 Salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to Ahkam SOS, the show that discusses Islamic Duties and Practices by His Eminence the Grand Ayatollah Sayed Saadik Shirazi may Allah put on his life. I'm your host Mohsin Shah and joining me is sheikh Ali Maaj. Salamu alaikum sheikhna. Salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Waayi. Alhamdulillah. Maashallah. Sheikhna, you know, we've been discussing Jama'a Salah, we're discussing, you know, the importance of Jama'a Salah, the Congressional Prayer, how much Dawab there is in it. We discussed the conditions of the Imam. We talked about, you know, him being Baluch, Sayin, we talked about him having, being Aadid and, you know, him being of legitimate birth and other things. And we were discussing in regards to how to follow the Imam, where, you know, when it comes to the Nia, what Nia we should have, is it important to know the Imam or not to identify him before the Nia. We talked about, you know, where we should stay silent, where we should, you know, recite. And we discussed whether one could intentionally do the Tasleem before the Imam. And you said that it was, it was okay. It's better, not to, because of the Dawab, but it's okay. What about Sujood and Rocco? Are we allowed to perform that deliberately before the Imam of the Convocation? It is mandatory for the one who performs the Salah as a follower behind the Imam of the Jama'ah to make sure that acts such as the Rocco and Sujood to be done with the Imam. Or after the Imam goes to Rocco or Sujood, we go then afterwards. However, if somebody deliberately and with intention, he didn't want to follow the Imam. So he goes to Rocco before the Imam, or he goes to Sujood before the Imam. In this case, the Salah is valid. These acts are not part of the Mubtalaat that voids and invalidates the act of Salah. However, the Sayyid mentions that these are of committing disobedience. And somehow there's a possibility that you're committing ma'as or disobedience in somehow for not following the correct method or the sequence of the Imam. And that's important that we follow the Imam because you're in the Jama'ah. If you're alone and you're praying for other, fine, do whatever you want. But when you're with the Jama'ah, you must respect the sequence, respect all the parts of the Salah which is prayed by the Imam and try to avoid proceeding the Imam. As I've said in the previous episode that the thawab will be less if somebody finishes the Salah before the Imam, for example. But in these acts, there's some kind of disobedience, so we have to make sure that we avoid this at least in the Salah because the Salah is abad and worshiped. And we don't bring inside the Salah some kind of disobedience. We need to have a pure Salah from all types of disobedience, all types of filth, all types of sins and bad thoughts and habits and so forth. So we try to offer to Allah SWT the Salah with purity, with loyalty, with full submission to Allah SWT. Mashallah. Shaykhna, what about if I involuntarily do something to go ahead of the Imam? For example, I'm in Ruk'u and I go up and raise up and I've noticed that the Imam in front hasn't left Ruk'u. Or if I'm in Sujood and I lift my head up by accident, not on purpose, by accident I lift my head up and I see, oh, the Imam is still in Sujood. What is one supposed to do in that situation? With regard to these two acts of Salah, Ruk'u and Sujood, if somebody was in the state of Ruk'u or Sujood, in both cases, when the Imam is in that state of Ruk'u, let's say initially, and you think that the Imam raises head from the Ruk'u state and you just stand and you raise your head, but you see the Imam is still in the Ruk'u state, in this case you have to go back to the Ruk'u. And that's not counted as a second Raka'a or Ruk'u. And it's not counted as adding to the key element in the Salah, because as we said, Ruk'u is a key element. Ruk'u and if you add an extra Ruk'u to the Salah, the Salah will be forgotten. In this situation, because it's Jama'a, it's not counted as second Ruk'u. So that's fine. You go back to the Ruk'u again, continue with the Imam, and then you stand up with the Imam and continue the Salah. Likewise with the Sujood as well, you see the Imam in the Sujood and you think he's just raised his head from the Sujood, from the Turba. Again, you sit and you think the Imam is in a sitting position, you see him still in the Sujood, you go back and continue the Sujood with the Imam that has no issues with it, even if you have now three Sajda. Literally, it's on three Sajda, but it's not counted. It's not counted three Sajda, it's only counted two Sajda because you're performing the act with the Imam. What about if I did it on purpose? Am I allowed to raise from Sujood before the Imam deliberately? As we mentioned that deliberately if you proceed the Imam, that is some kind of disobedience as mentioned in the previous question. So to proceed the Imam in these acts is some kind of maqsiyah that we have to avoid. And is that the same with the Ruku as well? Same thing as well. Ahsan, Shaykhana, Shaykhana, what about if the Imam of the Jama'a he makes a mistake? For example, there's Qanout in the wrong Raqqa. How is the followers, how are they supposed to react to this? The scenario is that if in the first Raqqa, for example, the Imam mistakenly after Hamd and Surah, he raised his hands and read the Qanout in the first Raqqa. You as a follower, you're not allowed to follow the Imam because you know that he did the mistake and he didn't realize. So you have to keep quiet and silent till the Imam finishes the Qanout which was not in its right location and place. And then when he goes to Ruku, you follow the Imam, that's it. So you shouldn't do the same mistake. He's doing the mistake, you shouldn't repeat the mistake. Okay, do not follow the mistake. Just stay patient, quiet and continue the Salah when he goes into the correct position. Shaykhana, we know that in the Jama'a we have people of different capabilities, different patience and different strengths. And also when the Imam comes in praise, sometimes he prays very, very fast, sometimes very, very slow. We need to keep into consideration the people that are amongst us. Sometimes it's difficult for the elder people in the community to maintain their Wudu, especially during Salah. So is it okay for the Imam of the Jama'a to pray quickly or to pray at a very good and steady pace for those who find it difficult to stand for too long and perform Salah? It is mustahab and desirable for the Imam of the Jama'a to consider the weakest members in the Jama'a and the followers in the Salah. In other words, the elderly and the young ones. And there's a hadith, by the way, in Najil Balagh by Imam Ali, which says he advises an individual who wants to lead the Salah in Jama'a. He said, So you have elderly, you have young children as well. And I remember once read in one of the narrations that the Prophet, in his mosque, used to also speed up in the Salah because there were children and kids crying because there were men and women in the Jama'a. And kids were brought in the mosque crying. So he wanted to finish the Salah quickly for the parents to pay attention to the children and make them quiet. So in Jama'a, you try to speed up the Salah. If of course there were elderly and so forth. Otherwise, if they all agreed that, you know, the old young men and strong and fit to pray and prolong the Salah, fine. You can take your time and pray the Salah for 20 minutes, let's say, for example. No issues with it. But that's the base for the Qa'id, for those who wish to pray Salah Jama'a, to speed up the Salah in Ruku and Sujood and not to make people wait, especially those who have back pains, for example, special illness, to make the Salah ease for them so they can attend every day and every time. As-Sentum As-Salaam-Allah. You would assume that in Jama'a, you're all together and let the Imam take his time to gain that spirituality but no, Alhamdulillah, Islam is a religion of ease and he's saying that, look, be quick with your Jama'a Salah because people are fully strong and have full capabilities of praying together for that long, Masha'Allah. Sheikh, it is Mustahab to pray in congregation. We mentioned that. Are there any other Mustahabat in the Jama'a Salah? Yes, as mentioned here is the list of Mustahabat in the book of the Sayyid, Hafidallah, and that. It is Mustahab for the one who is male to stand on the right side of the Imam. So let's say it's between you and me only who's going to pray. So you stand on my right side in the Jama'a and I am on your left side as the Imam and we pray. That's one of the Mustahabat, of course. Also, if the Imam and the Ma'amoum, they're both female so you have the female Imam in the front and the follower is also female. It's Mustahab for them and preferred to stand in line and the Imam should not, of course, stand ahead of the Ma'amoum so they stand in line. That's for only females, of course. That's one of the Mustahabat as well. Another Mustahab that is Mustahab for the Jama'a which is done by the male mainly. The Imam stands in the midpoint of the row so in the front and the midpoint and you have the rows behind him. Oh, I see, I see. So this is quite common. So you have the first line so the Imam should be in the middle of that first row in the front and in the middle not on the left or on the right. Exactly, yeah. It is also Mustahab for those who follow the Imam in the Jama'a to organize their rows. It avoids order in the lines when they stand for the Salah and not to leave any gaps between each other. This is a big problem I see in the Shia community. There's big gaps between the Jama'a. It's so big sometimes you can even walk through them. What does the Sayyid say that we should shoulder to shoulder? The Sayyid says just Mustahab to be in the correct order so you make sure you don't leave any gaps. So when you stand next to your Muslim brother to pray then you shouldn't leave any gaps between you and him. So we don't have that strict as other sects have in terms of shoulder to shoulder. So basically you just stand next to your faithful brother and pray and don't leave any gaps between each other. Now with regard to the next Mustahab is that when the Imam says in the Iqamah but Qamat al-Salah, it's Mustahab that they all rise up and stand and prepare themselves for the Salah because that's the sign and the call for the Jama'a to be held and they prepare themselves. It's not convenient for the one to sit down with his friend next to him and the Imam says Allahu Akbar. So the Iqamah is where to prepare the mu'min, the follower for the Salah and especially when it reaches this part of Qamat al-Salah so they all stand up, make the intention. When the Imam says Allahu Akbar they would start Takbir al-Tahram after the Imam. And lastly the last Mustahab is when the Imam is in the state of the Ruku'a and somebody comes and he wants to join the lines of the Jama'a it's Mustahab of the Imam to wait and double the time of the Ruku'a to extend the time of the Ruku'a prolong a bit, just a few more seconds so that individual would join the Imam and the Jama'a with the Salah and get the reward of that Raka'a although he missed the Hamdan and Surah but you would gain the reward of that Raka'a that he just came in the middle of the Ruku'a I've seen it happen, you know, when Ruku'a and then you'll hear someone, ya Allah, ya Ali or something like that and then the Imam of the Jama'a he would start to recite extra the al-Dhikr in his Ruku'a to extend to allow people to join, insha'Allah Shaykh-Allah we've discussed the Mustahabat what about the Makruhaat in terms of the Jama'a Salah in terms of the Makruhaat and the dislikes in the Salah of course the Makruha in the Salah it means that the thawab will be less the thawab will be and the rewards will be less than those who do not practice these acts in the Salah it's Makruha for the one who follows the Imam to stand alone in a row when there are gaps between the mu'mineen so try to go and fill the gaps instead of being alone back in the line you know, some people might like to stand alone in the very back of the Musalleen so now try to find the gap and join yourself with the others in the Jama'a and avoid this Makruha the other Makruha for the Ma'moom is to utter the al-Dhikr so you are such that the Imam can hear him so as I mentioned in the Salat al-Dhikr that you can say Subhana Allah al-A'la al-A'la al-Dhikr while the Imam is reading the Hamd and Surah silently so you can make sure you don't you know, recite them aloud that the Imam and the others would hear you and that will distort the Salat and the Musalleen the last Makruha is for those who travel occasionally especially for the lectures for us for example the Muballi'een who go and travel in different cities and countries to offer lectures for example they have to basically offer Salat al-Jama'a so if they are as a traveler, Musaafr then they have to shorten their Salat like Qasr in this case the Sayyid says that it is Makruha on both sides if they are Qasr so if the Imam is praying Qasr Salat and the followers are praying full Salat it's Makruha so have that Salat and vice versa if the Imam was praying full Salat and the Ma'moom on the follower praying Qasr Salat is also Makruha for them to perform the Salat so the best thing is to find a Jama'a which they pray full so you follow that full Salat if you have Qasr Salat then you can pray it individually otherwise you can't pray in Jama'a As-San, thank you very much Sheikh Allah for today's discussion and thank you to all the viewers for joining us Insha'Allah we will have more discussions and we will see you in the next episode of SOS until then, Salam Alaikum Rahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu