Paternal homeland (Waṭan)
Is one’s paternal homeland considered as one’s own homeland (Waṭan)?
The Paternal homeland of a person is not considered as the homeland of that person unless he/she stays there continuously for a long time like one year.
The meaning of the “first travel” of a person who travels a lot
I always travel and according to the rulings of Imam Khomeini I should perform prayers complete except the first travel, but I work on a ship and I don’t know where my first travel begins, which brings about the following questions 1- Does the travel from home to seaport before joining the ship is considered as the first travel (because this travel is the prerequisite of the main travel)? 2- Or the travel begins from joining the ship and continues until reaching the destination (there is the possibility of staying some other days in seaport before departure)? 3- Is the beginning of the travel marked by moving from the source port until reaching the destination?
Your going out of your house to the work place and then going to sail from there until reaching the destination are all consider as one travel.
Reciting tashahhud during tajāfi (sitting-up partially)
Should we recite tashahhud during tajāfi (raising knees from the ground and place one’s body in a half-raised position) or should we stay quiet?
It is better to recite tashahhud or other dhikrs while in tajāfi posture.
Time of morning nāfilah (supererogatory prayer)
When is the beginning and the end of the time for performing morning nāfilah?
The time of the morning nāfilah starts before the Fajr prayer , f r o m the Fajr adhan until the appearance of redness in the east, and it is possible to perform that immediately after the night prayer.
Attending the Friday Prayer of the Sunnis
What is the ruling for a Shia attending the Friday Prayer in Sunni countries (e.g. Malaysia) under the current conditions of the world and what your advice is to a Shia about the importance of this divine obligatory act and the need of the Muslim world for unity and its need for showing the power of unity?
Attending their Friday Prayer with the intention of creating a great unity among Muslims is good and suffices in lieu of noon prayer on Friday. Furthermore, under such conditions, there is no issue with prostrating on carpet.
The ruling regarding being someone else’s proxy for performing their prayers while the proxy himself has qaḍā prayers
What is the ruling for the prayers and fasting of a proxy who has qaḍā prayers and fasts himself/herself. Can he be hired for performing another person’s missed prayers and fasts?
It is permissible.
Qaḍā of worships of an ill person who has died
My father had a stroke 5 years ago and now he has passed away. He performed his prayers during these years incorrectly or he didn’t perform them at all because of his illness, also he didn’t fast in these years. Now, what is our duty? Should we perform the qaḍā of the prayers and fasts that he missed or not? PS: the compensation (fidyah) for the fasts that he missed has been paid.
If the same illness led to his death and he was not able to perform the qaḍā of his prayers and fasts then there is no need to perform their qaḍā. However, if he regained his health and was able to perform them but he did not, it is obligatory on his elder son to make up for them. But those that he had performed incorrectly although it is not obligatory for his elder son but he had better perform their qaḍā.
Does one need to pay Khums when changing their house or car?
Should we pay the khums when selling our house or car in order to buy new ones?
You do not need to pay khums under these conditions.
Ruling of signs prayer in countries where earthquake occur a lot
It is about one month since I’ve come to Japan for pleasure and I’ve stayed in Tokyo. Here in Japan around 4-5 earthquakes happen on a daily basis and because of high-tech construction methods used in constructing the buildings here most earthquakes are felt as small quakes here. Considering the fact that earthquake is a normal daily matter in this country, please guide me about performing the sign prayer and the number of times I need to perform it every day. Is it necessary for me to perform one sign prayer for each earthquake?
You should perform the sign prayer for each earthquake that is felt, but if it repeats during the prayer then that prayer will suffice. If repeating the Sign prayer causes considerable hardship for you, then you can perform it as much as is convenient for you.
How to calculate distance in religious matters
Is the distance between two locations of Friday Prayers calculated based on the way that people wend or the straight distance between the two locations, and what is the reason for this matter?
The itinerant distance is the criterion for the calculation of distance in religious issues. The reason for this ruling is that what could generally be understood from traditional proofs (ḥadīths) is the itinerant distance which is calculated based on the normal way traversed by people. This is particularly emphasized because usually the direct way between two locations is shorter than the normal itinerant distance between them that people usually wend. Therefore if the direct way were the criterion for calculating distance in religious issues then it should have been explicitly mentioned in narrations.
Expanding a Mosque into the Land of Another Mosque
There are two mosques which are built next to each other, one for summer and the other for winter, and the winter mosque is too small to meet the needs of people particularly in the month of Muharram; is it permissible to expand the winter mosque by taking some space from the summer mosque?
It is not permissible based on the obligatory precaution; however you can open a door from one mosque to the other.
Wearing Black Clothing during Mourning Ceremonies
Is wearing black clothing in the mourning ceremonies held for Imam Husayn (‘a.) and other Imams (‘a) preferred over other clothes, as the author of the book “Hada’iq” has also stated?
Whenever it is done in order to uphold the sacred Islamic rites it is preferable.
Qiblah in Non-Muslim Countries
In which direction should Muslims of Los Angeles who live in west of America perform their prayers in order to be correctly aligned towards the qiblah? Albeit, famous qiblah-finders like “Razm Ara” and others show the direction of the qibla for New York which is situated on the east coast of America. The qibla for Los Angeles which is a six–hour-flight f r o m New York cannot be found using these devices. This is why people don’t know exactly what their duty is, and they perform their prayers toward just any direction according to the verse “اَیْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ”1 (so whithersoever you turn, there is the face of Allah); What is the duty of these people?
Stand in the direction which is well-known among the Muslims as the direction of the qiblah and that would be enough.
Persons who Cannot Perform their Prayers in the Direction of the Qiblah
What is the ruling concerning those injured or handicap persons who cannot perform their prayers in the direction of the qiblah under any circumstances?
In that case, they can perform their prayers in any direction.
