What is the ruling in the Shari'ah, in your opinion, O honorable Shaykh, regarding racing the imam, and also regarding letting one's garment hang below the ankles out of arrogance? We ask for guidance on this.
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The questioner : What is the ruling in the Shari'ah, in your opinion, O honorable Shaykh, regarding racing the imam? And also regarding letting one's garment hang below the ankles out of arrogance? We ask for guidance on this.
The Shaykh : This question contains two questions. The first question is about racing the imam. Racing the imam is forbidden because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih Muslim 427a Sahih Muslim 427a or This indicates prohibition. Then, racing differs. If the racing is in the takbir of ihram, then the prayer is not established, because the prayer is not established unless the follower's takbir is after the imam has finished his takbir of ihram, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Sunan Abi Dawud 603Sahih (Al-Albani) And if the racing is in another pillar, there is a detailed discussion among some scholars. The stronger opinion in my view is that there is no detailed discussion in that, and that the follower, whenever he races the imam in a pillar or to a pillar, his prayer is invalid if he is aware of the prohibition. But if he is ignorant, he is excused, but he must learn the rulings of his religion so that he worships Allah with knowledge. Likewise, if he forgets and races his imam, his prayer is not invalid, and he must return to perform what he raced his imam in after him. On this occasion, I would like to mention that the follower has four states with his imam:
following, matching, racing, and lagging. As for following: it is the praiseworthy state that the Sunnah indicated encouragement for and commanded, and it is that a person performs the actions of the prayer after his imam without lagging. The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated this:Sunan Abi Dawud 603Sahih (Al-Albani) .
The second state is matching, which is that a person performs the actions of the prayer with his imam, neither advancing before him nor lagging behind him. This is contrary to what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded. The scholars mentioned that if the matching is in the takbir of ihram, then the prayer is not established, and the follower must repeat it afterwards.
The third, or the third state, is racing, which is that one performs the actions of the prayer before his imam. If that is in the takbir of ihram, his prayer is not established. If it is in anything else, there is a detailed discussion among the scholars. Indeed, there is a detailed discussion in the well-known view of the school of Imam Ahmad. The stronger opinion is that the prayer is invalidated by that if the person is aware and remembering.
The fourth state is lagging, which is contrary to the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as lagging behind the imam and not hastening to follow him. This is contrary to the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his saying: It is known that the conditioned follows the condition and comes after it. So let your takbir be after the imam's takbir, your bowing after the imam's bowing, and your prostration after the imam's prostration, and so on. Do not lag behind him. But if a person lags for an excuse, such as not hearing the imam's voice or being distracted, then in this state, whenever that excuse is removed, he follows the imam, meaning he performs what he lagged behind the imam in until he catches up with his imam. Unless the imam reaches the pillar in which he is, in which case the rak'ah in which the lagging occurred is cancelled, and the second rak'ah takes its place.
An example of that: If you were standing with the imam in the first rak'ah, then the imam bowed and prostrated and stood up for the second, and you did not know about it until he reached the standing, and you are now standing thinking it is the first rak'ah, while the imam stood up for it as the second, then you remain with him, and the imam's second rak'ah becomes your first rak'ah. When he concludes the prayer, you perform a rak'ah after him. But if you knew about it while he was prostrating, by him bowing and rising, and you did not know, then when he bowed for prostration you heard him, then you bow and rise and prostrate, and you follow the imam.
As for the second question, it is about letting one's garment hang below the ankles. Letting the garment hang below the ankles is forbidden, and it occurs in two ways. The first way is to let it hang without arrogance. The punishment for that is that what is below the ankles is in the Fire.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is its punishment: that what is below the ankles is in the Fire. This is its punishment.
The second way is that it is out of arrogance. The punishment for this is that Allah does not look at him on the Day of Resurrection, does not purify him, does not speak to him, and he has a painful punishment, as in the hadith of Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) in Muslim, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sunan Ibn Majah 2208Sahih (Darussalam) He repeated it three times, so Abu Dharr said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? They have failed and lost. He said: Sahih Muslim 106a And as for the one who drags his garment not out of arrogance, it is established in the authentic hadith that what is below the ankles is in the Fire. It is not permissible to interpret this as the first case due to the difference in the two punishments. If the two punishments differ for an action, it is not possible to interpret one as the other due to contradiction and opposition, because that punishment is not that punishment. And if it is different, then if we interpret the action as having that punishment, there would be a contradiction in the hadith. The scholars mentioned that if the ruling differs, one text is not interpreted as the other. They gave as an example the saying of the Exalted regarding tayammum [Al-Ma'idah 5:6] and He did not restrict the hands to the elbows. And in the verse of wudu, He said: [Al-Ma'idah 5:6] So the verse of tayammum is not interpreted as the verse of wudu, due to the difference in the ruling between the two purifications. The purification of tayammum is in only two limbs, and the purification of wudu is in four limbs. The purification of tayammum does not differ between major and minor ritual impurity, and the water purification of wudu differs between minor and major ritual impurity. So these two hadiths: Sunan Ibn Majah 3573Sahih (Darussalam) and Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1731Sahih (Darussalam), one is not interpreted as the other. What was narrated by Malik from the hadith of Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) indicated that: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) distinguished between the one who drags his garment out of arrogance and what falls below the ankles. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. A group of female teachers in Sudan sent these questions. The first question says:
The Shaykh : This question contains two questions. The first question is about racing the imam. Racing the imam is forbidden because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Does the man who lifts his head ahead of the Imam (from prostration) not fear that Allah may change his head into the head of an ass?
أما يخشى الذي يرفع رأسه قبل الإمام أن يحوّل الله رأسه رأس حمارDoes the man who lifts his head ahead of the Imam (from prostration) not fear that Allah may change his head into the head of an ass?
أما يخشى الذي يرفع رأسه قبل الإمام أن يحوّل الله صورته صورة حمارMake his head the head of a donkey
يجعل رأسه رأس حمارwhen he says "Allah is most great," say "Allah is most great" and do not say "Allah is most great" until he says "Allah is most great."
إذا كبّر فكبروا، ولا تكبروا حتى يكبرfollowing, matching, racing, and lagging. As for following: it is the praiseworthy state that the Sunnah indicated encouragement for and commanded, and it is that a person performs the actions of the prayer after his imam without lagging. The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated this:
Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The imam is appointed only to be followed; when he says "Allah is most great," say "Allah is most great" and do not say "Allah is most great" until he says "Allah is most great." When he bows; bow; and do not bow until he bows. And when he says "Allah listens to him who praise Him," say "O Allah, our Lord, to Thee be the praise." The version recorded by Muslim goes: "And to Thee be the praise: And when he prostrate; and do not prostrate until he prostrates. When he prays standing, pray standing, and when he prays sitting, all of you pray sitting. Abu Dawud said: The words "O Allah, our Lord, to You be the praise" reported by Sulaiman were explained to me by some of our companions.
إنما جعل الإمام ليؤتم به، فإذا كبّر فكبروا، ولا تكبروا حتى يكبر، وإذا ركع فاركعوا، ولا تركعوا حتى يركع، وإذا سجد فاسجدوا، ولا تسجدوا حتى يسجدThe second state is matching, which is that a person performs the actions of the prayer with his imam, neither advancing before him nor lagging behind him. This is contrary to what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded. The scholars mentioned that if the matching is in the takbir of ihram, then the prayer is not established, and the follower must repeat it afterwards.
The third, or the third state, is racing, which is that one performs the actions of the prayer before his imam. If that is in the takbir of ihram, his prayer is not established. If it is in anything else, there is a detailed discussion among the scholars. Indeed, there is a detailed discussion in the well-known view of the school of Imam Ahmad. The stronger opinion is that the prayer is invalidated by that if the person is aware and remembering.
The fourth state is lagging, which is contrary to the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as lagging behind the imam and not hastening to follow him. This is contrary to the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his saying:
When he says takbir, say takbir.
إذا كبر فكبرواAn example of that: If you were standing with the imam in the first rak'ah, then the imam bowed and prostrated and stood up for the second, and you did not know about it until he reached the standing, and you are now standing thinking it is the first rak'ah, while the imam stood up for it as the second, then you remain with him, and the imam's second rak'ah becomes your first rak'ah. When he concludes the prayer, you perform a rak'ah after him. But if you knew about it while he was prostrating, by him bowing and rising, and you did not know, then when he bowed for prostration you heard him, then you bow and rise and prostrate, and you follow the imam.
As for the second question, it is about letting one's garment hang below the ankles. Letting the garment hang below the ankles is forbidden, and it occurs in two ways. The first way is to let it hang without arrogance. The punishment for that is that what is below the ankles is in the Fire.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is its punishment: that what is below the ankles is in the Fire. This is its punishment.
The second way is that it is out of arrogance. The punishment for this is that Allah does not look at him on the Day of Resurrection, does not purify him, does not speak to him, and he has a painful punishment, as in the hadith of Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) in Muslim, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
There are three to whom Allah will not speak on the Day of Resurrection nor will He look at them or purify them, and theirs will be a painful torment.
ثلاثة لا يكلمهم الله يوم القيامة، ولا ينظر إليهم، ولا يزكيهم، ولهم عذاب أليمthe dragger of lower garment, the recounter of obligation the seller of goods by false oath.
المسبل، والمنان، والمنفق سلعته بالحلف الكاذبand wipe over your faces and hands with it
فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ مِنْهُwash your faces and your forearms to the elbows
فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِBut whatever is lower than the ankle is in the Fire
ما أسفل من الكعبين ففي النارWhoever arrogantly drags his garment, Allah will not look at him
من جر ثوبه خيلاء لم ينظر الله إليهThe belt of the believer is at the middle of the shin, and what is below the ankles is in the Fire, and whoever drags his garment out of arrogance, Allah will not look at him.
أزرة المؤمن إلى نصف ساقه، وما أسفل من الكعبين ففي النار، ومن جر ثوبه خيلاء لم ينظر الله إليهThe questioner : May Allah reward you. A group of female teachers in Sudan sent these questions. The first question says: