Question:
What is the ruling of performing terawih prayer hurriedly?
Answer:
Alhamdulillah, praise and thanks to Allah for the countless blessings He has blessed us all with. Blessings and salutations to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, his wives, his family, companions and all those that follow his teachings to the day of judgement.
- I respect the opinions of scholars regarding any issue, where they specifically explain any issue related to Islam even if their opinion is not in line with the opinion of majority of scholars or our own opinion.
- In this issue, we should understand that one of the fi’li (action) prerequisites of prayer is tamakninah. This is in accordance with the hadith of the Prophet PBUH, where he rebuke the prayer of a man where the man neglected tamakninah. This hadith is also known as the hadith regarding erroneous prayer (musi’ as-salah).
- There is a hadith where the Prophet PBUH asked a man to repeat his prayer, narrated by al-Bukhari:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِي اللَّه عَنْه، أَنَّ رَجُلًا دَخَلَ الْمَسْجِدَ، وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّه عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ جَالِسٌ فِي نَاحِيَةِ الْمَسْجِدِ، فَصَلَّى ثُمَّ جَاءَ فَسَلَّمَ عَلَيْهِ، فَقَالَ لَهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّه عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: وَعَلَيْكَ السَّلَامُ، ارْجِعْ فَصَلِّ فَإِنَّكَ لَمْ تُصَلِّ"، فَرَجَعَ فَصَلَّى، ثُمَّ جَاءَ فَسَلَّمَ، فَقَالَ: "وَعَلَيْكَ السَّلَامُ، فَارْجِعْ فَصَلِّ فَإِنَّكَ لَمْ تُصَلِّ"، حَتَّى فَعَلَ ذَلِكَ ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ، فَقَالَ الرَّجُلُ: وَالَّذِي بَعَثَكَ بِالْحَقِّ مَا أُحْسِنُ غَيْرَ هَذَا فعَلِّمْنِي يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، فَقَالَ: "إِذَا قُمْتَ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَأَسْبِغِ الْوُضُوءَ، ثُمَّ اسْتَقْبِلِ الْقِبْلَةَ فَكَبِّرْ، ثُمَّ اقْرَأْ بِمَا تَيَسَّرَ مَعَكَ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ، ثُمَّ ارْكَعْ حَتَّى تَطْمَئِنَّ رَاكِعًا، ثُمَّ ارْفَعْ حَتَّى تَسْتَوِيَ قَائِمًا، ثُمَّ اسْجُدْ حَتَّى تَطْمَئِنَّ سَاجِدًا، ثُمَّ ارْفَعْ حَتَّى تَطْمَئِنَّ جَالِسًا، ثُمَّ اسْجُدْ حَتَّى تَطْمَئِنَّ سَاجِدًا، ثُمَّ ارْفَعْ حَتَّى تَطْمَئِنَّ جَالِسًا، ثُمَّ افْعَلْ ذَلِكَ فِي صَلَاتِكَ كُلِّهَا
A man entered the mosque while Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was sitting in one side of the mosque. The man prayed, came, and greeted the Prophet. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to him, "Wa 'Alaikas Salam (returned his greeting). Go back and pray as you have not prayed (properly)." The man returned, repeated his prayer, came back and greeted the Prophet. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Wa alaika-s-Salam (returned his greeting). Go back and pray again as you have not prayed (properly)." The man said at the second or third time, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Kindly teach me how to pray". The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "When you stand for prayer, perform ablution properly and then face the Qibla and say Takbir (Allahu-Akbar), and then recite what you know from the Qur'an, and then bow with calmness till you feel at ease then rise from bowing, till you stand straight, and then prostrate calmly (and remain in prostration) till you feel at ease, and then raise (your head) and sit with calmness till you feel at ease and then prostrate with calmness (and remain in prostration) till you feel at ease, and then raise (your head) and sit with calmness till you feel at ease in the sitting position, and do likewise in whole of your prayer."
Sahih al-Bukhari (6251)
Among the wisdom from the hadith: There is tamakninah during bowing in prayer and it is not enough to just bowing and swiftly stand back up, like a crow scratching the earth. This is the commentary of most hadith narrators.
Hence, we hope that with this explanation, we will understand that a prayer is a worship of remembrance of Allah and a form of our communication with Him. Thus, we should be calm especially when we are facing Rabb al-Alamin.
- Read the history of the life of the Porphet PBUH where he would pray every night and Aisyah said: “I did not see such goodness and perfection in prayer in the bowing, prostration and qiam of the prayer of the Prophet PBUH. This means the calmness of him and the companions and the length of their prayer.”
- The word iqamah or aqimu as-solah is defined by most scholars as celebrating manners, prerequisites, conditions and tamakninah while performing prayer. Thus, they say, there are numerous people who pray, but only a few really emulated iqamah
- Scholars discussed the spirit of praying (khusyuk), where it does not exist for people who perform their prayer hurriedly without focus and appreciation for the prayer itself, where it contains the secrets of prayer. Read the book of al-Ghazali in Ihya’ Ulumuddin,Waliyullah Addihlawi’ and ‘Hujjatul Balighah’ regarding the details of the secrets of prayer.
Lastly, let us understand and learn about our religion especially in the issues of prayer (fiqh as-solah) to perform and practise in our daily lives.