Holding the Friday Prayer in the Desert While Following Water Sources
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Fatwa No. ( 18791 )
Q: We are Bedouins, meaning our residence is in the desert, and our desert consists of nine valleys, with each valley being 3 hours, 2 hours, or 1 hour
and a half away from the next. The valleys have rain-fed agriculture, and even our water is dependent on the rain, as are we and our livestock; we all rely on the rain. When the rains come, we have cisterns dug into the ground, each cistern being five meters long, two meters wide, and approximately four meters deep. Each of these mentioned valleys has about five cisterns. The water in the cisterns is used only for drinking by us and our livestock, and we do not use it for purification; rather, we perform tayammum with the soil, unless a person in a state of ritual impurity takes a full ritual bath from these mentioned cisterns. When the water in the mentioned cisterns runs out, we move to the valleys of one another, and we are all in this situation. When the water in all the valleys runs out, we move to the neighboring areas where river water is found. The neighboring areas are about three days' walk on foot from us, and sometimes there are jeeps that cover the distance between us and the mentioned areas in about seven hours, but cars are not available. Also, in the valleys, we have storage buildings and a few new houses, and the mosques are on palm tree shelters in each of the mentioned valleys. The question is: Is the Friday prayer obligatory for us in this mentioned situation, and the time we do not pray Friday prayer; because we consider ourselves Bedouins , and recently our relatives traveled and came back from their trip saying that the Friday prayer is obligatory for you, and they prayed it, along with some of the people, and the Friday prayer is prayed
every week in one of the mentioned wadis, given the conditions of the desert. When the water runs out in the mentioned wadis, the Friday prayer is not held in every wadi until the rains come, and then each person returns to his mentioned residence. Is the Friday prayer obligatory for us or not? And the second question: Regarding these mentioned cisterns, do we perform dry ablution with dust because of the availability of stored water, or do we perform ablution with it? Please inform us, may Allah reward you. Knowing that we do not have a resident preacher, we ask you to look into this matter carefully. Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
A: First: If the situation is as described, and you are not settled in a specific place, but rather you are seeking locations of rain, then the Friday prayer is not obligatory for you; rather, you pray the midday prayer. Second: It is not permissible to perform dry ablution with dust when water is present and one is able to use it. Whoever performs dry ablution while water is available to him has an invalid prayer, unless the water is so little that it is sufficient only for drinking and cooking, in which case there is no blame in performing dry ablution with dust. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: We are Bedouins, meaning our residence is in the desert, and our desert consists of nine valleys, with each valley being 3 hours, 2 hours, or 1 hour
and a half away from the next. The valleys have rain-fed agriculture, and even our water is dependent on the rain, as are we and our livestock; we all rely on the rain. When the rains come, we have cisterns dug into the ground, each cistern being five meters long, two meters wide, and approximately four meters deep. Each of these mentioned valleys has about five cisterns. The water in the cisterns is used only for drinking by us and our livestock, and we do not use it for purification; rather, we perform tayammum with the soil, unless a person in a state of ritual impurity takes a full ritual bath from these mentioned cisterns. When the water in the mentioned cisterns runs out, we move to the valleys of one another, and we are all in this situation. When the water in all the valleys runs out, we move to the neighboring areas where river water is found. The neighboring areas are about three days' walk on foot from us, and sometimes there are jeeps that cover the distance between us and the mentioned areas in about seven hours, but cars are not available. Also, in the valleys, we have storage buildings and a few new houses, and the mosques are on palm tree shelters in each of the mentioned valleys. The question is: Is the Friday prayer obligatory for us in this mentioned situation, and the time we do not pray Friday prayer; because we consider ourselves Bedouins , and recently our relatives traveled and came back from their trip saying that the Friday prayer is obligatory for you, and they prayed it, along with some of the people, and the Friday prayer is prayed
every week in one of the mentioned wadis, given the conditions of the desert. When the water runs out in the mentioned wadis, the Friday prayer is not held in every wadi until the rains come, and then each person returns to his mentioned residence. Is the Friday prayer obligatory for us or not? And the second question: Regarding these mentioned cisterns, do we perform dry ablution with dust because of the availability of stored water, or do we perform ablution with it? Please inform us, may Allah reward you. Knowing that we do not have a resident preacher, we ask you to look into this matter carefully. Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
A: First: If the situation is as described, and you are not settled in a specific place, but rather you are seeking locations of rain, then the Friday prayer is not obligatory for you; rather, you pray the midday prayer. Second: It is not permissible to perform dry ablution with dust when water is present and one is able to use it. Whoever performs dry ablution while water is available to him has an invalid prayer, unless the water is so little that it is sufficient only for drinking and cooking, in which case there is no blame in performing dry ablution with dust. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.