|
PROSTRATING ON EARTH DURING SALAAT
According
to Shia’h school of thought, Sajdah ‘prostration during
prayers’ must be performed on Turbah ‘earth’. Ayatollah Seyyid
‘Ali al-Husayni al-Seestani states:
Sajdah should be performed on earth and on those things which are not
edible or worn, and on things which grow from earth (e.g. wood and
leaves of trees). It is not permissible to perform Sajdah on things
which are used as food or dress (e.g. wheat, barley and cotton etc), or
on things which are not considered to be parts of the earth (e.g. gold,
silver etc).
(Islamic
Laws, Ruling no.1085, Page 201)
NARRATIONS:
Abu
Sa’eed al-Khudri narrates:
[The
Messenger of Allah used to practice I’tikaf (in the mosque), in the
middle third of Ramadhan. After the twentieth night, he used to return
home on the twenty-first, and those who were in I’tikaf with him would
return to their homes as well. In Ramadhan, in which he practiced
I’tikaf, he would pray the night prayers on the night in which he
returned home, and then address the people, instructing them as Allah
commanded him. He said, “I used to practice
I’tikaf for these ten days (i.e. the middle third of Ramadhan), but I
now intend to stay in I’tikaf for the last ten days. Whoever was in
I’tikaf with me should stay at his place of seclusion. I have certainly
been shown (the date of) this night (of Qadr), but I have forgotten it.
Search for it in the odd nights of the last ten days (of Ramadhan). I
also saw myself (in a dream) prostrating in mud and water”.
On the twenty-first night, the sky was covered with clouds
and it rained, and the rainwater started leaking through the roof of the
mosque onto the praying place of the Prophet. With my own eyes, I saw
the Prophet, upon completion of the Morning Prayer, leaving (the mosque)
with his face covered with mud and water.] (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith
3.235)
Jabir bin
‘Abdullah narrates:
[The
Messenger of Allah said,
“I have been given five things which were not given to any of the
prophets before me:
-
Allah
made me victorious by inspiring awe (and fear in my enemies) for a
distance of one month’s journey..
-
The
earth has been made a place of prostration
for me, and a place to perform Tayammum. Thus my followers can pray
wherever (i.e. in any lawful place) they like when the time of prayer
is due.
-
War
booty has been made lawful for me.
-
Every
prophet was sent only to his nation, but I have been sent to all
mankind.
-
I have
been given the right of intercession (on the Day of Judgement).]
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1.429)
Abu
Sa’eed used to relate that he had seen the Prophet prostrating on
wet mud, so much so that he could see mud stains on his
forehead.
(Sahih al-Bukhari,
Part 1, p.104)
The
Prophet declared that the best place of prostration was the earth,
or upon something that grows from the earth. (Kanzul-‘Ummaal,
Part 4, p.113)
Hazrat
Maimuna said,
[The
Messenger of Allah used to pray on a Khumra (a palm leaf
mat large enough to place one’s face, while in prostration)] (Sahih
al-Bukhari, Hadith 1.378)
Finally,
a Sunni Scholar, Maulana Vahidul Zamankhan states:
[The
Prophet told his wife Umm Salma,
“Bring me the Khumra from the mosque”.
The word
Khumra
means a
small piece of chatai made from palm leaf, on which only the head could
be rested when prostrating. Ibn Athir in his Jami’ al-Usool has written,
“Khumra is the Sajdagah (Persian word meaning ‘prostration place’) upon
which the Shia’hs of our time perform their prostrations”.
I (i.e.
Maulana Zamankhan) maintain that by this Hadith, it is sunnat to keep
Sajdagah. Those who forbid it and call it the way of the Rafizites
(Shiites) are wrong. To practice this Sunnat, I often perform my
prostrations on a fan made from palm leaf, and I do not care about the
criticism of the ignorant. We are concerned only about the Sunnat of the
Prophet (SAA), regardless of whether they call it the way of the
Rafizites or the Kharijites. Let them rave about it.]
(Anwar-ul-Lughat, Chapter 7, Page.118)
Mulla
Mujaheedali Sheriff
mulla@almahdi.org.uk |