Year 4 | Chapter 13 - Lesson 4

4. CHAPTER 13: THE CHAPTER

OF PRAYER IV
I hope everyone enjoyed last weeks lesson by Shaykh Waleed Basyouni. I think I
listened to it three times; I really, really enjoyed it. I also got a number of people to
listen to it and watch again because you see in Shaykh Waleeds style a great concern
for something which he also looks for. As you may have noticed, he is himself a
traditionalist in terms that he likes to follow a madh-hab, per se, and he is a big fan
of the anbali madh-hab upon which he grew up. But also there is that classic Najdi
vein going through him, this love for dall, and this love for the actions of the salaf
and trying to make sure there is always a precedent before the Imms. I like that
style, it is very nice to see that come out and he is a great scholar of our time
mshAllh.

This is what we have covered from the text so far in two or three lessons:

The Prayer is obligated upon every legally responsible Muslim, except those who
are menstruating or having postpartum bleeding.

What I would like to do today, is this part:

It has to be made up by anyone losing consciousness from sleep, fainting,

intoxication, etc.
It is not considered valid from someone who is insane, or a non-Muslim. However
if a non-Muslim were to pray, we would treat him like a Muslim.
Children are ordered to perform it when seven, and physically disciplined for not
doing it at ten. If the child were to reach adolescence during the actual prayer, or
after it whilst still within its legal time, it is to be repeated.
It is not permissible to delay the prayer beyond its time unless intending to join
prayers, or being involved in fulfilling one of the conditions for prayer a
condition, which is close to completion.

These four paragraphs are what I would like to cover today, because the content is
not very heavy, as such, so we should be able to cover that in this lesson inshAllh.
Then just to happen last week, Shaykh Waleed started the section:

Whoever denies the obligation of the prayer, or doesnt pray out of laziness, has
committed disbelief. The Imam or his substitute should call him (back to the
Prayer). But if he persists and the second of two consecutive prayer times is
running out, both (perpetrators) are still not to be killed until their repentance is
sought three times.

So that was done last week. Shaykh Waleed pretty much completed it. There is a
little left in terms of some discussion about the evidences back and forth with
respect to the anbali position vs. the rest, as well as a number of very excellent
points made by him that perhaps we will review in a quick summary when we come
to it ourselves inshAllh next week. And if we can get these four paragraphs done,

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then we are on target. If we do not complete them then we will continue on next
week until we finish this section and we will just carry on from wherever Shaykh
Waleed left it off.

So again, we ended our last session by saying that those who are menstruating or
having post-partum bleeding are exempt from the prayer it is not obligated upon
them during those times.

There is something that someone asked that I found important, and I think a few
people did not understand, or they missed it. That is because we have been touching
upon it throughout the last couple of years but in a general way. We did cover it in
the menstruation seminar, which many of people may have not attended or watched
the videos. So let me say again that when we said the prayer is obligated upon every
legal responsible Muslim, we mentioned that a legally responsible Muslim is
someone who (1) is qil i.e. conscious, sane, not insane, and (2) has attained bulgh.

This word bulgh is really a nightmare to translate. You can say that bulgh means
maturity, puberty, post-pubescent, etc. However, people wanted a more technical
definition of what actually constitutes post-puberty, or maturity. There are three
signs, which are shared between males and females, and one that is specific to
females, which is menstruation. That is very important - for females, menstruation
is their unique sign that they have reached puberty. Once they start their menses
then they have entered into puberty, or they are now mature. But is mature really
the correct word to use? I do not feel comfortable with the word mature, I have
this understanding that mature refers to mature of mind as opposed to mature of
body. What about adolescence, what does it technically mean?

Student: It is the transition between teen age and adulthood. When you reach
puberty you become an adolescent.

Ustdh: Is that technically correct, that when you reach puberty you become an
adolescent?

Student: The transitional period between puberty and adulthood in the human
development extending mainly over the teen years and terminating legally when
the age of majority is reached (dictionary definition). The period following the onset
of puberty during which a young person develops from a child into an adult (Google
definition).

I was reviewing the last lesson I taught, and I did mention that when it comes to the
ages with respect to the prayer (and we will touch upon that again), maturity,
cleverness, intelligence - all these things are not considered. That is a big statement,
and that is why I do not like the word maturity. I will explain more about that
afterwards, but for now when it comes to puberty, then puberty in females is
determined by the menses, and then for both males and females it is in three things:
(1) pubic hair, (2) the emission of many, which is sperm (wet dreams basically,
sexual excitement), and (3) according to the scholars (and there is not an agreement
upon this third point), the age of 15 so basically, if someone has not exhibited any
signs then by the age of 15 we treat them like they have. So it is not possible for a
17-year old to be treated like child just because they do not have pubic hair, or they

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have not started getting their menstrual cycle, etc. So these three things are shared
(between the genders).

In regards to pubic hair, it is important to understand what is meant by it. By pubic

hair we mean around the sexual organs; we do not mean underarm hair, which is a
big mistake people make. People see underarm hair or moustache hair for example,
and they consider this is the sign of puberty it is not at all. Even body hair on any
of the other parts, or the other sexual organs like the breasts or anything like that,
this is not part of the signs of puberty. Also, even as the ulam said, they like to add
the adjective coarse it is a thicker kind of hair, to differentiate that between fine
hair, which is often found on the private parts. So pubic hair is thick, coarse hair,
which grows on the sexual organs (genitals). That is very important. I have seen a
number of situations in which parents have thought their children are post-
pubescent and they are not.

The second sign was many, and we have spoken about many in a lot of detail in the
last three years. To quickly summarize, this is a sexual fluid, which is white, cloudy,
slightly more colourless in women, and it is always emitted with a sense of sexual
pleasure, as well as a sense of tiredness or exhaustion when it comes out. These are
the very specific characteristics that must occur in order to differentiate between
that which does happen to children, which is madhy coming out, which is prostatic
fluid and we have also talked about that in the last couple of years. Because there
may be other emissions of course urine, blood, but more commonly madhy
(prostatic fluid) which looks similar but it does not smell the same we have
discussed all of this previously and it can be reviewed in the revision notes for each
year.

So it looks the same, but when it comes out there are no feelings of sexual
excitement or pleasure, there is no feeling of tiredness; it is just white cloudy fluid.
The consistency is the same and it can often be slightly thick and viscous. So really,
when it comes to sperm (in males) and general sexual fluid in females, then you are
looking more for the feeling that is associated with it. That is why when we are
trying to explain this to children, the concept of the wet dream is the easier one.
That is why you will often see it said that a sign of puberty is getting a wet dream -
they may wake up from the feeling itself, or they wake up and see the signs. We went
into this in a tremendous amount of detail in the chapters of purification.

Then at the age of 15, there are two things that are very important to note about the
age 15. First, that 15 is actually 14 complete years. You are born at 0, so on your first
birthday you turn 1 (you have completed one year) and on the day after your
birthday you are 1 year and 1 day. The scholars said that 15 refers to 14 complete
years, so it is after your 14th birthday that is what the majority of the fuqah have
said. We in our mind, when we think 15, we think 15 complete years then moving
on into 16. But in actual fact, 15 refers to age 14 so that is the first technical point,
and remember that for the future as well. There are some exceptions to this, and
when there is an exception there is a reason, and we will explain that.

The second important point is that these are Hijri years not Gregorian.

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Those are Hijri years and not Gregorian, someone put a rough guess together how
(00:15:00) much earlier you could be?

Student 1: You are fifteen, times by ten.

Student 2: Half a year.

Ustdh: Half a year. Really?

Student 3: Five months.

Ustdh: Five months that is my boy right there.

Five months, you might need to assess that for five months meaning, thirteen and a
half-ish. That is another point to keep in mind.

Student: So fifteen complete years is only [inaudible]

Student 2: It did not make sense what you said by the way.

Ustdh: Why is that?

Student 2: You said after one complete year, from zero to one, you are one years old
and one day. So after fifteen complete years, you are fifteen years and one day.

Student 3: He said fourteen complete years.

Ustdh: I said fourteen complete years.

Student 2: You said you are fourteen years old and one day?

Ustdh: Correct. What I am saying is that, in sharah, when the word fifteen is used
for an age or any number is used for an age, forget what we understand from the
Western perspective. What we understand is one thing. What it means when in
sharah it is mentioned that fourteen complete years have been done and that you
are into your fifteenth year, that is what age fifteen means. Very different to what
we use here; we are not considered fifteen until you have done fifteen actual years
and then every day after it is always fifteen days and one month.

Student 1: Fourteen plus one is fifteen.

Ustdh: Correct: Fourteen plus one day is the age of fifteen. You are not fifteen years
old I know this is confusing, I knew that I had better stop and explain it.

Student 2: You are in your fifteenth year.

Ustdh: You are in your fifteenth year but what if the person was trying to calculate
for the purpose of something to do with nifs or something to do with divorce,
something that needs accuracy? So there is a difference between how old you are
and what the age is for a sharah ruling. Does that make sense? There is a difference
between what is called an age limit or an age threshold and how old you are. So if
you were so and so years and months old, then you will count it exactly. You would

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say fourteen full years plus eight months he passed away on the first of Dhul-
ijjah or something like that. So you would be accurate.

However, for the purpose of this ruling of understanding of certain age, you
understand fifteen as fourteen complete years and then a day. That is in this
scenario for puberty. I say that for this reason of puberty because the ulam do not
want to delay it too much for obvious reasons. Because if we have a sexually active
boy or girl, we have to protect them and others. In the case of protection, we have
to be on the safe side. The safe side would of course be to take the younger kind of
angle and that is why I am going to say what I am going to say now:

1. We do fourteen plus and that is considered fifteen.

2. We use Hijri years, so therefore that reduces the age even less. So we are
looking at thirteen and a half years.
3. The fuqah always focus on the technical facts; the scholars generally look
at much more of a social construct, and therefore the ulam in general will
say that at the age of ten is when we expect a woman to be wearing a ijb
in front of a ten year old boy. Even though a ten year old is not necessarily
post pubescent, miles off fifteen years of age of-course, miles off thirteen, but
there is an idea that there are three categories when it comes to woman with
children.

Those children that are very young; so young that [not only do] they not even have
just the sexual urge, but they don't even understand the sexual urge. They don't
understand the concept of beauty.

The second category are also pre-pubescent, but they understand the difference
between someone who is beautiful, someone who is attractive, etc.

In the yah of ijb, in Srat al-Azb, Allah tells the woman to cover their heads,
cover their chests, put the khimr on, don't have to worry about the ijb from their
fathers, their husbands and so forth. And when it comes to the more obscure
categories, we have those men that are so old that they do not have any sexual desire
anymore that is a long discussion and we will leave that and [the discussion about]
those children that do not understand the awrah of a woman [to later on]. So if they
saw a naked woman or saw a clothed woman, it wouldnt just make sense; it would
just be this a style and that is a style. They don't understand that this is something
unacceptable, this is a sex organ, this is shy.

Because of this yah in Srat al-Azb, this definition of you do not need to wear
the ijb in front of those children that do not appreciate the awrah of the women
therefore means that there are technically three categories:

There are those that do appreciate the awrah, they do understand nakedness, they
do understand that this is very unacceptable situation to be in, but they have not
reached puberty. So technically speaking, they could still be around women.

Then you have children who have gone through puberty and of course it is then
obligatory to maintain ijb and not send them in groups of women.

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Does that makes sense? That is why I said that sometimes the scholars are so careful
that they went to the age of ten and eleven and that is the age where we wouldnt
have a boy that would be presenting, going into the girl's section for example to pass
a message. You would cut it out at ten and eleven, but technically speaking it could
be up to [the age of] puberty. Is that clear everybody? That is the difference between
the fuqah and scholars.

Shazad: You said that before that there are three characteristics. It seems like the
last one trumps the other two because thirteen years and five months will take a lot
of children out of the occasion in terms of developing sexual characteristics.

Ustdh: Meaning that they would develop much later?

Shazad: Yes, so how can that be the defining criteria?

Ustdh: So for our modern times, fourteen years old would be the defining kind of
characteristic.

Shazad: You said before that there is a difference of opinion some scholars said
that is the defining criteria.

Ustdh: The problem with age fifteen is that there is no na (defined text) for the
age of fifteen. The scholars generally said that we have to choose a figure that does
not make a mockery of the system. Of course we know that the system cannot be
based upon the outliers, not based upon the rare; it has to be based upon the
generality which is why the age of fifteen is chosen. Fifteen being at the very, very,
conservative end i.e. fourteen years and one day and then even more conservative
would be the use of Hijri calendar and then even more conservative is that anyone
who is close to the age of puberty is treated like that they are pubescent. So when a
child is even exhibiting some kind of understanding, appreciation, the idea of
shame, the idea of turning away when they see something unacceptable and that is
the age when you start to consider this. This is not arm - don't get me wrong, if a
child is twelve years old or thirteen years old and they are not pubescent in anyway
at all, then they could technically go into a gathering of women or be alone with
another woman.

However, if you see our culture, our tradition has always been very strict [in] that
they start much younger or two years younger - that is in all of our countries. That
is what I have experienced in my family, in my culture, in Somalia, Pakistan, the
Arabs, the Egyptians, my kids here who have their female teachers as well. They
started to turn off the screen in terms of presenting themselves in teaching when
they reached the age of eleven. This is a universal practise of the Muslims and a very
sensible one with reason.

We have not even started the lesson yet, which is good. We are in the section of, It
has to be made up by anyone losing consciousness from sleep,

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Were now in the section of: it has to be made up by anyone losing consciousness
(00:26:00) from sleep, fainting, intoxication, etc.

Shaykh al-Uthaymn said regarding it has to be made up by anyone losing

consciousness from sleep that what this basically means is that anyone who goes
to sleep and misses a prayer, they have to make it up when they wake up. This is
something which has been established by divine direct text as well as consensus. As
for the text, then the Prophet has established this both verbally and by his own
actions. Verbally, the Prophet said that whoever forgets to pray, or is asleep at its
time, its expiation - or the expiation of that sin or act of missing or forgetting it - is
to pray it when he remembers it.

This adth has been narrated by Bukhri as well as Muslim. This statement is
referring to two separate scenarios:

Number one is where it literally goes out of your mind (and people have had this
happen to them), and the Ar prayer is the one that happens to the majority.
Anecdotally speaking, its happened to everyone, especially when its wintertime
and suddenly its time for Maghrib and youre not even sure whether you prayed or
not. This is something which you are not sinful for, and as soon as you remember it
you have to pray.

The second scenario is when you go to sleep. Going to sleep is an act which is
permissible, and at times it is recommended and sometimes it is obligatory. Rarely
is it arm and hated though, so its more on the positive end than the negative end.
However, because its towards the more positive end, people can become negligent
towards it. They need to become sharp in terms of how to control their tiredness
so as to not miss a prayer.

And if you miss a prayer intentionally, then that could be a very serious matter, as
you heard Shaykh Waleed explain. It could be an action of kufr, and may remove
you from the dn. Whereas the person who falls asleep and does not wake up
because they missed their alarm - which is the most common simple way - after
setting their alarm and knowing that the alarm usually wakes them up (and not
setting up a pseudo alarm saying, I hope it doesnt wake me up), [they are not
sinful].

The Prophet said that his action is also recorded, mentioned in another adth
also narrated by Bukhri and Muslim in the Book of Tayammum, footnote number
4. The Prophet had had a long busy day of traveling, so after they prayed Ish, he
on a rare occasion prayed witr, and then he told his Companions, make
someone guard the prayer for us, meaning that someone [should] be the alarm
clock to wake them up for Fajr. However, no one woke up whatsoever, and it was
the Prophet who woke up first.

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When he woke up, as Abu Qatadah, the narrator says the Prophet felt the sun on
his back, meaning that the sun was rising. So he woke everyone up and they got up
in a state of panic, not knowing what to do. The Prophet told them to get on their
rides and ride, and after riding for a while, they disembarked and made wu. Since
this is one of the adth for wu, it is mentioned that a very small amount of water
was used (less than usual), because they were on safar and had limited water. Then
he told Bilal to make the adhn and then they prayed two Sunnah and two rakt
Fajr after the sun had risen.

This adth obviously has many important lessons; of course the first and most
important of them is that the Prophet missed a prayer in his life, and he showed
us how to fix it. Second, as were going to see in a minute, the Prophet never
missed a prayer intentionally unless the reason itself was extraordinary. Here we
can see the proof in that he set his alarm in todays terms by telling the Companions
to guard their prayer, i.e. lets not miss Fajr. That failed, and because it was their
intention to pray and it was through no fault of their own that they missed it, there
is no sin.

There's two things that happen when you miss a prayer: theres the sin, and the
expiation or making up of the prayer itself. If you miss the prayer intentionally,
theres a sin and you are punished and thats intense and you are liable for the
prayer. If you dont make it up, you are in kufr, and if you do, then you are not held
accountable for it but you still have a major sin on your shoulders which cannot be
expiated by any action of the dunya. It has to require an act of repentance, which
has four conditions and which we will talk about later.

The other possible scenario for missing a prayer is that you didnt do it intentionally,
like the Prophet did, and therefore you do not sin, as long as you pray it
immediately when you become aware, i.e. when you wake up. As for the prayer,
because you pray it, it is dealt with, so you are not in a position of sin. Those are the
two possibilities.

As for the advantages here, for those who have studied Fiqh of alh with me in the
AlMaghrib weekend class, you will know that I have this position which I like, and
its the position of the anafi school, and its a very interesting position because it
goes directly against this adth. When the anafi school gave fatwa to the
laypeople, they said that when you miss a prayer like Fajr for example, you pray it
as soon as you wake up. That means even if the sun is rising, which is a prohibited
time of prayer.

Were not doing this now, well come to it in its good time, but when you study the
times of prayer, you learn that when it comes to times of prayer, each time of the
day falls into a category. You have recommended times for the prayer, obligatory
times if you havent prayed, disliked times in which its not good to pray, arm
times, and very arm times to pray, meaning that there is a serious sin involved.
The last two, in terms of how to categorize how bad or prohibited it is to pray also
depends on what kind of prayer you need to pray.

So if you have an obligatory prayer which you have to pray, that takes precedence
over a number of these caveats. But if its only a voluntary prayer that youre

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praying, then you have to be aware that only sometimes you could pray it in the not-
so-arm time, but never ever could you pray it in the absolute arm times. So for
example, a somewhat arm or very disliked time to pray is after Fajr until the sun
rises. If Fajr (the crack of dawn) starts at 6:00 and sunrise is at 7:30, and you pray
Fajr in the masjid at 7:00, after that until sunrise is a arm time to pray, in principle.
Im just making a brief statement now; this is a huge chapter, and there are prayers
which are permissible to pray even in this time, but Im just giving you an example.

Now from 7:30 until about 7:40, when the sun is coming up until it clears the
horizon, this is a very arm time to pray, and not acceptable at all because of the
adth of the Prophet in which he prohibited the time when the sun rises up
between the horns of the devil. This is very restricted, and this time is referred to
in many of our acts of worship and it is hardly allowed to do anything during this
time, because it is the time when the mushrikn (the pagans and the sun
worshippers) worship. So in order to avoid us being associated with them in any
way, we do nothing, so much so that even the alh you dont pray.

Here, look at the Prophet : hes woken up during that time, and in order to almost
dismiss this period, he told his Companions, lets get on the horses and ride during
this time. They rode for 10-15 minutes, then after the sun had cleared the horizon
they started to pray, to show that we do not pray in this period of time. If the
Prophet had woken up at 7:15 where its very bright but the sun hasnt risen yet
and theres another 15 minutes left before the sun rises, he wouldve prayed
immediately. Because even though thats a generally prohibited time, it is not
prohibited to pray Fajr if it has not been prayed yet. Of course when the sun starts
to rise at 7:30, it becomes totally prohibited and in fact the actions of the Prophet
[were that he] got on his horse and said, were not going to pray.

When you do ajj and you spend the night at Muzdalifah you will see that when the
Prophet prays Fajr, he makes du. There is no Sunnah or anything like that. He
(00:37:00)
stands and makes du and he faces the qiblah. This du is a long one. Remember
that anyone who follows the Sunnah knows that Fajr is not prayed late, it is prayed
early. If Fajr is 1.5 hours long, then Fajr is prayed after 15 minutes, after Fajr there
can be at least 1 hour before sunrise.

We are not used to that in this country, generally our masjid want to help people
and push the Fajr prayer later. So when they finish praying there is not much time
until sunrise, people can go to work, etc. As per the Sunnah, they pray early. The
Prophet would stand and make du at Muzdalifah during ajj. He would make
du, and he would make du, and he was happy to go on much longer. And again
later on that day when he throws stones at Aqabah and later on again through the
three days when they go to the other jamart, after each one, the Prophet would
make du. ishah said that the length of the du of the Prophet was the
length of the recital of Sratl-Baqarah (approximately 1 hour at a quick and
continuous speed).

To make du for an hour for the Prophet is not a big issue at all. Yet the Prophet
stopped at Muzdalifah and he gets all the troops and says let us move out. They
move out whilst the sun is rising, again like a slap in the face to the mushrikn, to
show that we do not do any acts of worship during sunrise itself. That is why the

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Prophet delayed it. He then prayed it immediately afterwards. It is not

permissible to delay.

The anafi school (the school itself) made a very interesting statement. They said if
someone has missed Fajr prayer and they wake up at 7:30am or 7:31am, they
should pray it immediately, even during sunrise. The reason for that is because they
said that (anecdotally, this has been proven true as well) if we did not allow them
to pray then, then in twenty minutes or half an hour, they will not pray. You might
think that is ridiculous but there any many people that when you say push
something off to later, they actually do not pray.

Exactly the same reason the other way - when you miss the two Fajr Sunnah before
the Fajr jamah, imagine you go late to the masjid and the imm has already started
and you have not prayed your two Sunnah. That is why in principle, you are
supposed to pray those two Sunnah after sunrise later; but many of the scholars
like Abdullh ibn Umar did allow people even though his own practice was to
pray the two Sunnah after sunrise (because he was late). His own practice was to
advise others that if they were not going to, or if they were going to forget or they
were going to be lazy, etc., he would allow them to pray immediately after the two
far as soon as the salm is given. The jamah is finished (the obligatory), so he
would allow the person to pray two rakah because he feared they would not pray
later.

Likewise, the anafis took a qiys from this and said if the laypeople-- anyone who
has a half a brain and understands the prayer and its importance would not be so
lackadaisical. They would see sunrise and they know it is arm to pray, they will
say I will pray it in 15 minutes, I will not miss it for the world. If you find a person
like that, then you cannot give this statement and fatwa to people like that. The
anafis were saying, but if you look at the normal people, are you sure that that
kind of people are going to pray? and that is why they allowed people to pray in
that kind of time.

Question: What is the ruling of that prayer, if it is prayed at a arm time?

Student: Reward, punished for wrong time and prayer is valid action.

Ustdh: Action punished, prayer valid. You may say, what is the point? Is it better
for the guy not to pray? It is not, though, is it? If he leaves it twenty minutes, he
might not pray at all, which will be punished and no prayer - potential kufr. We
would take the prayer in the first half. There is some crazy kind of ul going on.

Student: Do they think that this means it is a preference to wait?

Ustdh: Correct, they actually understand it the way I said. The prayer itself would
be valid but it would be sinful. The Prophet does not want to do something sinful
and he is never going to miss the prayer afterwards. That is the na (the text) itself.

Shaykh also mentions that there is ijm on this, and many of the scholars have said
there is a consensus on this from the earlier scholars. They also said it is from the
aql as well. They said if we were to allow people to not pray because of sleep, then

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prayer would become like the Christians, go down the pan, pray whenever you
want, day and night, they would just sleep at the prayer time - that is what they
would do.

Another point is that when you miss the prayer, what is the actual prayer called?

Student: Qa.

Ustdh: Paks have their own unique phrase of qaza prayers. We have created this
whole qaza culture. Basically this is part of normative life, I am a normal person, I
am a working person, I am a studying person it is amazing how Allh has made
this prayer such a specific obligation at its set time and yet at the same time we are
able to create a culture of the exact opposite. The prayer does not need to be prayed
on time, and if you do pray it on time, it is good but any kind of difficulty, any kind
of awkwardness, any kind of my own perception of what is un-cleanliness then I
will delay the prayer and delay the prayer is all I am doing. It is like uhr prayer is
only recommended in uhr time and it is quite okay to pray it at the night time, and
Ar, Maghrib and Ish,. That is why most of our families and earlier generations
have done exactly that, during their work, during their education, they all end up
praying all the prayers at home in one go.

Let me make it clear just in case there is any doubt: this is not only arm, this is an
act of kufr. It is absolutely and completely unacceptable. The statement qaza (the
Pak way of saying qa prayer), the definition of it, is a prayer which is
unintentionally missed and is prayed after its time. That is the position of the
majority of the scholars. When you pray a prayer qaan, it means you prayed it
after its time.

Shaykhl-Islm Ibn Taymiyyah (I am not going into the reasoning now, because it
will become relevant later) - it is important for you to know that he disagreed. He
said when a person prays a prayer after its time non-intentionally or
unintentionally, it is d it is the opposite of qa, it means performed on time.
Qa means performed after its time, the opposite of that is d. Like in Urdu we
say namaz ada kuro?

Qa is the definition of the prayer which is done after its time. When its done on
(00:48:00) time, it is called d. This has a legal consequence. When you say d, it means you
did something right without negligence (performed it correctly). Shaykhl-Islm is
saying that if you miss a prayer, unintentionally, youve also done d.

There is common sense behind this position. Hes saying that if you were to go to
sleep, the time of the prayer is when you wake up and not when you were asleep.
Does that make sense? If you were asleep and you miss Fajr (obviously because of
no negligence from you), then when you wake up, that is your time [to pray]. You
are not held accountable during the time when you were asleep. When you wake
up, you are obligated to pray. You are not sinning once you pray it. Therefore, it
cannot be considered to be qa.

The reason this is important is because Ibn Taymiyyah was also one of the big,
first, early voices behind the concept of actually understanding what to do with the

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proper qa. When we talk about proper qa prayers, we are talking about all
those prayers that people did not pray when they were not practicing. Many of us
have the big question of, Do I have to make up the prayers from the first ten years
that I was not practicing? I prayed here and there but I cant calculate all the prayers,
so what do I do about that? That is a massive issue which is not to be taken right
now. The four imms all agreed that they have to be made up; every single one of
them.

It is the issue of the proper qa umari, as we call it. The qa of ones entire life.
Whereas Ibn Taymiyyah very specifically is the flagbearer of the position that there
cannot possibly be a making up of a qa prayer of this type. Therefore, there is no
making up of those prayers. The only way that you can make up for this huge
mistake is by the two key pillars - the first one [being] tawbah and the second one
[being] by reparation, which means that you pray as much Sunnah as possible to fill
up that huge hole.

This hole is taken from the adth of the Prophet which is narrated in the a of
Ibn ibbn. The adth is authentic. The Prophet said that on the Day of
Judgement when Allh will tell the angels to judge the persons prayer, they will
reach into the obligatory prayers and they will not find sufficient. Allh will then
tell the angels to reach into the vat of the Sunnah prayers. That should be full. The
prayers will be taken out and the obligatory will be fixed and completed because of
the mercy of Allh . This emphasizes for us the importance of Sunnah prayers.

That is why Sunnah/nafl/voluntary prayers are essential - everyone is not only

missing the obligatory prayers, but they are praying poor obligatory prayers. To
have a very healthy bank to fix the obligatory, [it] is what is needed.

The Prophet continued on to say that the same would happen for all of the
obligatory actions. Therefore, there are those who messed up in zakh. I always tell
people that many people I meet (99%) do not know the rulings of zakh. Its not
funny anymore. People have accumulated a lot of wealth over many years and have
not paid zakh upon it. It is very serious as its one of the pillars of Islm. Many
people have messed up zakh. This makes adaqah even more important. The
adaqah bank will be then reached into and the zakh will be fixed. All actions will
be like that. Ramadan (far fasting) is another nightmare for people. Thats why
there is the fasting on Mondays and Thursdays and the other three days of the
month, etc. They need to be done regularly to fix the obligatory. This is the least of
the reasons for our voluntary ibdah is to fix the obligatory, let alone to have extra
reward.

For Shaykhl-Islm to come to this position (which is a unique one), followed by Ibn
al-Qayyim and some modern day scholars, it is a minority opinion. For those who
keep asking, yes it is my opinion and it is my taught opinion and I believe the
evidences for it are very strong. I want you to understand that from the ul of Ibn
Taymiyyah , to come to this position and give this fatwa essential to that is his
understanding of qa and a. That is why I just made the point that when you
perform the prayer in its time, it is called a. For Ibn Taymiyyah, if you wake up,
it is still called a. For him, qa has to be a well thought action that happened
from previous time.

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Student: Regarding this adth, does the text say the lack of prayer or the lack of
consistency in the prayer?

Ustdh: Both are assumed. Deficient (naqa) is the phrase but its meaning is
complete. Its applicable to both.

That was sleep.

It has to be made up by anyone losing consciousness from sleep, fainting

The next phrase is fainting. I think we spoke about this before in Year Two. This
section is the most important in this beginning chapter. What is fainting according
to the anbilah? It means that the consciousness is gone completely.

A person does not have any form of ahss (senses). In sleep, you have senses. If you
are a light sleeper, you will wake up very easily. Even if you are in a deep sleep, your
sense of hearing is still going. You will wake up if a loud noise goes off. Sleep has
been given a very clear categorization, in terms of its characteristics. You have to
make up the prayer.

Fainting is completely and physiologically different from an Islamic ruling point of

view. We have an idea from a medical point of view of what the actual differences
are. According to the scholars, they define ighm as: when you try to wake a person
up, you cannot wake him up. Now that you have that definition, you know what that
state is. Whether you call that fainting or whatever. If someone is out cold and you
try to wake them up but they dont wake up, what are they?

Student: Unconscious is the word to use. Not awake and aware of and responding
to ones environment

Ustdh: Not awake and aware of and responding to ones environment. Unconscious
- thats the word. What happens when you go to sleep then? Sleep doesnt fall into
that. Not awake is sleep. Not aware you are aware when you are sleeping. If you
were not aware, how can you wake up?

Student: If you talk to someone who is asleep, they are not aware.

Ustdh: They are aware. If ones environment has sound, and you respond to it and
then you wake up, then you are obviously not unconscious. Am I wrong? Thats my
translation. The actual Arabic is,

The prayer has to be made up by the one whose aql goes. Aql goes either by sleep
or fainting or intoxication, etc.

(00:59:00) So the two phrases which we need to deal with are, his aql zl, which means his aql
is gone.

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 Year 4 | Chapter 13 - Lesson 4

You know Shaykh Waleed made a really important point last time. I repeat it again
today. Shaykh Waleed told you, that you know when you have phrases in the Arabic,
you must understand the meaning of the phrase as understood by the author.

Yes? We did that part of the text. Whoever what? What did we translate it as?
Whoever jaada (denies the obligation of it (the prayer)), has disbelieved. Which is
how I translated it - Whoever denies the obligation of the prayer.

Shaykh Waleed made a very good point. He said al-jud with the imms of the salaf
means more than just a mental or internal denial of the obligation. It means a
physical action and rejection. Shaykh Waleed said al-jud means a person rejects
it totally. Like, [it is said to a person that they should] pray. "No, I'm not going to
pray." What kind of stupidity is that? That is proper jud. That is very important
from a aqdah point of view because the passive jud (the denial of the obligatory
prayer) is the way of the Ashirah, the Mutazilah, and the Maturdiyyah - the
deviant sects. Whereas the salaf understood that not only is mn belief, but actions
as well. So therefore, they want a physical reality behind one's faith. If you keep
compartmentalising faith into just a belief, then you start to lose the importance of
the actions - and that is a big discussion.

The point is that with salaf, the word jud has a physical reality as well - that you
reject it. "I don't just deny the obligation. I'm not going to pray." So here, when we're
defining this sentence, we have to understand how the author understands it. The
author - this is the key point - sees all of these three things as the same. That is why
he is happy to use that phrase, the person who loses his consciousness, whether
through sleep, whether through fainting, whether through intoxication.

However, as we are now going to teach, we are going to differentiate between them.
We are now going to state that the correct position is actually the position of the
majority of the scholars, and that is that one does not make up the prayer when one
has fainted. That is the position of the majority. Now, I am going to explain this. But
before I explain it, if you now know that you are not going to make up the prayer,
would you now also agree then that there is no need to use the phrase, "lose his
consciousness via sleep, via fainting, via intoxication"? Do you understand now?

I had to translate it as per being faithful to the anbali text. So if you translate it
according to the anbali understanding, then exactly how I have translated it is how
it would read.

It has to be made up by anyone who is unconscious from sleep, fainting,

intoxication.

However, because we do not believe that you have to make up the prayer through
fainting, then you could probably say it has to be made up at anyone falling asleep,

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losing consciousness through fainting , intoxication, etc. That is how we would make
it up in our taught part. Does that make sense? Shazad, prove me wrong.

Shazad: No, the definition of the Glasgow commerce scale...

Ustdh: Who cares about Glasgow? We need to make a point here. The only reason
Shazad uses the Glasgow commerce scale is because he was born in Glasgow. So
what are we looking at?

Shazad: So these are the levels. Metaconscious, conscious, confused, delirious etc

Ustdh: So these are the levels of knocked-outness.

Shazad: Comatose is there. Although in the definition at the top it says, "those who
are not able to be aroused from a sleep-like state are said to be..."

Okay so what we can say is that both physiologically and both Islamically, there is a
differentiation between sleep and ighm. Ighm is fainting, losing consciousness
to a level that if someone tries to wake you up, you cannot wake up. Sleep is you
losing consciousness in such a light sense that you are considered to be sleeping. [It
is] a state which does allow you to respond to certain levels of change in your
environment, whether that be sound, touch, etc. Because even [with] a general
touch you could wake up, whereas a person who has fainted sometimes you can
really give them the full shake and they can't wake. I think it's common sense what
I am saying.

So to summarise, I just want to say that in preparation for next week's lesson, you
can do some reading and it would be nice. The prayer has to be made up by someone
who is sleeping. However, when you have fainted and you have lost consciousness,
then even though the anbalis want you to make up the prayer, the majority of
scholars do not.

The anafis have a very interesting position. Imm Abu anfah said that if the
prayer missed because of your loss of consciousness is less than five prayers, to the
level of five, then you have to make it up. His main student and companion,
Muhammad ibn Hassan al-Shaybni, said six prayers. It is very interesting and it is
nice to operate like this at the practical level, but there is no evidence for this
position whatsoever.

In actual fact, it's quite interesting because Shaykh Ibn Bz would say three days.
Anyone who is unconscious for less than three days has to make up the prayer. But
at least Ibn Bz uses an evidence which is weak. He used the adth of Ammr ibn
Ysir, who was unconscious for that period of time and he did make up those
prayers. However, it's weak.
Even if he did do that, even if we accept that it is authentic, it doesn't necessarily
mean that it is an obligation. It could be something out of recommendation. Even
we would recommend that.

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But the point is that at least his evidence was a narration, whereas the position of
Abu anfah was purely aqli where he basically made a decision that if a person is
going to be knocked out, then we have got to make a decision.

What's a small number of prayers? What's easy to make up and what's not? So for
him, what he said is whats easy to make up is five prayers. His student said six
prayers. Shaykh al-Uthaymn says in his classic way, If five prayers is easy to
make up, then so is six and so is seven. He says there is no evidence for this position
whatsoever. Without disrespect.

Anyway, Shaykh al-Uthaymn is very strict upon this. Any person who loses
consciousness, does not make up the prayer whatsoever. Whether it is for half an
hour or three hours or ten years or whatever. That is the position of the Shfii
school. That is the position of the Mliki school, and there are exceptions of course.
We will cover that inshAllh next week.

Q&A

Q: Sleeping... due to work and you miss prayers, night shifts.

A: So the question basically is that you are in a situation which you can't control, in
that you are in an odd routine. Upside down. Nights, days, whatever, and you fall
sleepy and so on and so forth. Are you held accountable? Meaning, are you obligated
to change your shift? [The] answer is no. You are not obligated to change your shift
or the way that you seek your rizq, if that is what is easy for you at the moment and
what you're suffering is a temporary kind of difficulty.

If it turns into a permanent situation where you are always missing your prayer
because of this new position or this new shift work, then one has to change it of
course. That is one of the reasons that people change their job and they have fear of
Allh and He will change it to something better from that which he never could have
imagined. So you have to have taqwa in Allh and be brave enough. But the normal
kind of person who is doing one week on, one week off, then suddenly he is told to
do emergency cover and he goes messed up and he misses Fajr and he misses Dhuhr,
whatever and whatnot - this is not sinful. This is genuine sleep. That was needed for
a genuine reason, [and it is] not the norm. [It is] not done regularly and he prays
immediately when he wakes up.

Q: You return from a journey, and youre returning quite late at night. You have a
fear of missing Fajr. Is there any leeway on praying Fajr earlier?

A: Its a good question. The question is: a person comes back after long journey, very,
very tired and wants to go to sleep immediately, but is very sure that if they go to
sleep now theyre not going to wake up for Fajr. Is it possible in any way to pray the
Fajr early?

The answer is no. the Fajr prayer does not have any form of concession in moving
forward or backward other than within its actual time, unlike all of the other

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prayers. So for example if there was a person who came home at Maghrib after not
having any slept for 24 hours, then this is the person to whom we would say, Pray
your Maghrib and Ish at Maghrib time and save yourself the two hours waiting
and invest that two hours extra sleep in waking up for Fajr. That is what you would
do; you have the flexibility of other prayers. That is what the Prophet allowed
through his action, as narrated by Abdullh ibn Abbs in a Muslim. He
combined between the prayers when there was no fear and there was no rain. Why
did he do that, O Ibn Abbas? So that the difficulty can be lifted from the ummah.
Ibn Abbs understood it that it was an emergency concession which is available
for people. And yes, Ill say to you now it is for working people in winter time, even
though one shouldnt promote it. It is there, if there is someone who is in one of
those really difficult days in this winter, where the Ar is proving impossible or uhr
comes at a difficult time and theyre in that unique situation. Then it is possible to
combine as a one-off. And I mean as a one-off. And that is the whole definition of
combining for a need. But there is no concession for Fajr.

Q: Did the shaykh say that when the boy is ten or eleven years old, he is not allowed
to go the ladies section even to deliver a message? Is it the same for a girl who is
the same age?

A: I did say that, and I do say that. The scholars will generally avoid sending a boy
or girl of ten or eleven into a gathering of the other side. However, lets make it very,
very clear what the Islamic ruling is technically on both.

1) For someone who is pre-pubescent, it is permissible for them to be there. But

we are being cautious and the scholars advice is best.
2) A gathering of anyone can have any age person amongst them. So for
example, if there is a gathering of 15 women and a 30 year old man walks in
between them, that is permissible. Obviously I mean with ijb. What were
talking about here is without ijb. When were talking without the ijb, we
reduce the [age] just to be on the safe side.

Q: Theres a lot of question on times of prayers.

A: You should all know by now that we dont take questions on things which will
come later. Only on the lesson content.

Q: [I have a question] specifically on the issue of ajj. You have a adth that
mentions that an accepted ajj wipes out an entire lifetime worth of sins. Will ajj
make up for, say 10 years of missed alh?

A: The question is a good one and a popular one. And that is the missed prayer for
example, and big sins throughout ones life for example, like missing the prayers for
10 years. Then the adth of ajj is very visceral and very emotional one. The
Prophet said A man who comes back from an accepted ajj comes back like the
day his mother gave birth to him. And of course when you are given birth to, then

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you are absolutely free of sin. And so the scholars had a difficulty in trying to
reconcile between the fact that there is no action in this life that can expiate major
sins except tawbah, and this adth which seemed to. Because it says that a person
is free like the day they were born.

The correct position and the position of the majority of the scholars is that this
adth is referring to the minor sins. There are some [scholars] that say that this
adth must refer to the major sins as well, and everything is cleaned up. But this
would be going against direct text. It wouldnt support itself and therefore the
majority position - and Allh know best, because its an ikhtilf issue - is that the
adth refers to the minor sins. Not the major sins. Theres a long discussion behind
this. But thats the position. And also the good reason for bringing it up is that people
shouldnt feel safe with this understanding.

A lot of people - a lot of Paks especially - keep this adth in their back pocket,
thinking I dont need to pray all my life, Ill just make ajj and fix it all in one move.
Thats just, you know I dont even know what to say to that kind of thinking. First
of all youre wrong. Youre just wrong technically, which is slightly a tragedy.
Number two, the majority of the scholars expect you to make them up anyway,
which is a bigger problem for you. And then the third, who knows whether youre
going to stay alive until you go for ajj. And fourthly, who knows whats going to
happen when you go for ajj, whether a crane is going to fall on you or you get
squashed by a crowd or whatever? Who knows? Weve lost people in every single
one. We knew people who got crushed, we knew people who got hit by the crane,
and we know personally a number of people from this country that have been burnt
in bus fires on the road. There are many people that that has happened to, so who
knows? Then you have to assume it got accepted as well. Who does good ajj these
days anyway? Who knows what theyre doing anyway? A person who thinks like
that just need to stop and calm down and have some tea, and just calm down. Just
pray.

Q: If one is praying whilst the sun is rising, will he make the intention for qa?

A: No. if a person is actually praying whilst the sun is rising, they do not make the
intention for qa, they are making the intention that they are praying on time, but
well come to that later.

Q: Just one question about doing the prayer late. You said its not sinful if
unintentionally done. The fact that there is no sin on that person - is that based on
the fact that the Prophet was in that scenario?

A: Yes. Correct. The fact that you are not sinning when you wake up, is that based
upon the fact the Prophet himself did it? And he is not sinful. Yes. It is based upon
that. Its a philosophical discussion on what do you base that upon? From the aql it
make sense. Allh has made it obligatory upon himself to not punish people who
do not have the ability to know or understand. Thats from the adl of Allh . That
is the basis of why you are not punished, and why its not sinful.

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 Year 4 | Chapter 13 - Lesson 4

I didnt mention the full narration of the adth because Shaykh al-Uthaymn didnt.
But after they had prayed, the Companions came to the Prophet , all of them, and
they were very stressed and they said, Y Raslullh, what will happen to us
because of the prayer that we missed? And the Prophet said there is no
negligence in missing the prayer if you dont know of it, or you are sleeping, as long
as you pray it when you remember it. So there was a very clear na to show that
there cannot be a sin when you miss it unintentionally. So that is also the basis of
the ruling but I dont want to lessen the impact of our aqdah. Allh has clearly
has made us in a way where the rules of Islam are very natural and very logical.

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