PAPER
# 1
The Benefits of Prayers
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) has said: ï؟½Surely the Angel of
Death repels Satan from the proximity of one who had adhered to and guarded his
prayers, and makes him speak out the testimony of ï؟½There is no God except Allah
and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allahï؟½ during that terrifying and frightening
state (of death).ï؟½ Wasaï؟½ilush Shi`a, Volume 3, Page 19
WUDHU (ABLUTION)
according to
the FATAWA of Ayatullah al-Uzama Sayyid Ali al-Husaini Sistani Dama-Dhilluhu)Sources: Islamic
Laws, Jurisprudence Made Easy, and The Ritual and Spiritual Purity by
Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi (unless otherwise specified)
Q) What are the acts
for which performance of wudhu is obligatory?
A) Performing the wudhu is always a recommendable deed,
but it becomes obligatory (wajib) in certain circumstances. There are
five circumstances under which wudhu becomes obligatory; and
whenever a Muslim finds himself in any one these circumstances, he must do wudhu.
The five
circumstances are as follows:-
1. For obligatory prayers, e.g., the five daily prayers.
Wudhu is not wajib
for sunnat (recommended) prayers; but as the prayers whether obligatory
or recommended are invalid without wudhu, so we have to pray the sunnat
prayers also with wudhu. In other words, if you do not do wudhu for
the sunnat prayer you will not have sinned - alï؟½though your prayer will
be incorrect.
For the sajdah and tashahhud which a person
forgot to perform during the prayers,
provided that he invalidated his wudhu after Salaat, and before performing those forgotten acts. It is
not obligatory to perform wudhu for sajdatus sahw.
Salatu 'l-mayyit (the
ritual prayer said for the dead person before the burial) is an exception to
this rule; this obligatory prayer can be performed even if one is in a state of
ritual impurity.
2. For the wajib circumambulation (tawaaf) of the Ka`bah
in Hajj.
3. For touching the writings of the Qur'an.
The Qur'an is not just a book, it is the revelation
of God, it is the word of God, and therefore it is sacred. Its sacredness
demands that before you touch the writing of the Qur'an, you must ritually
purify yourself. Allah says, "None shall touch it except the purified
ones." (56:79) On basis of the extrinsic meaning of this verse and the
ahadith, the mujï؟½tahids have reached the opinion that it
is forbidden to touch the writings of the Qur' an without being in the
state of wudhu.
However, this law of the shari`ah should
not become an excuse for not reading the Qur'an. There is no harm in reading
the Qur'an without doing Wudhu provided one does not touch the writing of the
holy book, i.e., just hold the cover or the border of the page.
Likewise, there is no harm in touching the translations of
the Qur'an, because the translations do
not qualify as the word of God. Neither is it wajib to prevent the children from touching the writings
of the Qur'an unless such an act is considered a
disrespect to the Sacred Book-and this differs according to the culture and the society' in which the Muslims
live.
To be continued next week, Insha-Allah
