Lesson 23: Miscellaneous Prayers

A- Prayers of a Traveler (Musāfir)

While Traveling under the following conditions, a traveler must offer two Rak’ats (Qasr prayer) instead of four Rak’ats for the Ẓuhr,ʿ Aṣr, and ʿIshāʾ prayers.

One: The Conditions for Shortening the Prayer (Qasr)

There are eight conditions for performing qAṣr prayer:

1. The journey must not be less than eight farsakhs (45 kilometers) (Issue 1317).
2. From the journey’s beginning, one must intend to travel eight farsakhs (Issue 1325).
3. On the way, one must not change his intention (Issue 1332).
4. He does not pass through his hometown or stay in an area for ten days or more before reaching eight Farsakhs (Issue 1337).
5. The journey should not be for an unlawful purpose (Issue 1339).
6. The traveler must not be a nomad like those who dwell in deserts (Issue 1349).
7. Travel must not be his job (Kathir al-Safar)

(Issue 1351).

8. The traveler reaches the limit of tarakhus (ḥadd al-tarakhkhuṣ)[1] from his hometown (Issue 1362).

Two: Things Which Terminate the Journey

The prayer is full (Tamām) in the following places:

1. Reaching at Home Town;
2. The intention of staying in a place for ten consecutive days (Issue 1338);
3. Staying for a month without intention at a place (Issue 2018).

Three: Cases That the Traveler’s Prayer Is Complete

1. Traveling for unlawful purpose (Issue 1339).
2. It is a journey that hurts the father and mother

(Issue 1340).

3. Traveling for leave an obligatory act (Issue 1342).
4. When a person travels voluntarily with an oppressor

(Issue 1344).

5. A person who goes hunting for pleasure and revelry must complete his prayer while going, and when returning, his prayer is qasr within the limits of the sharī‘a distance (Issue 1346).
6. One who tours different cities but has not chosen a homeland for himself (Issue 1360).
7. Staying in the same place for ten consecutive days (Issue 2018).
8. Someone whose job is Traveling (Issue 1357).
9. If a traveler reaches his homeland or residence before the time runs out (Issue 1412).
10. A person who has traveled less than eight farsakhs (Issue 1319).

Four: Lows of the Traveler

1. Homeland: The place one chooses for his residence and life is his home, and his prayer is complete

(Issue 1374).

2. The limit of Tarakhus (ḥadd al-tarakhkhuṣ): When a traveler reaches the town, he does not hear the Adhān of the town and does not see any of the people of the town, and the people of the town do not see him (Issue 1328).

Five: Ways of Knowing the Eight Farsakh

There are two ways to find the distance between two places:

1. A just or reliable individual reports that the distance is eight farsakh (Issue 1320).
2. Someone is confident that his journey is eight farsakhs (Issue 1321).

B- Lapsed (Qaḍā) Prayers

Two types of qaḍā prayers are obligatory: the qaḍā prayer of the person and his parents.

First part: Qaḍā prayer of a person

1. Those who have not performed their daily obligatory prayers within the prescribed time must perform its qaḍā (Issue 1415).
2. Prayer was not performed under voluntary anesthesia; its qaḍā must be performed (Issue 1415).
3. If a person realizes after passing the prescribed time of the prayer that it is invalid, he must perform its qaḍā (Issue 1416).
4. It is not obligatory to perform the qaḍā prayer immediately (Issue 1417).
5. The qaḍā of daily prayers do not require to be performed in order except for noon and afternoon prayers or evening and night prayers on the same day (Issue 1420).
6. As long as a person is alive, another person cannot perform his Qaḍāʾ prayers, even if he is unable (Issue 1432).

Second Part: Qaḍā Prayers of Parents

1. It is obligatory on the eldest son to perform the Qaḍā of obligatory prayers of his father or mother after their death (Issue 1435).
2. The eldest son must perform the Qaḍāʾ prayers of his mother according to his duties about reciting Sūrah al-Ḥamd and the other Sūrah aloud (Jahr) or silently (Ikhfāt) (Issue 1440).
3. If the dying person has bequeathed that someone must perform his Qaḍāʾ prayers, it is not obligatory on the eldest son (Issue 1439).
4. The law of the Qaḍāʾ prayer and fasting of the mother is the same as that of the Qaḍāʾ prayer and fasting of the father, as a precaution (Issue 1443).

C- Congregational Prayers (Ṣalāt-Al-Jamāʿah)

It is recommended to offer daily obligatory prayers in the congregation. It is not permissible to neglect to attend the congregational prayer out of indifference

(Issues 1444 & 1446).

One: Conditions of Congregational Prayer

1. There must not be a curtain, a wall, or a barrier between the Imām and the follower (Ma’mum) and between one follower and the other follower who connected to the Imām (Issue 1456).
2. The standing place of the Imām must not be higher than the place of the follower by the size of a conventional span (wajab) of hand (Issue 1460).
3. The Imām of the congregation must meet the necessary conditions (Issue 1498).
4. A follower should never stand in front of the Imām; he must stand a little behind him (Issue 1477).
5. The follower must not say takbīrat al-Iḥrām before the Imām (Issue 1512).

Two: The Conditions of Imām of Congregation Prayer

The conditions of the Imām of the congregation are the following:

1. He must be an adult (Bāligh);
2. He must be sane (ʿĀqil);
3. He must be Ithna ashari Shi’a (Shiite who follows twelve the Imāms);
4. He must be just (ʿādil);
5. He must be of legitimate birth;
6. If the follower is a man, the Imām, too, must be a man.
7. He must perform prayers correctly;
8. Sharī‘a punishment (had) has not been imposed on him (Issue 1498).

Three: Joining a Congregational Prayer

1. If a person joins the congregational prayer from the beginning of the prayer until the Imām raises his head from Rukūʿ, his congregational prayer is valid (Issue 1475).
2. If a person joins the Rukū of the Imām, his congregational prayer is valid. His prayer is invalid if he bends to the extent of Rukū but misses the Imām’s Rukū (Issue 1472).

.3. If a person joins in the second Rak’at, he must recite qunūt and Tashahhud with the Imām, and at the time of reciting Tashahhud, he must place on the fingers of his hands and toes, and after the Tashahhud, he must stand up with the Imām and recite Sūrah al-Ḥamd and the other Sūrah and follows the Imām in the Rukū, and after two Sajdahs, sit down and recite Tashahhud and stand up, and say tasbīhāt-e-arba’ah and follows the Imām in Rukū and complete his prayer (Issues 1484 & 1485).

4. If the Imām is in the third or fourth Rak’ats and a follower knows that if he joins and recites Sūrah al-Ḥamd, he will not be able to reach the Imām in Rukū, he must wait until the Imām goes into Rukūʿ, then joins the congregation (Issue 1486).
5. If a person follows the Imām in qiyām of the third or fourth Rakʿats, he must recite Sūrah al-Ḥamd and the other Sūrah and go into Rukūʿ with the Imām. If he cannot join the Imām in Rukū‘, as an obligatory precaution, he must continue his prayer with the intention of individual prayer and complete it

(Issue 1487).

Four: For Whom is Congregational Prayer Obligatory?

The congregational prayer is mandatory for the following groups:

1. Obsessed people must perform their prayers in congregations (Issue 1450).
2. Whenever a father or mother commands his/her child to pray in the congregation, the child must obey them if leaving congregations causes to annoy him/her (Issue 1451).
3. If time is limited, people who do not know some obligatory acts of prayer, such as Sūrah al-Ḥamd, must pray in the congregation if possible (Issue 1043).

Five: The Lows of Congregational Prayer

1. A follower must specify the Imām when making the intention, but he is not required to know his name

(Issue 1505).

2. A follower must perform all acts and Dhikrs with the Imām, except reciting Sūrah al-Ḥamd and the other Sūrahs (Issue 1506).
3. The follower who inadvertently raises his head from Rukūʿor Sajdah before the Imām, if the Imām is in Rukūʿor Sajdah, must go back into Rukūʿor Sajdah and must raise his head with the Imām. And in this case, the additional Rukūʿor Sajdah, as a Rukn, will not invalidate the prayer (Issues 1516 & 1517).

Question:

Does the law of homeland apply to someone who has lived in a country for three years?

Answer:

A person who has lived in the country for more than three years has the status of the homeland (Watan).

Exercises:

1. What are the conditions for shortening (Qasr) the prayer?
2. In what cases is the traveler’s prayer complete?
3. Which child is required to perform the parents’ qaḍā prayer?

4. What are the conditions of congregational prayer?

[1]. The wall of the city must not be seen and the call of prayer (adhān) must not be heard.