Worship

CHOSEN MONTH FOR COMMEMORATING THE PROPHET SAW

After lengthy discussion, the meeting unanimously agreed to designate Rabi‘ul Awwal as the Month of Education for commemorating al-Rasul SAW.

FATWA ON DANCING WHILE PERFORMING ZIKIR

Dancing for the purpose of performing dhikr contradicts the Shariah texts and the purpose of the legislation of dhikr itself. This was never done by the Messenger and the generation of al-Salaf al-Saleh. Dhikr must be performed in a state of reverence and tranquillity.

The texts purportedly used to permit dancing for zikir, such as misinterpretations of verse 191 of Surah Ali ‘Imran, the story of Ja‘far, the incident of the Habashah dance, the swaying of certain Companions of the Prophet SAW, and others are either:

1. Misinterpreted;
2. The narration is not authentic, or
3. The evidence is taken out of context.

As for dhikr in all circumstances permitted by Shariah, such as whilst working, driving, playing sports and the like, is something praiseworthy.

Thus, a Muslim must distinguish between dancing for zikir as an act of worship and performing zikir during daily activities.

As for dancing specifically to perform dhikr to draw closer to Allah, it is prohibited by Shariah. Meanwhile, performing dhikr whilst conducting good activities is something encouraged.

As for spontaneous swaying or movement occurring without the intention of worship during zikir, Qur’an recitation, or the like, is not prohibited.

COMBINING PRAYERS AT THE MOSQUE DUE TO NATURAL DISASTERS

The majority of scholars across various schools of jurisprudence, namely Maliki, Shafi‘i, and Hanbali, permit combining prayers without shortening (qasar) in the mosque due to natural disasters such as heavy rain, storms, extreme cold, floods, mudslides, and the like.

After examining the arguments of the majority scholars, the Fatwa Committee agrees that in such natural disaster conditions as mentioned, the mosque authorities may combine Zuhr and ‘Asr prayers, as well as Maghrib and ‘Isha’ prayers, without shortening.

The implementation of combined prayers (jam') shall be conducted at the location where congregational prayers are performed in the disaster-affected area, particularly at mosques. Such combining should be prioritized during the earlier time period (jam' taqdim). This is because the purpose of permitting combining at the mosque is to avoid hardship (masyaqqah) for those who will attend congregational prayers at the mosque. Meanwhile, jam' taqdim is prioritized as emphasized by some jurists (fuqaha') because the disaster conditions may end before the entry of the subsequent prayer time. However, if circumstances necessitate that the congregational prayer be performed during the second time period, then delayed combining (jam' ta'khir) may be conducted.

Whoever has performed congregational prayers at a mosque that combined prayers due to disaster does not need to repeat his or her prayers even if the disaster has ended.

SPECIFYING THE RECITATION OF SURAH AL-KAHF ON FRIDAY

The virtue (fadilah) of reciting Surah al-Kahf is authentically established (thabit) through authentic narrations (riwayat sahih). As for specifying the recitation of Surah al-Kahf on Friday, there exists a difference of opinion among hadith scholars regarding the authenticity (thubut) of the narration of Hushaym ibn Bashir. There are among hadith scholars those who reject the specification of Surah al-Kahf recitation on Friday on the grounds that Hushaym's narration is not strong in comparison with narrations that do not mention Friday, particularly the narrations of Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj and Sufyan al-Thawri.

In addition, there are verifying scholars (muhaqqiqin) who view Hushaym's addition specifying Friday as an accepted narration (ziyadah al-thiqah) because Hushaym is a narrator who is a precise memorizer (hafiz) and there exists an indication (qarinah) showing that there were different transmission sessions (majalis al-riwayah) between Hushaym, Shu'bah, and al-Thawri. Therefore, the specification of Friday, which was suspected to be a confusion (wahm) on the part of Hushaym, actually has its origin in the narration of Abu Hashim al-Rummani.

Therefore, the majority of hadith and jurisprudence scholars, such as Imam al-Shafi'i, Imam Ahmad, al-Nawawi, Ibn Taymiyyah, and others, are of the opinion that the recitation of Surah al-Kahf on Friday is encouraged by virtue of other narrations that support the specification of Surah al-Kahf recitation on Friday. Thus, whoever practices the recitation of Surah al-Kahf on Friday engages in a practice that is encouraged in the view of the majority of scholars.

Therefore, there exists scholarly disagreement (khilaf) on this matter. Both sides have presented reasons and arguments that are credible (mu'tabar). Whoever practices it based on conviction in the opinion that encourages the specification of Surah al-Kahf recitation on Friday, may he or she obtain reward (thawab). Whoever considers that there is no specification of day, then need not specify it.