Although there have been many questions earlier on shortening of prayers, I would like to once again ask for a certain clarification which has recently confused me. In Part 5, Chapter 4, Sentence 102, Al-Nisa, I’ll just read the translation of the thing. While you journey in the land, it will be no sin on you to shorten the prayer, if you are afraid that those who disbelieve may put you to trouble. Read it to the full, please. Sorry, sir?
Read this verse to the finish. I don’t have any more written on this. You can have reference to the Holy Qur’an over there, I suppose. The Holy Qur’an is there, over there. Read this to the full, so that we know the context. Huzoor, what I was going to say was this, that in other parts it doesn’t mention about the disbelievers and so on and so forth, just his journey. I want to know, why do we sort of particularly… Please, I want to make clear, in reference to the full text.
It’s Chapter 4, and Verse 102. And when you journey in the land, it shall be no blame on you if you shorten the prayer, if you fear that those… Come closer, a bit closer. When you journey in the land, it shall be no blame on you if you shorten the prayer, if you fear that those who disbelieve will cause you trouble, verily the disbelievers are an open enemy to you. Yes. Please. Now, the next verse, the context, I want to understand, know the context, remember, recollect the context. Next verse is, and when thou art among them and leads the prayer for them, let a party of them stand with thee.
This is what I wanted, yes, yes, please, continue, yes. And let them take their arms, and when they have performed their prostration, let them go to your rear, and let another party who have not yet prayed, come forward and pray with thee, and let them take their means of defense and their arms. The disbelievers wish that you are neglectful of your arms and your baggage, that they may fall upon you at once, and it shall be no sin for you because of the inconvenience caused by rain, or because you are sick, that you lay aside your arms, but you should always take your precautions.
Surely, Allah has prepared an humiliating punishment for the disbelievers. Now, you understand what particular situation that verse applies to. It does not apply generally to all journeys, but particularly journeys for the purpose of war. They are called ghazwas, or, you know, in those wars where the Holy Prophet himself participated, those are called ghazwas. So in this context, the meaning is, not ordinary the qasr which you do, it is a step forward of that qasr. In ordinary qasr, you say two rakats instead of four, if the prayer originally holds four rakats. But in the beginning, there were no four rakats.
All the prayers were, which are now four rakats, they used to be two rakats. And this qasr applies to that position where they said one rakat behind the Holy Prophet and went back to their positions. And the other party came and said the second rakat and went back to their positions and said the remaining rakat whenever they had chance or opportunity. So this particular verse applies to this situation in that juncture of history, when the prayers were only two rakats. My question is this now, that if the shortening of prayers was usually meant to be when there was danger and so on and so forth, because all the time when the Prophet was travelling there usually was danger, people were after him, they were trying to kill him and so on. No, no, no.
This verse, this is why I made you read the second part. This verse applies when you are involved in war. And this should be read as a whole. The beginning of the verse gives the general license for reducing the prayer to half. Then it takes over from there and starts speaking of the war conditions. And the answer to that comes later on in the second verse. When the Prophet is with you and you are in the middle of a battle, then what should be the nature of taqs, qasr-us-salat? That is the subject which is being discussed. So if you take the whole verse, would it not be unnecessary for us to shorten our prayers when there is no danger?
No, no, no. Because the Prophet understood this verse to be a verse which is widely applicable in terms of war. This is the state when there is no battle and no war and just a journey. Then you don’t break your prayers into two halves, but still do the qasr. This is the distinction. Yes, this is the distinction. This is the distinction. Thank you. So this is what he did all his life. When he was on a journey without a war, he said the whole prayer, but did qasr. When he was engaged in a battle, then he did both things. He broke the prayer in two parts as well as did qasr. This is difficult to understand from the ground up, especially from you. Yes, I know, I know. Exactly.
