[::..War and Fire..::]
Today I had such an interesting class with SHK. We were learning about the Prayer of Peril. Of course in this day and age, the Prayer of Peril is not very practical, but he still went thru with us for the sake of learning.
Prayer of Peril is so interesting. I have tried reading about it on my own, but I was so confused, it intrigued me further. So, there are three scenarios. 2 during non-combat and 1 during combat. There was an additional scenario, but we did not go thru it. So, during non combat, 2 things may happen. The enemy might be facing the opposite way of the Qiblah. So, how do you pray? Remember, non combat means no fighting has happened yet. Both parties are just eyeing each other up for a surprise attack. So, obviously, you need to pray facing the Qiblah. But if you do, your backs are facing the Enemy, and they are so in a position to kill you. What do you do? You divide the army into 2. Half will pray with the imam, and the other half stands guard. After half of the prayer is done, the group presently praying intends to stop following the imam, and hasten their prayers and finish it on their own. The imam then recites a long surah to wait for the next group to join him. So, the groups swap and this second group intends to follow the imam and plays catch up. Somehow, they finish praying together. How cool is that.
Second non-combat scenario is when the enemy is in the direction of the Qiblah. There no need to divide the army into two, and everyone prays together. But the problem arises when you have to bow or prostrate. You will be in such a position to be killed. So, what do you do? The row nearest to the imam will bow and prostrate with him, while the row behind waits. Then when the row finished the prostrations, it's the second row's turn.
Third scenario is during combat itself. Imagine, it is not possible to pray as a group coz it is just asking for it! And sometimes it is impossible to face the Qiblah. In this case, you can pray any direction, no need to do it in the group, you can pray walking, running, or riding, and extraneous actions which would normally invalidate your prayers are allowed here. So, if you need to strike a blow, you strike. So, you pray however you can. But extraneous speech is not allowed. As it is said, when you are quiet in your prayer, it instills fear in the heart of the enemy.
Lesson to take from today's class as said by SHK, is that even in dire situations, life and death, the obligatory prayer is still obligatory. Can't stress it enough. And this is a fine example. Another lesson to take, is that the group prayer is so meritorious that even in times of war, there is still a way to do it. Of all the prayer modules I have done in this semester, Prayer of Peril is the most interesting one. Can you imagine, there is always a way of doing things in life. It has been taught. Everything is sorted!
I also made my teacher laughed today. I asked him if you live by the mosque, so close that you can hear the Adhan 5 times a day. Are the men of the house obligated to go and pray in the mosque? Then he said it is not an obligation, but by right, it is better for a man to pray in a group in the mosque. So I told him. I heard that if the men of the house do not pray in the mosque, the people in the mosque has the right to burn your house. At this point, he chuckled. I laughed too. Then he explained why people say that. He said, there was once, Rasullulah s.a.w realised that during prayer time, there were still a lot of people in their houses, and do not come out to the mosque and pray. So he said that he has a thought-of burning the houses of the people.....but he did not actually mean that you have to set fire to those houses. He was just displeased. (I can't remember the exact words of the Hadith quoted, SHK was going toooooo fast) Because in that era, if you do not come out and pray in the mosque with the Prophet s.a.w, you can be seen like a hypocrite. Outwardly you will say, yes, we obey, but inwardly you say something else.
This post does not intend to teach. I left out a lot of stuff, if not it will be like a thesis. Just wrote it to share on what rocks my boat today!
Farah
"Love is a many splendid thing."
Prayer of Peril is so interesting. I have tried reading about it on my own, but I was so confused, it intrigued me further. So, there are three scenarios. 2 during non-combat and 1 during combat. There was an additional scenario, but we did not go thru it. So, during non combat, 2 things may happen. The enemy might be facing the opposite way of the Qiblah. So, how do you pray? Remember, non combat means no fighting has happened yet. Both parties are just eyeing each other up for a surprise attack. So, obviously, you need to pray facing the Qiblah. But if you do, your backs are facing the Enemy, and they are so in a position to kill you. What do you do? You divide the army into 2. Half will pray with the imam, and the other half stands guard. After half of the prayer is done, the group presently praying intends to stop following the imam, and hasten their prayers and finish it on their own. The imam then recites a long surah to wait for the next group to join him. So, the groups swap and this second group intends to follow the imam and plays catch up. Somehow, they finish praying together. How cool is that.
Second non-combat scenario is when the enemy is in the direction of the Qiblah. There no need to divide the army into two, and everyone prays together. But the problem arises when you have to bow or prostrate. You will be in such a position to be killed. So, what do you do? The row nearest to the imam will bow and prostrate with him, while the row behind waits. Then when the row finished the prostrations, it's the second row's turn.
Third scenario is during combat itself. Imagine, it is not possible to pray as a group coz it is just asking for it! And sometimes it is impossible to face the Qiblah. In this case, you can pray any direction, no need to do it in the group, you can pray walking, running, or riding, and extraneous actions which would normally invalidate your prayers are allowed here. So, if you need to strike a blow, you strike. So, you pray however you can. But extraneous speech is not allowed. As it is said, when you are quiet in your prayer, it instills fear in the heart of the enemy.
Lesson to take from today's class as said by SHK, is that even in dire situations, life and death, the obligatory prayer is still obligatory. Can't stress it enough. And this is a fine example. Another lesson to take, is that the group prayer is so meritorious that even in times of war, there is still a way to do it. Of all the prayer modules I have done in this semester, Prayer of Peril is the most interesting one. Can you imagine, there is always a way of doing things in life. It has been taught. Everything is sorted!
I also made my teacher laughed today. I asked him if you live by the mosque, so close that you can hear the Adhan 5 times a day. Are the men of the house obligated to go and pray in the mosque? Then he said it is not an obligation, but by right, it is better for a man to pray in a group in the mosque. So I told him. I heard that if the men of the house do not pray in the mosque, the people in the mosque has the right to burn your house. At this point, he chuckled. I laughed too. Then he explained why people say that. He said, there was once, Rasullulah s.a.w realised that during prayer time, there were still a lot of people in their houses, and do not come out to the mosque and pray. So he said that he has a thought-of burning the houses of the people.....but he did not actually mean that you have to set fire to those houses. He was just displeased. (I can't remember the exact words of the Hadith quoted, SHK was going toooooo fast) Because in that era, if you do not come out and pray in the mosque with the Prophet s.a.w, you can be seen like a hypocrite. Outwardly you will say, yes, we obey, but inwardly you say something else.
This post does not intend to teach. I left out a lot of stuff, if not it will be like a thesis. Just wrote it to share on what rocks my boat today!
Farah
"Love is a many splendid thing."
Labels: Islam