What is the meaning of the saying of Allah 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 : ...among which is that it is near the house and the Qur'an is recited... the verse... the saying of the Exalted and Glorious: .
Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

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

The questioner : And in my opinion... the verse is that the Muslim who is not... a person in a state of major ritual impurity or a menstruating woman, except one passing through? I said... the man from the house.

The Shaykh : It is not I who said it.

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... 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 we perceive a contradiction in any of them, that is due to our poor understanding, as we mentioned earlier regarding the explanation of the verse . The verse you asked about, which is the saying of the Blessed and Exalted: to its end, has been given two interpretations by the scholars and exegetes. The first is: do not approach the prayer itself. The second 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, correct opinion and the other is incorrect. Therefore, one must know the truth from the error.
So here, two opinions were given. Which one is correct? We say that 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 in this specific verse is the saying of Allah the Exalted: . The literal meaning of this text is that it should be interpreted according to its apparent meaning: . "Prayer" is the literal meaning. The figurative meaning is to assume a deleted modifier and say that the meaning of the verse is "do not approach the places of prayer." The word "places" is not mentioned in the verse.

The questioner : But b...

The Shaykh : "Be patient, and your patience is only through Allah." As you see, this phrase 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: places of prayer . When these people reached the phrase 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, permitting approach according to the first opinion, meaning according to the apparent meaning of the verse. The verse permitted approaching the prayer while in a state of major ritual impurity if one is passing through. When the proponents of the second opinion could not accept this meaning, they were forced to assume a deleted modifier and said that the intended meaning of his saying is 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 Allah's mercy and 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. However, the proponents of the first opinion found this difficult and asked: How is it possible to approach the prayer itself while in a state of major ritual impurity if one is passing through? They considered this meaning unlikely. Their consideration of it as unlikely is what led them to assume the deleted modifier and say that the meaning of the verse is "do not approach the places of prayer." But the truth is that this consideration is the unlikely one, because the meaning of the verse is consistent from its beginning to its end without that assumption. We say that the meaning of the verse is Because Allah said in another verse: "But if you do not find water, then perform tayammum with good earth." The verse contains a precise legal point: if a person who lacks water performs tayammum while in a state of major ritual impurity, it is permissible for him to perform this tayammum whenever he performs purification with water. However, 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 are lifted from him. Therefore, he said , meaning "except those in a state of major ritual impurity" after tayammum. So you remain in a state of major ritual impurity, but when is this permissible? Only when passing through, meaning traveling. If you interpret the verse with this meaning, the assumption is unnecessary, and we say that this is the principle. The scholars say that if the matter revolves around assumption and non-assumption, non-assumption is preferable. This is an established rule. From this is their saying: "If the literal meaning can be implemented, it is preferable to the figurative," and "The figurative is not resorted to unless the literal is impossible." Here, the literal is not impossible. This confirms to you that the assumption mentioned is not correct, and the correct view is non-assumption. The reasoning derived from the saying of Allah the Exalted: "until you know what you are saying," is in the places of prayer, or in the prayer? In the prayer.
So, if you assume "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, it appears that the reasoning is not consistent with this assumption, because the subject would be: "Do not approach the places of prayer until you know what you are saying." That is, what he says when he approaches the place of prayer, whereas he says what is in the prayer from its beginning to its end. This confirms from a second aspect that the first meaning mentioned, which is non-assumption, and that the intended meaning is the prayer itself, is stronger than the second opinion. 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, saying: "Do not approach the prayer," meaning itself, , meaning travelers.