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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What are the categories of movement in prayer, and what is the ruling on reciting from the mushaf?

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The Shaykh : The questioner says: I live in Jeddah, and as you know, there are many mosques there. Most of the imams in the tarawih prayer do not recite anything but the last juz 'amma, from Surah al-Takathur to Surah al-Ikhlas, in every rak'ah. So I asked them, and they said it is not permissible to move during the prayer, even with the mushaf. This is despite the fact that they move a lot during the prayer. That is all.
Our answer to this question is that it is obligatory for those responsible for overseeing the mosques to monitor such imams, whose true state is that they are playing with the prayer. I once prayed behind a man in Jeddah a long time ago. I prayed tarawih with him and found that he recited Surah al-Duha in the first rak'ah and Surah al-Ikhlas in the second. Then he came to the second taslim and recited in the first rak'ah
Did We not expand for you, [O Muhammad], your breast?أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ
[Ash-Sharh 94:1]
and in the second Surah al-Ikhlas. Then he came to the third taslim and recited in the first rak'ah Surah al-Tin and in the second Surah al-Ikhlas, and so on.
And yet, I was unable to catch his ruku' and sujud; they steal the prayer in its recitation, its ruku', and its sujud. And this is the excuse the brother mentioned: he says, "I do not recite from the mushaf because that necessitates movement." But the questioner says he fears moving to open the mushaf, even though it is for the benefit of the prayer. Movement for the benefit of the prayer is permissible, indeed required, according to what the movement necessitates. Perhaps this is a place to clarify the categories of movement in the prayer, if Allah wills.
But this one who refuses to read from the mushaf on the pretext that it involves movement is himself moving a lot for things other than the benefit of the prayer.
The scholars have mentioned that movement in the prayer is divided into five categories: obligatory, forbidden, permissible, disliked, and recommended. As for the obligatory, it is every movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends; every movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends is obligatory. If you know that there is impurity in your scarf while you are praying, it is obligatory for you to move to throw away this scarf. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) once prayed with his Companions while wearing his sandals. Jibril came to him and informed him that there was harm in them, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took off his sandals. He moved to take them off because this movement is necessary, for if a person does not move to remove what invalidates the prayer, his prayer becomes invalid. So the obligatory movement is every movement upon which the validity of the prayer depends. The recommended movement is every movement upon which the perfection of the prayer depends.
For example, if a person moves to get closer to his companion in the row. If the rows have opened up, he moves to get closer to the other person; this is a recommended movement. Sometimes a person moves forward in the row automatically without intending to, and it becomes clear to him that he has moved ahead of his brothers, so he moves to go back or to move forward. This is a required movement in the prayer because it perfects the prayer.
As for the forbidden movement, it is every movement that invalidates the prayer, such as much continuous movement without dire necessity. As for the permissible movement, it is much movement for dire necessity, or slight movement for pressing need. As for the disliked movement, it is everything else. This is how the scholars categorized movement in the prayer. Yes. The permissible is everything else. If you know the four categories—obligatory, forbidden, disliked, and recommended—I will repeat them: obligatory, forbidden, permissible, and recommended. Everything else is disliked. The questioner asks: Is the zakah on real estate due on its value or on its rental income?
Source قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 6 - 17 - دروس وفتاوى المسجد الحرام للعام 1403 هـ - الدرس السادس - الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين — youtube.com (57:02)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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