.' The second pupil was surprised to hear the first one talk. 'We are not supposed to say a word,' he remarked. 'You two are stupid. Why did you talk?' asked the third. 'I am the only one who has not talked,' concluded the fourth pupil. (From: Zen Flesh Zen Bones)
    -E-

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  4. Wishahul Afrah wa Isbahul Falah (written in 1312H = 1890M) by Shaykh ‘Abdul Ghani Muhammad bin Daud al-Fatani, Bab “Mufasadaatus Solah” p. 27.
    (quote)
    …Adapun jika berkata-kata ia didalam sembahyang dengan ketiadaan sengaja seperti terlancar lidahnya atau tiada ia ketahuikan haramnya atau tiada diketahuikan dirinya didalam sembahyang maka jika sedikit perkataannya pada ’uruf itu 6 kalimah pada ‘uruf atau kurang tiada batal sembahyangnya dan jika banyak perkataannya pada ‘uruf iaitu lebih daripada 6 kalimah pada ‘uruf batal sembahyangnya…end quote)
    Transalation:
    "In instances where a person talks in his solah inadvertently such as in a slip of tongue, or he is unaware that talking is forbidden, or he loses awareness being in solah – if the total words being uttered is 6 or less, then his solah is deemed valid. Otherwise (under similar conditions) the total spoken words are more than 6, then his solah becomes void."

    From this kitab, then we conclude that NONE of the 3 brothers have nullified their solah. Ma’mum #2 came close, if you consider the word “didn’t” in actuality composed of “did not”. Being recent reverts to Islam, most likely the 3 brothers are unaware of the specific prohibition on talking, hence they are allowed 6 words or less.

    E, you're off-target, but since I'm grading on a curve,... and you're the only student I guess you get either 0 or 100%...depends :)

    Wallahu a’lam.

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  5. MashaAllah Brother, thank you very much for sharing. This lesson is now engraved in my mind inshaAllah, so the max no of words allowed is 6. So I go from not knowing anything about this to knowing, that's a 100% :) Now that I know, can I purposely speak in my solah in emergency cases (knowingly but inadvertently), say to caution a toddler about something? Oh we are allowed to answer salam in our prayers too, aren't we?
    As ever,
    E

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  6. Nope. No talking. The above passage from kitab states talking up to 6 spoken/understandable WORDS excused only for:
    1) Slip of tongue
    2) You're not aware of the prohibition e.g. new Muslim. Most grown up Muslims should already be aware of this rule. Ignorance due to laziness to learn is not a valid excuse.
    3) You forget you're in the middle of solah. Being sleepy etc.

    "Tersengaja" sounds sophisticated, but I don't think thats accepted in legal judgements. "Glocal" anybody?
    If you talk in purpose and you're fully aware:
    a) 2 LETTERS or more that cannot be understood -> batal (not excused).
    b) 1 LETTER that can be understood -> batal (not excused).
    c) 1 LETTER with "maad" e.g. aa, uu, ee -> batal (not excused).
    d) 1 LETTER not understandable, wothout maad -> excused.

    Beware (1)-(3) are on number of WORDS, while (a)-(d) on number of LETTERS in a word. The word "qi" is only 1 letter in Arabic (qaf with kasrah), but carries a meaning (take care!)Falls under (b).
    "Understandable" applies to all languages that we know: malay, arabic, english etc.

    Hence talking to a toddler, or answering salam would nullify solah. At least that's what I understand from kitabs Munyatul Musolli and Wishahul Afrah.

    And Allah alone knows best.

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  7. Oh dear, thanks again for the clarifications! I sure have plenty to learn especially on fiqh. Robbi zidni 'ilma. May Allah increase your knowledge too from excellent to super-excellent :) Wassalamualaikum warahmatullah.

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  9. its an easy answer both of there solah

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  10. I have seen many blogs and have don research on many but most of them lack of good substance but I would say that you are doing a great job and keep the good work on

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  11. Thanks for the kind words sir. Your're doing a great/beneficial work yourself.
    Whatever good from my blog (if there's any) must have come from the barakah of my shaykhs.

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