The Creed of Compassion-Islamic Teachings & Answering Doctrinal Misconceptions

Issue No.690- If a person has an excuse and is sure that his excuse will cease before the prescribed time ends, it is obligatory that he wait, but if he is certain that his excuse will continue until the end of the prescribed time, it is not obligatory to wait. However, if he considers it probable that his excuse will be ceased, the obligatory precaution is that he should wait, except for tayammum in which case he can offer prayer in the early part of the time.

Issue No.691- If a person does not know the rulings concerning the prayer, or rulings regarding "doubts", "errors", etc., and it is probable that one of such problems will arise during his prayer, he should postpone the prayer from the early part of the prescribed time in order to learn the relevant rules. However, if he is certain that he can offer the prayer correctly, he can perform the prayer during the early part of the prescribed time.

Issue No.692- If, while offering prayer, a problem arises and the ruling regarding which is not known, one is allowed to act on either one of the two probabilities with the intention of the hope of being accepted by Allah. However, after offering the prayer, he should enquire about the problem so that if the prayer is void, he offers it again (the recommended precaution though, is that he should take the side which is more likely to be correct).

Issue No.695- The meritorious time for ẓuhr prayer is from the commencement of the time of ẓuhr prayer up to the time when the shadow of the indicator, which appears after midday, equals the length of the indicator itself. The meritorious time for ‘aṣr prayer starts from the time the shadow of the indicator equals its length, until the moment the shadow of the indicator doubles in length. The meritorious time for maghrib prayer is from sunset until the disappearance of the redness in the sky, which usually appears in the West after sunset. The meritorious time for ‘ishā’ prayer is from when the abovementioned redness disappears, until completion of one-third of the night. The meritorious time for fajr prayer is from the fajr adhān until the time when the horizon becomes bright.

Issue No.698- If, while offering the ‘aṣr prayer, a person doubts whether or not he has offered the ẓuhr prayer, he should follow the ruling explained in the previous issue, i.e., he should change the intention to the ẓuhr prayer and thereafter offer his ‘aṣr prayer. Likewise, if, while offering ‘ishā’ prayer, one doubts whether he has offered the maghrib prayer or not, he should act according to the previous rule.

J) Each sermon should include the following: 1. Praise of Allah (swt).2. Sending peace and blessings upon the Holy Prophet and his Household.3. Exhorting the people to observe piety. 4. Reciting a short sūrah from the Holy Qur’an in each sermon, like, “al-Ikhlāṣ”, “al-Kāfirūn” or “al-‘Aṣr”, as an obligatory precaution. 5. Seeking forgiveness for the believers as well as for himself as obligatory precaution. In the second sermon, while sending peace and blessings upon the holy Prophet and the Infallible Imams (as), the names of infallible Imams (as) should be mentioned one by one. Therefore, the first sermon consists of five parts and the second one consists of six parts. The prayer leader should recite the sermons while standing and he should sit down for a little while in between the two sermons. His voice should be loud enough to reach the audience. Furthermore, exhortation and guidance should be in a language understandable to the audience.

Issue No.704- All nawāfil can be offered in sitting posture, but the recommended precaution in this case is that two rak‘ats of nawāfil offered in the sitting posture are counted to be equal to one rak‘at. For example, if a person wishes to offer ẓuhr nāfilah, which consists of eight rak‘ats, in a sitting posture, he should offer sixteen rak‘ats.

Issue No.705- Ẓuhr and ‘aṣr nawāfil should not be offered when one is on a journey, and the obligatory precaution is not to offer ‘ishā’ nāfilah either. However, other daily nawāfil such as the fajr and maghrib nāfilahs and Night prayer still hold when one is on a journey.

Issue No.706- As was said earlier, the nawāfil should be offered in two rak‘ats, except for Witr which is one rak‘at. And in case one wishes to perform Witr prayer while sitting, he should offer two prayers of one rak‘at each in the sitting posture.

Issue No.707- The ẓuhr nāfilah is offered before ẓuhr prayer. Its time is from the commencement of ẓuhr, up to the time when the shadow of the indicator equals 2⁄(7 )of its length. For example, if an indicator is seven spans long, and the shadow which appears after midday becomes more than 2 spans long, the time for ẓuhr nāfilah ends.

Issue No.711- The time for fajr nāfilah is before fajr prayer, from fajr adhān until the appearance of redness in the east. It can be offered immediately after the night prayer.

Issue No.716- It is not necessary that, while standing for prayer, one’s toes be facing the qiblah nor is it necessary for the knees to be facing the qiblah in the sitting posture. Insofar as one is said to be standing or sitting towards the qiblah, it would be sufficient.