There is a question with two parts: What is the prayer of Ishraq, and what is the ruling on some people saying, “I did not believe in Allah that I would get such and such”?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : What is the prayer of Ishraq? And what is the ruling on some people saying: “I did not believe in Allah that I would get such and such”?
The Shaykh : The prayer of Ishraq is what a person prays when the sun rises, meaning it has ascended, emerged, and become visible. It is what is known as the prayer of Duha. Its time is from when the sun has risen the length of a spear, which equals twelve minutes or a quarter of an hour after the sun rises, until about ten minutes before the sun reaches its zenith. All of this is the time for the prayer of Ishraq or the prayer of Duha.
As for the statement of the one who says, “I did not believe in Allah that such and such would happen,” the meaning is that he did not think that Allah the Exalted would decree it. It is a phrase with no harm, because the intended meaning of the wording is the meaning itself. We know from people’s usage of this phrase that they do not mean that they never believed in Allah, and Allah the Exalted has not informed them of anything such that they would say they believed in Him or did not believe in Him. Rather, they think that Allah will not decree this thing, so they say, “I did not believe in Allah that such and such would happen,” meaning: I did not think that Allah would decree this thing. The criterion for words is their meanings and their intended purposes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : The prayer of Ishraq is what a person prays when the sun rises, meaning it has ascended, emerged, and become visible. It is what is known as the prayer of Duha. Its time is from when the sun has risen the length of a spear, which equals twelve minutes or a quarter of an hour after the sun rises, until about ten minutes before the sun reaches its zenith. All of this is the time for the prayer of Ishraq or the prayer of Duha.
As for the statement of the one who says, “I did not believe in Allah that such and such would happen,” the meaning is that he did not think that Allah the Exalted would decree it. It is a phrase with no harm, because the intended meaning of the wording is the meaning itself. We know from people’s usage of this phrase that they do not mean that they never believed in Allah, and Allah the Exalted has not informed them of anything such that they would say they believed in Him or did not believe in Him. Rather, they think that Allah will not decree this thing, so they say, “I did not believe in Allah that such and such would happen,” meaning: I did not think that Allah would decree this thing. The criterion for words is their meanings and their intended purposes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.