The Creed of Compassion-Islamic Teachings & Answering Doctrinal Misconceptions

C) If a person fails to attend the sermons but reaches the prayer or one rak‘at of it, his prayer will be valid, but the obligatory precaution is that he should not delay participation in the prayer intentionally.

D) Friday prayer must be offered in congregation. The number of persons joining Friday prayer should be at least five, including the imam.

E) The distance between the two places where Friday prayer is offered should not be less than one farsakh (about 5.5 KMs). Hence, if two Friday prayers are held while the distance between the two places is lesser, the one that precedes the other will be in order and the other will be void.

F) Friday prayer is not obligatory on travellers, women, patients and those who are physically disabled. However, if they participate in the Friday prayer, their prayer will be valid. However, the obligatory precaution is that the five main persons (i.e., the imam and the other four) should be other than them.

H) Two sermons should be delivered by the Friday prayer Imam before the prayer.

I) As an obligatory precaution, the sermons should be delivered after the ẓuhradhān and in case, they are delivered before adhān, the imam should deliver them again.

K) It is befitting that the imam is dressed in a turban and cloak and that he should lean against a walking stick or similar objects, and before delivering the sermon, he should salute the audience by saying salamun alaykum. It is also befitting that he covers important political, social, and moral issues of Muslims and the Muslim world as well as the region to the people. He should make them aware of their duties with respect to these issues. He should warn them about enemy plots and conspiracies.In short, the imam should take the utmost benefit from the sermons in spiritually refining the people and informing them about the important current issues, which is one of the main goals of the two sermons.The sermons should be delivered in fluent, expressive, eloquent, and effective expressions so that they may have the necessary effect on the hearts of the Muslims and they gain perfect benefit from this politico-religious obligation. The imam should not discuss issues which cause disunity; rather he should invite the Muslims to unite against the enemies.The obligatory precaution is that the participants in the Friday prayer should be in the state of ṭahārah and sit facing the imam. They should observe silence and listen to the sermons. However, if they engage in talking intentionally, their prayers are valid, though they should not act in such a way again.

Issue No.700- There are many recommended prayers which are generally called Nafilah, but more stress has been laid on the daily recommended prayers.

Issue No.701- The daily nawāfil are as follow: Eight rak‘ats for ẓuhr prayer, eight rak‘ats for ‘aṣr prayer, four rak‘ats for maghrib prayer, two rak‘ats for ‘ishā’ prayer (offered in sitting posture), eleven rak‘ats of night prayer and two rak‘ats for fajr prayer and since the two rak‘ats of nāfilah for ‘ishā’ prayer are counted as one, the total number of the rak‘ats of these nawāfil is 34, but on Fridays the number of the rak‘ats of these nawāfil is 38 because four rak‘ats are added to the nāfilah of ẓuhr and ‘aṣr prayers. (All the recommended prayers are performed in two rak‘ats).

Issue No.708- The ‘aṣr nāfilah is performed before ‘aṣr prayer, and its time is until the moment when the shadow of an indicator which appears after ẓuhr reaches 4⁄7 of its length as was explained in the previous issue.

Issue No.709- Maghrib nāfilah should be performed after maghrib prayer and its time continues until the disappearance of the redness which appears in the sky in the west after sunset.

Issue No.710-‘ishā’nāfilah should be performed after ‘ishā’ prayer and its time continues until midnight, and it is better to offer it immediately after ‘ishā’ prayer.