The establishment of the Obligatory Prayers (Fard Salah), is one of the essential Pillars of Islam. Being steadfast in these Daily Ritual Obligatory Prayers constitute the primary foundation of a Muslim Life. It is a Direct Link of Communication between Allah (s.w.t.) and His servants - the worshippers.

 

     Allah (s.w.t.) has with His Grace and Mercy Revealed the Seven most often recited verses (1: 1 to 1: 7), which make up the opening of every Ritual Prayer. Within these seven verses are the Tasbih, Tahamid, Takbeer and Tawheed . Hence, the purity of body, mind and soul is very essential. Just as one does not pray if ones body is impure, so should be the case with ones mind and soul. In other words our conscious should be clear and without a shred of any doubt as to our intention as well as our ways of communication with Allah (s.w.t.). 

 

       On the subject of the ways of Communication with Allah (s.w.t.), He has with His Grace and Mercy prescribed a preferred mode of reciting these Obligatory Prayers. To be very precise and exacting, He has also given us the specific directives as to what should NOT be the mode of reciting the Prayers.

 

     After having read and understood the permitted and non-permitted modes of approach while communicating with Allah (s.w.t.), a believer is obliged to submit himself or herself to the prescribed means of approach and refrain from the modes of approach that are specifically been Commanded NOT to follow. Allah (s.w.t.) not only hears our prayers but also watches how we are praying.

Are we sincere, humble and totally submissive while standing before Him?  Please read this verse again. Does it reveal a Message that does matter?

If you have some positive thoughts on this important issue please do share them with me and I will share it with the other surfers.  JAZAK ALLAH KHAIR.

SOME IMPORTANT THINGS TO BEAR IN MIND:

 

      The Prophet (s.a.s.) could NOT have adopted or prescribed mode other than the above Revealed mode, unless and until there was a very serious and exceptional reason for reciting 3 Prayers in the middle tone and 2 silently, during his lifetime, if that be the case.

 

     If the circumstances today do not warrant us to take the similar precautions should we continue reciting prayers in the mode that we are asked NOT to follow by Allah (s.w.t.)?

 

    Following the Sunnah (the trodden path - the law) of the Prophet (s.a.s), is one of the primary requisites, but only when there is not an explicit Sunnah (the revealed path - The Law) of Allah (s.w.t.), on that particular subject matter. His Decree is a Decree determined.

    Allah (s.w.t.) knows the past, present and future... If His Command was not supposed to be observed or faithfully followed, would He have Revealed to us such a Command?

Here is another important verse:

وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاَةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفاً مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّـيِّئَاتِ ذَلِكَ ذِكْرَى لِلذَّاكِرِينَ

 

"Establish worship at the two ends of the day and in some watches of
the night. Lo! good deeds annul ill deeds. This is a reminder for the
mindful."   Sura Hud (11): 114
 

       Does the above verse that speak of establishing the Fajr, Maghrib and Isha Prayers (Salah), has any relation to the recitation of THREE prayers in the middle tone?

      To THINK and PONDER deeply (Tafakkur), upon the verses of the Glorious Qur'an is the obligation and a sacred duty of every Believer with an Understanding. The motive behind the above is to contemplate and have a clear conscious... No directive or opinion is expressed... An Invitation for getting back some Honest, Scholarly Feedbacks...

My response:

Brother; even if I was to change the translation as suggested by you the question of reciting SILENT Rakats still remain unanswered.

 

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Further Feedback from Brother Hesham Azmy [noorullah48@hotmail.com]:

  It seems I failed to convey my point. My aim is showing that the verse speaks about the tone of heard Salat, not the silent ones. If we are to speak in a particular Salat, this will be in the middle tone - neither loud nor low. Silent Salat is not meant here in this verse since it is - by nature - silent and the verse aims at heard Salat.

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Response to above from Noor Mahomed <noorizz@yahoo.com>

Dear Brother Akberally,

 

As Salaam Alaikum, I have read your article "Reciting

the Obligatory Prayers in the middle tone" and also

the Feedback from Brother Hesham Azmy.

 

I would like to ask Brother Azmy that if this command

speaks about the tone of heard Salat only then please

quote a command for the silent Salat. If there is

no command for silent Salat then should we not apply

the command in Sura Israa (17):110 for all the Rakats

in all the Salats?

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Two relevant responses from Brother Hesham Azmy [noorullah48@hotmail.com] to the above question:

Response A from Br. Hesham: 

...there is agreement that the verse refers to heard Salat (As-Salat-ul-Jahriyyah); the occasion of revelation of this verse is recorded in Sahih Muslim in the Chapter of "Moderation between loud and low recitation in Jahri Salat when there is fear of turmoil in reciting loudly" (Is the name of the chapter clear?), the report reads as following  ...

 

Ibn 'Abbas reported: The word of (Allah) Great and Glorious: 'And utter not thy prayer loudly, nor be low in it" (xvii. 110) was revealed as the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) was hiding himself in Mecca. When he led his Companions in prayer he raised his voice (while reciting the) Qur'an. And when the polytheists heard that, they reviled the Qur'an and Him Who revealed it and him who brought it. Upon this Allah, the Exalted, said to His Apostle (may peace be upon him): Utter not thy prayer so loudly that the polytheists may hear thy recitation and (recite it) not so low that it may be inaudible to your Companions. Make them hear the Qur'an, but do not recite it loudly and seek a (middle) way between these. Recite between loud and low tone.
(Sahih Muslim, Volume 2, Book 4, Number 897)

 

  This Hadith is also related by Al-Bukhari in his Sahih in the Book of "Tafsir" and by At-Tirmithi in his Sunan in the Book of "Tafsir". What concerns us here is the relevance of the occasion of revelation and the name of the chapter under whom the report is classified.

Author's Comments to the above: BROTHER HESHAM AZMY PLEASE READ BELOW WHAT I HAD STATED EARLIER...

AS A MATTER OF FACT YOUR ABOVE RESPONSE ACKNOWLEDGES THAT STATEMENT...

FURTHERMORE, THE ABOVE QUOTED TEXT BY YOU FROM SAHIH MUSLIM READS

"and (recite it) not so low that it may be inaudible to your Companions."

AND THAT SENTENCE EVEN GOES FURTHER TO SAY THAT THE TONE OF THE IMAM

SHOULD BE AUDIBLE...

 

     The Prophet (s.a.s.) could NOT have adopted or prescribed mode other than the above Revealed mode, unless and until there was a very serious and exceptional reason for reciting 3 Prayers in the middle tone and 2 silently, during his lifetime, if that be the case.

 

     If the circumstances today do not warrant us to take the similar precautions should we continue reciting prayers in the mode that we are asked NOT to follow by Allah (s.w.t.)?

 

      Allah (s.w.t.) knows the past, present and future... If His Command was not supposed to be observed or faithfully followed, would He have Revealed to us such a Command?

Response B from Br. Hesham:

....if we put all this aside and start playing logic games, we will ask: does the verse to refer to Salat itself? or merely to speech during Salat?

 

  If your answer is that it refers to speech/recitation during Salat, then the dispute is over since we know that no speech is uttered in silent Salat. Consequently, it is not a matter of Jahri Salat versus silent Salat, rather it is a matter of recitation during Salat. In other words, requesting another verse that speaks of silent Salat is irrelevant.

 

  If your answer is that it refers to Salat itself, then I will argue that it refers to Jahri Salat since we do not overtly recite in silent Salat, whether loudly or in low tone, and the verse speaks of a certain sort of Salat during which non-silent recitation is performed.

You may object to my view because the verse speaks about either loud or silent recitation according to the translation of Pikthall. In response, I will rightfully argue that it has been established from the original Arabic Qur'an and other translations that the verse does not refer to 'silent' recitation, rather low-toned recitation. You may object because I left your question unanswered; since I failed to provide the verse on silent Salat. My reply then will be that this request should be directed to the Author of the Qur'an, not me. At least, I've provided the proper understanding of this verse and its significance with clear evidences.

 

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A surfer's comment:

 

For sure, Man is a creature of haste:

You have two important articles on our Prayers on your web site Mostmerciful.com.

 

For the TARAWIH PRAYERS; I have noticed that the majority of our Brothers ignore the source document Bukhari Sharif and prefer not to follow the Prophetic Directive.

 

For the reciting of the FARD PRAYERS; our Brothers ignore the Glorious Qur'an and prefer to follow the Prophetic Directives, instead! Why two different standards for the Prophetic Sunnah? May be there is no confidence in the Sources for these Sunnah. 

 

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My final comment: The above article based upon the Verses of the Qur'an penned by me has knowingly offered NO DIRECTIONS or SUGGESTIONS and none were intended. I am not qualified. Only the FEEDBACKS were invited from those qualified to guide the Ummah.

I don't know if the above Feedbacks have helped or not...

I wish to hear views and comments based upon the Verses of the Qur'an that show that we are not following the Conjectures...

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May Allah Guide the mankind to follow His Eternal Truth 

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