Praying in a house that contains images.
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The questioner : We pray several times in houses that contain images. Is our prayer permissible in this situation?
The Shaykh : Yes, the prayer is permissible, but it is disliked. When you visit a house and notice these images, you should ask the owner of the house if he has a room without images where you can pray. Otherwise, the ruling belongs to Allah. Therefore, it is not correct to order the rectification of the houses of two or three people; the truth must be widespread among all Muslims. In the authentic and beautiful hadith, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2173Sahih (Darussalam) meaning those who fall into them. The "boundaries" here refer to sins. Then he (may Allah pray upon and bless him) said: This is an example of cooperation among Muslims, as the Lord of the Worlds said: [Al-Ma'idah 5:2] So, this is a house where there are no images. But as I gave an example earlier, you go to visit a friend, and if the house has images, you want to pray. The prayer is valid, not invalid. The prayer is valid, but it is disliked. Therefore, the houses of all Muslims should represent following the Shari'ah, with no images in them. But until the correct knowledge spreads first and the correct upbringing on this correct knowledge is realized, this takes time. If a person is afflicted with being in a room with images, he should ask the owner of the room for another place without images. If there is none, the prayer is valid but disliked. Please, what do you have?
The questioner : Most of our houses, O Shaykh, are not free from magazines and newspapers, and they are not free from images either.
The Shaykh : This is what led us to raise the two issues of newspapers and magazines. If they contain knowledge, you read them and then cover them so that the images are not visible.
The questioner : We put them in a cardboard box and put them away. There is no harm in that.
The Shaykh : Yes, that is right.
The Shaykh : Yes, the prayer is permissible, but it is disliked. When you visit a house and notice these images, you should ask the owner of the house if he has a room without images where you can pray. Otherwise, the ruling belongs to Allah. Therefore, it is not correct to order the rectification of the houses of two or three people; the truth must be widespread among all Muslims. In the authentic and beautiful hadith, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
The parable of the one who upholds Allah's laws and the one who breaches them
مثل القائم على حدود الله والمدهن فيهاLike the one who upholds the boundaries of Allah and the one who transgresses them—meaning the one who falls into them—like a group of people who boarded a ship. A group was in the upper part and a group was in the lower part. These people, whenever they wanted to draw water, would go up to the upper part and take the amount of water they needed. One day they said, "What if we made a hole in the bottom of the ship and drew the water directly without going up to these people and disturbing them?"
مثل القائم على حدود الله والمدهن -أي الواقع- فيها كمثل قوم ركبوا سفينة فكانت طائفة في أعلاها وطائفة في أدناها فكان هؤلاء إذا أرادوا أن يستقوا صعدوا إلى أعلاها وأخذوا من الماء ما هم بحاجة إليه فقالوا ذات يوم لو أننا فتحنا في قعر السفينة فتحة واستقينا الماء مباشرة دون أن نصعد إلى هؤلاء الناس ونزعجهمIf they take hold of their hands, they will be saved and they will save them. If they leave them to their own devices, they will perish and they will cause them to perish.
فإن هم أخذوا بأيديهم نجوا وأنجوا وإن هم تركوهم وشأنهم هلكوا وأهلكواAnd cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression.
وتعاونوا على البر والتقوى ولا تعاونوا على الإثم والعدوانThe questioner : Most of our houses, O Shaykh, are not free from magazines and newspapers, and they are not free from images either.
The Shaykh : This is what led us to raise the two issues of newspapers and magazines. If they contain knowledge, you read them and then cover them so that the images are not visible.
The questioner : We put them in a cardboard box and put them away. There is no harm in that.
The Shaykh : Yes, that is right.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.