Aspects Of Islamic Faith - 50: Attending To Urgent Matters
Islamic Perspectives - Muslim JournalsArab News
& Information - By Adil Salahi
Muslims offer
their obligatory prayers five times every day. These
prayers are spread between dawn and a few hours into
the following night. The best way to offer these
obligatory prayers is at the mosque, with the
congregation and early in the time range allowed for
each. When a prayer is offered with the congregation,
everyone attending it receives its reward multiplied
27 times. The Prophet’s companions were very keen to
offer their prayers with him in the mosque. After he
finished the prayer, he would sit for a few minutes,
glorifying and praising God. Women in the congregation
would leave first. Men would stay behind, listening to
anything the Prophet (peace be upon him) might want to
say to them. However, this habit was changed one day,
as we learn from this Hadith:
Uqbah reports: “I offered the Asr prayer behind the
Prophet in Madinah. When he finished, he stood up and
moved quickly, walking across people who were still
seated. He went to the rooms of one of his wives. The
people were alarmed at the speed of his movement. He
returned shortly and realized that people were
alarmed. He explained, saying: ‘I remembered that
there was some gold with us, and I feared that it
might hold me back. I ordered that it should be
immediately distributed’.” (Related by Al-Bukhari).
The Prophet’s action caused some alarm among his
companions, because when we attend to worship, we are
calm and eager to complete our act of worship in the
best manner. In this case, the Prophet’s action was
uncharacteristic. While he normally sat for a few
minutes after the prayer, this time he immediately
went home to attend to an urgent business. He did not
explain to his companions what he wanted to do. He
left them so that they could continue with their usual
glorification of God. On his return, which was not
delayed, he gave the explanation.
When we read this version of the Hadith we wonder why
the Prophet needed to attend so quickly to the
division of the gold he had at home. Other versions
tell us the gold did not belong to him or to his
wives, but it was either zakah or charity given to him
so that he would give it to those entitled to benefit
by it. It is important to ensure that zakah, i.e. the
obligatory charity, should be paid out as soon as it
becomes due. It belongs to God who has clearly stated
who qualifies to take a share of it. Such people,
poor, needy or in debt and unable to repay their
debts, are in need of it. It is theirs by God’s order
who gives us all that we have. Therefore, we must not
withhold it for any reason. The Prophet had earlier
forgotten about this gold and attended to his prayer.
While praying he remembered it, so he was keen not to
delay its distribution.
We also realize from this Hadith that remembering
things we need to do while praying does not invalidate
prayers, even though what we remember has no relation
to the prayer we are engaged in. We learn that we can
immediately leave after finishing an obligatory prayer
if we have something urgent to attend to. This does
not need to be related to religion. Any urgent
legitimate business may be addressed immediately after
prayer, even if we need to go across the rows of
worshippers and they have to move sideways to let us
through. Staying in the mosque for glorification after
an obligatory prayer is not a duty.
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