Series of Answers by the Eminent Scholar Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, Amir of Hizb ut-Tahrir
To the Facebook Followers of His Jurisprudential Page
Answer to a Question
To Abu Qutaibah Jitawi
Question:
Is it permissible for followers to pray in a building, floor, courtyard, or elsewhere behind an Imam of a mosque who is completely separate, such that the Imam and those with him cannot be seen or heard except through speakers or screens that transmit sound or images via modern electronic devices, electricity, or the Internet?
Please advise us, as this matter is beginning to spread. May Allah reward you with goodness.
Answer:
My brother, this issue of Friday prayer (Jumu'ah) and congregational prayer has been addressed by the jurists (fuqaha), and they have various opinions on it. I have heard that some screens are being used! I do not say that all of their opinions are invalid, but what I find to be the most weighted (ar-rajih) is the following:
First: Some Relevant Texts:
1- Bukhari narrated from Al-A’raj from Abu Hurairah, who said: The Prophet ﷺ said:
إِنَّمَا جُعِلَ الْإِمَامُ لِيُؤْتَمَّ بِهِ؛ فَإِذَا كَبَّرَ فَكَبِّرُوا، وَإِذَا رَكَعَ فَارْكَعُوا، وَإِذَا قَالَ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ لِمَنْ حَمِدَهُ فَقُولُوا رَبَّنَا وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ، وَإِذَا سَجَدَ فَاسْجُدُوا، وَإِذَا صَلَّى جَالِساً فَصَلُّوا جُلُوساً أَجْمَعُونَ
"The Imam is appointed only to be followed; so when he says Allahu Akbar, say Allahu Akbar; when he bows, bow; when he says 'Allah hears him who praises Him', say 'Our Lord, to You is the praise'; when he prostrates, prostrate; and if he prays sitting, then all of you pray sitting." (Bukhari)
2- Muslim narrated from Al-A’raj from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ لِيُؤْتَمَّ بِهِ فَلَا تَخْتَلِفُوا عَلَيْهِ، فَإِذَا كَبَّرَ فَكَبِّرُوا، وَإِذَا رَكَعَ فَارْكَعُوا، وَإِذَا قَالَ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ لِمَنْ حَمِدَهُ فَقُولُوا اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَا لَكَ الْحَمْدُ، وَإِذَا سَجَدَ فَاسْجُدُوا، وَإِذَا صَلَّى جَالِساً فَصَلُّوا جُلُوساً أَجْمَعُونَ
"The Imam is only to be followed, so do not differ from him; when he says Allahu Akbar, say Allahu Akbar; when he bows, bow; when he says 'Allah hears him who praises Him', say 'O Allah, our Lord, to You is the praise'; when he prostrates, prostrate; and if he prays sitting, then all of you pray sitting." (Muslim)
3- Abu Dawood narrated: Ahmad bin Ibrahim told us, Hajjaj told us, from Ibn Jurayj who said: Abu Khalid informed me from Adi bin Thabit al-Ansari: A man told me that he was with Ammar bin Yasir in Al-Mada'in when the call to prayer was made. Ammar came forward and stood on a bench (dukkan) to pray while the people were lower than him. Hudhayfah came forward and took him by his hands, and Ammar followed him until Hudhayfah brought him down. When Ammar finished his prayer, Hudhayfah said to him: "Did you not hear the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:
إِذَا أَمَّ الرَّجُلُ الْقَوْمَ فَلَا يَقُمْ فِي مَكَانٍ أَرْفَعَ مِنْ مَقَامِهِمْ أَوْ نَحْوُ ذَلِكَ
'When a man leads the people in prayer, he should not stand in a place higher than theirs,' or something similar?" Ammar said: "That is why I followed you when you took me by my hands."
It was mentioned in Al-Binayah Sharh al-Hidayah by Abu Muhammad al-Ghitabi al-Hanafi Badr al-Din al-Ayni, in the commentary of the above hadith:
"(Sh - Ahmad bin Ibrahim: Ibn Kathir bin Zaid bin Aflah bin Mansur bin Muzahim al-Abdi Abu Abdullah, known as 'al-Dawraqi'. He heard from: his brother Yaqub, Ibn Mahdi, Al-Hajjaj, Abu Dawood al-Tayalisi, and others. Narrated from him: Muslim, Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, and others. Abu Hatim said: Trustworthy (saduq). He died in Al-Askar on Saturday, seven days remaining of Sha'ban, in the year two hundred and forty-six. And Hajjaj: Ibn Muhammad al-A’war, and Abdul Malik: Ibn Jurayj. And Abu Khalid: Narrated from: Adi bin Thabit, narrated from him: Ibn Jurayj. Abu Dawood narrated for him. The phrase: 'أسفل منه' is mansub as a zarf.
The phrase: 'لذلك' means: because of the Prophet’s ﷺ statement. In the chain of the hadith is an unknown man (majhul). Nevertheless, this hadith was used as evidence in Al-Binayah Sharh al-Hidayah as we mentioned above by Badr al-Din al-Ayni (died 855 AH), where it stated: 'I say: Abu Dawood narrated in his Sunan from the hadith of Hammam that Hudhayfah led the people in Al-Mada'in on a bench, so Abu Mas’ud took his shirt and pulled him. When he finished his prayer, he said: Did you not know that they used to forbid that? He said: Yes, I remembered when you pulled me. And he also narrated from the hadith of Adi bin Thabit al-Ansari: A man told me that he was with Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with them both) in Al-Mada'in... [same story as above]...')" End quote.
While most jurists dislike (karahah) the Imam being higher than the followers, they exempt a slight elevation... It is stated in Al-Bayan fi Madhhab al-Imam al-Shafi’i (2/427): "It is disliked for the Imam's place to be higher than the followers' place. Sheikh Abu Hamid said: It is only disliked if it is a significantly high elevation, but if it is a platform or a slightly elevated place, it is not disliked."
4- Al-Bayhaqi narrated in Al-Sunan al-Kubra:
(Chapter: The follower praying outside the mosque following the Imam’s prayer in the mosque while there is a barrier between them): Abu Said bin Abi Amr informed us, Abu al-Abbas Muhammad bin Yaqub told us, Al-Rabi’ informed us, he said: Al-Shafi’i said: Some women prayed with Aisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, in her room, and she said: "Do not pray following the prayer of the Imam, for you are separated from him by a barrier (hijab)." Al-Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "And as Aisha said regarding her room—if she said it—we say it."
Abu Ahmad al-Mahrajani informed us, Abu Bakr bin Ja’far informed us, Muhammad bin Ibrahim told us, Ibn Bukayr told us, Malik told us from a trustworthy source to him that people used to enter the rooms of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ after the death of the Prophet ﷺ and pray the Friday prayer therein. He said: "The mosque would become narrow for its people, so they would expand into them. The rooms of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ were not part of the mosque, but their doors opened into the mosque." Malik said: "So whoever prays in any of the mosque’s courtyards connected to it or in its adjacent open spaces, that is sufficient for him. This has always been the practice of the people and none of the people of jurisprudence (fiqh) criticized it." Malik said: "As for a locked house that cannot be entered except with permission, no one should pray in it following the prayer of the Imam on Friday, even if it is close, because it is not part of the mosque."
5- Al-Bayhaqi narrated in Ma’rifat al-Sunan wa al-Athar: Al-Rabi’ informed us, he said: Al-Shafi’i said: Regarding someone in a house near the mosque or far from it, it is not permissible for him to pray in it unless the rows are connected to him and he is in the lower part of the house with no barrier between him and the rows. Then he continued until he said: If it is said: "Do you narrate anything regarding this?" It is said: Women prayed with Aisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, in her room, and she said: "Do not pray following the prayer of the Imam; for you are behind a barrier (hijab)." He said: As Aisha said regarding her room—if she said it—we say it. The chain of narration was not mentioned in the jadid (new school) but was mentioned in the qadim (old school).
In another narration by Al-Bayhaqi from Muhammad bin Ishaq and Al-Mu’ammal, they said: Al-Za’farani told us from Al-Shafi’i: Ibrahim bin Muhammad informed us, from Layth, from Ata, from Aisha, "that some women prayed in her room, and she said: Do not pray following the prayer of the Imam; for you are behind a barrier (hijab)." A hijab is a partition, an obstacle, or a screen.
Second: The linguistic meaning of Qidwa and Iqtida' (following) from Lisan al-Arab:
[(Qada)... it is said qidwah and qudwah for that which is followed... The qudwah and qidwah is what you take as a model...
And al-qidah is like al-qudwah; it is said 'I have in you a qidwah, qudwah, and qidah'...
And he followed him (iqtada bihi), and the qudwah and qidwah is the uswah (example); it is said 'So-and-so is a qudwah to be followed'... ]
The jurists use it with this linguistic meaning, and in prayer, they define it as: (The follower’s adherence to the Imam in the actions of the prayer).
Third: Based on the above, what I find most weighted (ar-rajih) to achieve these meanings is that the follower must adhere to the following:
The place where the follower prays must be included within the place where the Imam prays, i.e., the mosque building or its courtyard... without a natural separation between the courtyard and the mosque, such as a running water canal or a main street traversed by cars... i.e., there should be no actual separation between the mosque and the courtyard.
The follower must pray in a place where he can see his Imam, or pray in an open place where he can see those followers who see the Imam... Thus, he should not be in a completely closed room (hujrah) where those inside cannot see those outside. The sight of the Imam’s image (on a screen) is not considered seeing the Imam; the rules of an image differ from the rules of the actual physical body. If you were to cut the image with a knife, it does not mean you have wounded the Imam! Rather, seeing the image has no connection to iqtida' (following). You might see the image on a television screen from a place far from the mosque and its courtyard, or even from a distant country that has no connection to the Imam or following him. Therefore, this sight is not relied upon for iqtida'.
He must hear the Imam’s takbirs, whether directly or through loudspeakers. This is because making the Imam’s voice heard is permissible, whether it is by a person repeating the takbir behind the Imam or by voice amplification. Consequently, the follower hears the Imam’s takbirs and follows him...
It is stated in Hashiyat al-Dasuqi al-Maliki on Al-Sharh al-Kabir by Sheikh al-Dardir:
[(And) it is permissible (to have a musammi’) i.e., appointing him and placing him to make the followers hear by raising his voice with the takbir so they know the Imam’s action (And) it is permissible (to follow him) i.e., following the Imam due to hearing him, though it is better for the Imam to raise his voice and dispense with the musammi’.]
- The Imam should not be in a place significantly higher than the followers, such as the Imam being on the top floor of the mosque while all the followers are below him...
If these matters are fulfilled, then the following (iqtida') of the Imam has occurred, and thus the conditions for the congregation behind the Imam in the Friday prayer are met, Allah willing. I repeat what I said at the beginning: I do not say that all the opinions differing from this view are invalid... rather, this is what I find to be the most weighted (ar-rajih) in this matter... and Allah Ta’ala is Most Knowing and Most Wise.
Your brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
29 Sha'ban 1443 AH Corresponding to 01/04/2022 CE
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