An example of the analogical reasoning (qiyas) that is necessary in our present age.
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The Shaykh : Among the analogical reasoning that is necessary is what is now manifest in the present age, when certain issues arise. I cannot say now, and the gesture now suffices for explicit expression, because we have detailed the discussion: Is it valid to analogize the broadcasting of the iqamah to the broadcasting of the adhan? The answer is that this is invalid because it contradicts the Sunnah, and any analogy of this kind is destined to be rejected. But now we come to an analogy that we must have. The airplane, which is today the space vessel, was not known in previous times or the early centuries. So if we are asked: Is prayer valid in the ship or not? We say it is valid. What is the evidence?
Some said, and in my opinion they were correct, that prayer is valid in the airplane by analogy to prayer in the ship. It is established in the Sunnah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called for prayer in the ship. But if the ships at that time were small and rocked their passengers, the Messenger (peace be upon him) permitted praying in them while sitting. As for the ships today, as we see, some are like a city on the sea, moving and plowing through the oceans, and those in them are as if they are in their homes. Indeed, the matter may be so for some airplanes. We say that analogizing prayer in the airplane to prayer in the ship is a good analogy. But what was the statement of some of the early scholars who imagined such an airplane, made an analogy, and said that prayer is not valid in what they imagined? The Imam al-Rafi'i mentioned in his commentary on al-Wajiz, one of the books of the Shafi'i school, the following text: A man prayed on a swing that was not suspended from the ceiling nor supported from the ground, so his prayer is invalid. He imagined the swing; swings are known to have fixed supports in the ground, suspended from a central pole. But he imagined something that contradicted the reality of that time: a swing that was not suspended from the ceiling, and this is a type of swing that is suspended from the ceiling and not supported from the ground. So prayer on this swing is invalid. Why? Because he said he prayed in a place other than the ground. He did not imagine the place except on the ground. Now we hear of airplanes and rockets, and we see people tumbling in them in various shapes and colors due to the vacuum of air there. If a person today wanted to issue a ruling based on this hypothetical legal branch, he would invalidate prayer in the ship, because it is the one that fits the description of the describer of the swing that was not suspended from the ceiling nor supported from the ground.
The student: In the airplane, you said the ship.
The Shaykh : Yes, in the airplane. May Allah reward you with good. The whole research is about the airplane, but the tongue precedes the mind. The intention is that analogy, as Imam al-Shafi'i said, is a necessity. What is the necessity that compelled that scholar to say that prayer on the swing described above is invalid? He expanded the use of intellect and opinion more than is prescribed. So if the truly independent jurist (mujtahid) stands before an issue and does not find a direct basis to rely upon from the Book or the Sunnah, let him analogize the similar to the similar, so he is saved from the earth becoming narrow for him, however wide it may be. For in the consideration that has been conventionally named analogy, there is a refuge to which the independent jurist turns and finds the way open to issue a ruling on an issue that occurred, for which he did not find an explicit text. So analogy is the consideration to which the Qur'an pointed on one hand, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the other.
And analogy is sometimes analogy of cause or analogy of priority. If the analogy is of this type, welcome and hail it.
But if it is an analogy that necessitates what we mentioned earlier of analogizing the opposite to the opposite, as we said earlier to the one who said that the prayer of the one who speaks in forgetfulness or ignorance is invalid, the argument is analogizing the ignorant to the intentional. And this, as Ibn Hazm said, we mentioned a story that occurred in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in which some of them spoke either out of ignorance or distraction, and then he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order him to repeat the prayer, as happened to Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) in a story narrated in Sahih Muslim, which I mentioned in full in many gatherings. And now I am only taking the summary from it. He was praying one day, and the hadith is what he narrated. He was praying one day behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so a man next to him sneezed, and he said to him, "May Allah have mercy on you." The one who sneezed was praying, and the one who responded was praying behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So the Companions around him looked at him with their eyes, and he was distressed and his chest tightened, and he raised his voice loudly and said: "O that my mother had perished, what is the matter with you that you are looking at me?" It appears that he sensed in the prayer that he had made a grave mistake, because he said: Nothing of the speech of people is appropriate in it. The meaning is that the speech of people in prayer invalidates it. So was the prayer of this man invalid? The answer is no. Why? Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order him to repeat the prayer, but he disciplined him with this gentle speech. He did not go beyond saying to him: Sahih Muslim 537a And when he saw his gentleness (peace and blessings be upon him) in teaching this one who erred, he was not shy to ask many questions, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) answered them, and they are narrated in Sahih Muslim.
This is what can be answered regarding that question.
Some said, and in my opinion they were correct, that prayer is valid in the airplane by analogy to prayer in the ship. It is established in the Sunnah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called for prayer in the ship. But if the ships at that time were small and rocked their passengers, the Messenger (peace be upon him) permitted praying in them while sitting. As for the ships today, as we see, some are like a city on the sea, moving and plowing through the oceans, and those in them are as if they are in their homes. Indeed, the matter may be so for some airplanes. We say that analogizing prayer in the airplane to prayer in the ship is a good analogy. But what was the statement of some of the early scholars who imagined such an airplane, made an analogy, and said that prayer is not valid in what they imagined? The Imam al-Rafi'i mentioned in his commentary on al-Wajiz, one of the books of the Shafi'i school, the following text: A man prayed on a swing that was not suspended from the ceiling nor supported from the ground, so his prayer is invalid. He imagined the swing; swings are known to have fixed supports in the ground, suspended from a central pole. But he imagined something that contradicted the reality of that time: a swing that was not suspended from the ceiling, and this is a type of swing that is suspended from the ceiling and not supported from the ground. So prayer on this swing is invalid. Why? Because he said he prayed in a place other than the ground. He did not imagine the place except on the ground. Now we hear of airplanes and rockets, and we see people tumbling in them in various shapes and colors due to the vacuum of air there. If a person today wanted to issue a ruling based on this hypothetical legal branch, he would invalidate prayer in the ship, because it is the one that fits the description of the describer of the swing that was not suspended from the ceiling nor supported from the ground.
The student: In the airplane, you said the ship.
The Shaykh : Yes, in the airplane. May Allah reward you with good. The whole research is about the airplane, but the tongue precedes the mind. The intention is that analogy, as Imam al-Shafi'i said, is a necessity. What is the necessity that compelled that scholar to say that prayer on the swing described above is invalid? He expanded the use of intellect and opinion more than is prescribed. So if the truly independent jurist (mujtahid) stands before an issue and does not find a direct basis to rely upon from the Book or the Sunnah, let him analogize the similar to the similar, so he is saved from the earth becoming narrow for him, however wide it may be. For in the consideration that has been conventionally named analogy, there is a refuge to which the independent jurist turns and finds the way open to issue a ruling on an issue that occurred, for which he did not find an explicit text. So analogy is the consideration to which the Qur'an pointed on one hand, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the other.
And analogy is sometimes analogy of cause or analogy of priority. If the analogy is of this type, welcome and hail it.
But if it is an analogy that necessitates what we mentioned earlier of analogizing the opposite to the opposite, as we said earlier to the one who said that the prayer of the one who speaks in forgetfulness or ignorance is invalid, the argument is analogizing the ignorant to the intentional. And this, as Ibn Hazm said, we mentioned a story that occurred in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in which some of them spoke either out of ignorance or distraction, and then he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order him to repeat the prayer, as happened to Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) in a story narrated in Sahih Muslim, which I mentioned in full in many gatherings. And now I am only taking the summary from it. He was praying one day, and the hadith is what he narrated. He was praying one day behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so a man next to him sneezed, and he said to him, "May Allah have mercy on you." The one who sneezed was praying, and the one who responded was praying behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So the Companions around him looked at him with their eyes, and he was distressed and his chest tightened, and he raised his voice loudly and said: "O that my mother had perished, what is the matter with you that you are looking at me?" It appears that he sensed in the prayer that he had made a grave mistake, because he said:
When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he turned to me. By Allah, he did not humiliate me, nor did he strike me, nor did he insult me, but he only said to me: Indeed, this prayer is not appropriate for anything of the speech of people in it; it is only glorification, praise, saying Allahu Akbar, and recitation of the Qur'an.
فلما قضى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم الصلاة أقبل إليّ فوالله ما قهرني ولا كهرني ولا ضربني ولا شتمني وإنما قال لي: إن هذه الصلاة لا يصلح فيها شيء من كلام الناس إنما هو تسبيح وتحميد وتكبير وتلاوة القرآنTalking to persons is not fitting during the prayer, for it consists of glorifying Allah, declaring his Greatness. and recitation of the Qur'an
إن هذه الصلاة لا يصلح فيها شيء من كلام الناس إنما هو تسبيح وتحميد وتكبير وتلاوة للقرآنThis is what can be answered regarding that question.