What is the interpretation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "O you who believe, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated..."?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : He is asking about a noble verse. I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan: [An-Nisa 4:43] the verse.
The Shaykh : Did he stop at this?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : In this verse, Allah the Exalted addresses the believers by the description of faith, saying:[Al-Baqarah 2:104] He addressed them with this description to encourage them to receive what comes to them of commands or prohibitions. For this reason, it is narrated from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "When you hear Allah say: [Al-Baqarah 2:104] then lend it your ear, for it is either good that you are commanded to do, or evil that you are forbidden from."
So Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, calls His believing servants and says to them: This was before the prohibition of intoxicants. At first, people used to drink intoxicants, and then they were prohibited. A man would drink intoxicants and then pray, bringing forth the words or actions that an intoxicated person brings forth, which are not permissible in prayer. So they were forbidden from approaching prayer while intoxicated, and they were also forbidden from approaching prayer while in a state of major ritual impurity, except for those passing by.
This verse applies exactly to the mosque, because it is the place of prayer. It is not permissible for a person to remain in the mosque and stay in it while in a state of major ritual impurity, unless he is a passerby, meaning unless he is passing through the mosque. In that case, there is nothing wrong with it, such as entering the mosque while in a state of major ritual impurity to take a book of his that is in the mosque, or to pass from one door to another, or something similar. Many of the scholars have permitted one in a state of major ritual impurity, if he performs the ablution for prayer, to remain in the mosque. And His saying, the Exalted: means the full ritual bath for major ritual impurity, which is well known. [An-Nisa 4:43] means that if a person is ill and unable to perform the full ritual bath, or if he is traveling and does not find water, he performs dry ablution with clean earth. That is, he intends clean, pure earth, strikes his hands upon it, and wipes with them his face and his forearms. By that, his ritual purity is completed, and he prays with this dry ablution exactly as he prays with the purity of water, until he finds water. When he finds water, he returns and purifies himself with it. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. The listener is Muhammad al-Sayyid Salim from Iraq, Baghdad.
O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying or in a state of janabah, except those passing through [a place of prayer], until you have washed [your whole body]. And if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and find no water, then seek clean earth
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُوا لا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلاةَ وَأَنْتُمْ سُكَارَى حَتَّى تَعْلَمُوا مَا تَقُولُونَ وَلا جُنُبًا إِلَّا عَابِرِي سَبِيلٍ حَتَّى تَغْتَسِلُوا وَإِنْ كُنتُمْ مَرْضَى أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ مِنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًاThe Shaykh : Did he stop at this?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : In this verse, Allah the Exalted addresses the believers by the description of faith, saying:
O you who have believed
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُواO you who have believed
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُواSo Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, calls His believing servants and says to them:
do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated
لا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلاةَ وَأَنْتُمْ سُكَارَىThis verse applies exactly to the mosque, because it is the place of prayer. It is not permissible for a person to remain in the mosque and stay in it while in a state of major ritual impurity, unless he is a passerby, meaning unless he is passing through the mosque. In that case, there is nothing wrong with it, such as entering the mosque while in a state of major ritual impurity to take a book of his that is in the mosque, or to pass from one door to another, or something similar. Many of the scholars have permitted one in a state of major ritual impurity, if he performs the ablution for prayer, to remain in the mosque. And His saying, the Exalted:
until you perform the full ritual bath
حَتَّى تَغْتَسِلُواAnd if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and find no water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and your hands
وَإِنْ كُنتُمْ مَرْضَى أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ مِنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وأيديكمThe questioner : May Allah reward you. The listener is Muhammad al-Sayyid Salim from Iraq, Baghdad.