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Resolutions of Iftaa' Board

Date Added : 27-10-2015

Resolution No.(137),(2/2010):

"Ruling on Praying in the Mosque Sitting on a Chair"

Date: 25/3/1431 AH, corresponding to 11/3/2010 AD.

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
During its first session held on the above given date, the Board reviewed the following question:
What is the ruling of Sharia on praying in the mosque while sitting on a chair and the harm that could result from that on other prayer performers?
After thorough studying and deliberating, the Board decided what follows:
Prayer is one of the pillars of Islam and Allah has commanded Muslims to guard it. He Says (what means): "Guard strictly your (habit of) prayers, especially the Middle Prayer; and stand before God in a devout (frame of mind)." {Al-Baqarah/238}. 
Guarding prayer means that a Muslim is obliged to observe all its pillars and conditions such as standing, bowing down (Ruku`) and prostrating (Sujood). Muslim scholars have agreed that standing, for the person who is able to do it, is a pillar in obligatory prayer, and not observing it renders his prayer invalid. Therefore, one who offers obligatory prayer sitting on a chair while he is able to stand, his prayer is considered invalid.
However, Allah The Almighty Has Imposed no difficulties on His slaves. He says (what means): "And strive in His cause as ye ought to strive, (with sincerity and under discipline). He has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it is the cult of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (Revelation); that the Apostle may be a witness for you, and ye be witnesses for mankind! So establish regular Prayer, give regular Charity, and hold fast to God! He is your Protector - the Best to protect and the Best to help!" {Al-Hajj/78}. Allah Has Connected burdening His slaves with their capacity. He Says (what means): "on no soul doth God place a burden greater than it could bear" {Al-Baqrah/286}. In addition, Imran bin Husain: had piles, so I asked the Prophet (PBUH) about the prayer. he said: "Pray while standing and if you can't, pray while sitting and if you cannot do even that, then pray Lying on your side." {Bukhari}.
The above indicates that virtue is made from necessity, and that necessity is assessed according to its degree.
 Therefore, one who can pray standing isn`t permitted to pray sitting on a chair or the like, and the same rule applies to the rest of the pillars. However, if he has a sound reason to leave standing and sit on a chair, then this excuse doesn`t make it permissible for him not to offer Ruku` and Sujood in their proper manner while sitting. 
If he has a sound reason for not performing Ruku` and Sujood in a proper manner, then this excuse doesn`t make it permissible for him to leave standing and sit down on the chair. Rather, he is obliged to stand and sit on the chair while performing them.
What a praying person is able to do, he is obligated to do and what he is unable to do, he should do by nodding his head while sitting on the chair, but he should make the prostration lower than the bowing. This is based on the command of the Prophet (PBUH): "do what I command you to the best of your ability and capacity". {Bukhari}.
Al-Imam An-Nawai said: "Our fellow scholars said: not being able to stand isn`t a condition in inability, nor is experiencing the least hardship. What counts is evident hardship. So, if the praying person feared severe hardship, complications of an illness, or the like, or if he was afraid to drown when on board of a ship or become dizzy, then it is permissible for him to pray while sitting, and he doesn`t have to repeat the prayer." Al-Majmo`a (vol.4/pp.310). Kindly refer to the book {Nail Al-Ottar, vol.5/pp.202} for Al-Shokanii.
Some scholars said that inability means hardship that causes the praying person to lose humble submissiveness in his prayer. Imam Al-Haramain stated, "Inability that counts is when standing in prayer leads to hardship that causes the praying person to lose his humble submissiveness" {Al-Majmou`, vol.4/pp.310}.
However, if the praying person had no choice but to pray sitting on a chair, then he should make the rear legs of the chair aligned with the legs of the congregation. It is noteworthy that at the early stages of Islam, Muslims didn`t use to have chairs, so they should be used only when needed. Moreover, people praying sitting on chairs shouldn`t place them in the middle of the rows so as not to disturb the other prayer performers. It is better to place them at one end of the row, or at the back rows at the rear of the mosque. We prefer the rear end of the mosque in order to spare the praying persons the harm. We should note that these people who are praying sitting are following the Imam, even if there is a distance between them and the last row, because they are still in the mosque. Moreover, Muslim scholars have stated that their prayer is correct so long as they are in the mosque and following the Imam in every pillar of the prayer. And Allah Knows Best.

 

 

Chairman of the Iftaa` Board, Grand Mufti of Jordan, Dr. Abdulkareem al-Khasawneh

Vice Chairman of the Iftaa` Board, 

                                                    Dr. Ahmad Hilayel

                                                    Dr. Yahia al-Botoosh/ Member

                                                    Sheikh Sa`eid Hijjawi/ Member

Dr. Mohammad Khair al-Eesa/ Member

                                                    Judge Sari Atieh/ Member

                                                    Dr. Abdurahamn Ibbdah/ Member

                                                    Dr. Mohammad Okla/ Member

                                                    Dr. Abdunnasir Abulbasal/ Member

                                                    Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalayleh/ Member

                                                    Dr. Mohammad al-Gharaibeh/ Member

                                                    Dr. Ahmad Al-Hasanat/ Executive Secretary of the Iftaa Board

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Summarized Fatawaa

A man married a woman at the Islamic Centre in Brussels through a regular marriage contract. However, the husband left her for two years now and never provided her with financial support. Currently, she is staying in Amman, Jordan, and wants to remarry. Is her first marriage considered void and what should she do to remarry lawfully?

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
This issue is within the jurisdiction of the Islamic courts and they have the final say regarding the dissolution of the first marriage contract if there is valid ground for that. Therefore, her first marriage remains valid unless a court decision says otherwise. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.

I`m married to an American citizen who used to be married to a man in Mexico and filed for divorce there. It is worth pointing that in America she isn`t registered as married. When she arrived in Jordan, her lawyer called and told her that she got the divorce, and based on this we got married in Jordan. What is the ruling of Sharia on this?

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of The Worlds. May His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
You haven`t mentioned whether this woman has converted to Islam or not. If she had embraced Islam and three menstrual cycles passed, but her first husband hasn`t converted to Islam, then her relationship with him is over. If you married her after this (Passing of three menstrual cycles and first husband not having embraced Islam) then your marriage is valid. However, if she didn`t convert to Islam then your marriage contract with her is invalid and you have to wait until she gets divorced by her first husband and observes Iddah, which is three menstrual cycles. Afterwards, you can conclude the marriage contract. We pray that Allah doesn`t hold you to account for what you have done because you thought she was divorced. We recommend that you seek Allah`s forgiveness as much as you can and do righteous deeds. We also advise you to marry a Muslim woman to preserve your and your children`s religion since Almighty Allah says {What means}: " Wed not idolatresses till they believe…" {Al-Baqarah, 221}. It is true that marrying a Kitabi (One who believes in a book of sacred scriptures and with whom a Muslim may marry in what is deemed a lawful marriage) is permissible, it involves great risks, as stated in the aforementioned verse. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

1-A young man whose father and grandfather are dead has died leaving a mother, two sisters and a brother. Do his paternal uncles inherit him?2- A man died leaving daughters, a wife, brothers, a mother or no mother. It is well known that the daughters inherit two thirds and the wife one eighth. To whom does the rest of the estate go and what is the evidence on that from the texts of Sharia?

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
1- The full brother or the paternal half-sibling disinherits the paternal uncles. The paternal half-sibling takes one sixth and because they are from the Asabah (Male relatives on the father`s side) of the deceased they take the rest of the estate. The proof of this is that Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah Be Pleased with them) reported God’s Messenger as saying: "Give the shares to those who are entitled to them, and what remains over goes to the nearest male heir." [Agreed upon]. In this case, nothing is left to them.
2- The brothers take the rest of the deceased`s estate and the full brother disinherits the paternal half-sibling, and the proof of this is the aforementioned narration. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.

Who should pay the Zakah(obligatory charity) from the orphan`s money?

His/her guardian, and if the latter fails to do so, then the orphan himself/herself is obliged to pay the Zakah once he/she reaches puberty, and is capable of handling his/her own affairs.

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