What is the meaning of His saying, the Exalted: “O you who believe, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying, nor while in a state of major ritual impurity, except those passing through”

The questioner : ... The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “My brother, do everything...”

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

The questioner : ... One of the things it does is bring one closer to the House and recite the Qur’an... The verse, Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: .

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.

The questioner : ... And what he is saying in the verse is that entering the mosque is not permissible for a person in a state of major ritual impurity or a menstruating woman except for one passing through? And you said... the man from the house...

The Shaykh : ... It was not me who said that.

The questioner : ... Yes, meaning, suppose...

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : ... And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings... How are you? Please, go ahead.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : ... We must always remember that the evidence of the wise Shari'ah does not contradict one another. If a contradiction appears to us in any of it, that is due to our poor understanding, as we mentioned earlier regarding the explanation of the verse: . The verse you asked about, which is His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: to its end, has been explained by the scholars of exegesis with two opinions. The first is: do not approach the prayer itself. The second opinion is: do not approach the places of prayer, meaning the mosques. As is the principle, when there is a disagreement on a matter with two or more opinions, one of them is the established and correct opinion, and the other is incorrect. Therefore, one must know the truth from the error.
Here, two opinions were given; which one is correct? We say: The principle in interpreting all legal texts, including the Qur'anic verses, is that they are interpreted according to their literal meaning, not their figurative meaning. The intended meaning of literal and figurative regarding this verse is His saying, the Exalted: . The literal meaning of this text is that it is interpreted according to its apparent meaning, . The prayer is the literal meaning. The figurative meaning is to assume a deleted modifier, and you say: the meaning of the verse is do not approach the places of prayer. The word “places” was not mentioned in the verse.

The questioner : ... But it also indicates to you.

The Shaykh : Be patient.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : ... And your patience is only from Allah. This phrase, as you see, did not come in the verse. So where did we get it from? We got it from the opinion of those who adopted this interpretation from the complete verse: the places of prayer .

Another questioner : .

The Shaykh : ... . When these people reached His saying: Therefore, the meaning of the verse is do not approach the places of prayer, not the prayer itself. Because after He said: , He made an exception. So, according to the first opinion, meaning according to the apparent meaning of the verse, the verse permits approaching the prayer while in a state of major ritual impurity if one is passing through. When the proponents of the second opinion did not accept this meaning, they were compelled to assume a deleted modifier. They said: The intended meaning of His saying: , meaning the places of prayer. Because in that case, the exception is possible.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
That is, in that case, it can be said: Do not approach the places of prayer while in a state of major ritual impurity, except those passing through, meaning travelers. But according to the first opinion, these people found it difficult. They said: How can one approach the prayer itself while passing through and in a state of major ritual impurity? They considered this meaning unlikely. Their consideration of it as unlikely is what pushed them to assume the deleted modifier, and they say: The meaning of the verse is: Do not approach the places of prayer. But the truth is that this consideration of it as unlikely is the unlikely one. Because the meaning of the verse is consistent from its beginning to its end without that assumption. So we say: The meaning of the verse is: itself. Do not approach the prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying, and do not approach the prayer while you are in a state of major ritual impurity, except in one case, and you are passing through until you perform the full ritual bath. Meaning, by performing dry ablution. Because Allah said in another verse: “... then...” .
And the verse contains a subtle legal point. It is that if a person who lacks water performs dry ablution, and he is naturally in a state of major ritual impurity, it is permissible for him to perform this dry ablution for everything he would perform with water purification. But despite that, he remains in a state of major ritual impurity. The name of major ritual impurity does not lift from him, but the rulings of major ritual impurity lift from him. Therefore, He said: So you remain in a state of major ritual impurity, but when is this permissible? Except for those passing through, meaning travelers. If the verse is interpreted with this meaning, the assumption is not established. And we say: This is the principle. Meaning, the scholars say: If the matter revolves around assumption and non-assumption, non-assumption is preferable. This is an accepted rule. And from this is their saying: If it is possible to implement the literal meaning, it is preferable to the figurative. And their saying: The figurative is not resorted to except when the literal is impossible. And here, the literal is not impossible. This confirms to you that the assumption mentioned is not correct, and the correct one is non-assumption. It is the reasoning derived from His saying, the Exalted: , in the places of prayer or in the prayer? In the prayer.
So, if you assume the place of prayer, the reasoning is not connected to the ruling. The ruling is , the reasoning is . It is very clear that this reasoning runs perfectly consistent with the prohibition of approaching the prayer itself. But if the deleted modifier is assumed, then it appears that the reasoning is not consistent with this assumption. Because the subject will be like this: Do not approach the places of prayer until you know what you are saying. He does not say anything when he approaches the place of prayer, but rather he says what he says in the prayer from its beginning to its end. This confirms from a second aspect that the first meaning they mentioned, which is non-assumption, and that the intended meaning is the prayer itself, is stronger than the second opinion.
And thirdly and finally: Supporting the first opinion is that 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) interpreted the verse with this interpretation. He said: meaning itself, meaning travelers.