CURRENT PRACTICE OF QASR (SHORTENED) PRAYERS BY MUSLIMS
COMPARED TO
THE DIRECTIVES IN THE QURAN AND SUNNAH
Read ONLY, IF AND WHEN you have time and mood for:
“An Ayah of the Quran for 30 Days” -- October 2013
Choose the section you have time, in the next 30 days to read this ayah:-
Prelude: Recurrent Primary Message One Page
A Short Version: For the Busy Bee Three Pages
The Main Story: Recommended Five Pages
Footnotes: For the Perfectionist One Page
PRELUDE
From the Pen and Perspective of a self-styled PPK Muslim (Proud, Practicing, Knowledgeable) with a humble submission that Islam totally rejects Blind Following BUT vigorously focusses on the Limitations of Pure Human Reasoning..............and clearly and comprehensively AlLAH knows best.
In the beginning of the seventh century C.E., the folks of Mecca and Medina had a fascinatingly unique window: they had direct access to the Heavens through one of their own. They were blessed with a regular stream of Divine counseling and guidelines. Question and answer sessions were part of the program. Even individual questioner was graced by an answer. In the short Introduction to this scheme they were assured that at the end of this twenty-two year project, Divine Directions and Admonitions will continue through the agency of the PEN. The whole discourse has been preserved and archived till eternity under the guarantee of our Lord and Creator. This record in known as the Quran.
It should sound unbelievable but factually appears to be true: Many of our prevalent, widespread and important concepts and opinions about religious matters do not have a basis in the Quran and sometimes even appear to be in obvious conflict with the teachings of the Quran. It would be very educative and helpful to discuss an Ayah once a month to see if it supports or rejects our views and actions in our daily life. I wish and hope this email generates a fruitful interactive discussion.
THE AYAH
Surah An-Nisa (4) Ayah 101
Yusuf Ali
When ye travel through the earth, there is no blame on you if ye shorten your prayers, for fear the Unbelievers May attack you: For the Unbelievers are unto you open enemies.
A SHORT VERSION
In the name of Allah, we praise HIM, seek HIS help and ask for HIS forgiveness. Whosoever Allah guideth none can misguide; whosoever HE allows to fall astray, none can guide him right. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah alone and we bear witness that Mohammed, SAW is HIS slave-servant and the Seal of HIS Messengers.
The ayah chosen for this month is the main (and to the best of my knowledge, the only one) ayah about Qasr prayers during traveling. Please note, contrary to the common impression, there is no commandment or even a gift from God Almighty in this ayah. It is a concession (a sort of discount) granted by Allah Ta’aala to shorten your prayers, if you wish in the face of a danger of attack by the Kuffaar. Allah Ta’aala says “there is no blame on you if ye shorten your prayers.” Also it is a conditional permission, as the ayah says “for fear the Unbelievers may attack you”. It is a permission by Allah Ta’aala to shorten your prayers if you wish in the face of a danger of attack by the Kuffaar. It does not cover traveling in general by all of us. As will be clear from a hadith quoted later on, even the Sahaabaa had understood this ayah as conditional one and were wondering if it remained relevant in the absence of any danger from the unbelievers. Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that the practice of Qasr prayer does not have any sanction in the Holy Quran.
It was our Holy Prophet, the seal of the Messengers of Allah who extended this concession of the Holy Quran to traveling in general: “Yǎla bin Umayyah said: I asked Umar bin Al-Khattab (RA), “Do you see that people are shortening the prayers? This, despite the fact that Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, said: ‘if you fear that those who disbelieve will put you in trial.’ And this fear has now gone in our days.” Umar Farooq (RA) replied, “I also wondered about what you are wondering, and I mentioned this to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) and he said: (This is a) charity that Allah has given to you, so accept His charity.” (Hadith No. 1199, Book of The Traveller’s Prayers, Sunan Abu Dawud, Vol. 2; Hadith No. 1573 (686), Book of The Traveller’s Prayers & Shortening Thereof, Sahih Muslim, Vol. 2).
Kindly note that our beloved Prophet has called it a “charity” which generally connotes something given to help the needy. Contrary to a common belief, Qasr prayers should not be construed as a gift or a present. Why did the sahaabaa need a charity during traveling? What was the state of traveling in the period when these concessions of traveling were dispensed for Muslims? Let me quote part of a very long hadith depicting the condition of travel in those days:
“On the authority of Abu Huraira, that the Prophet (may peace be upon him) said: Travelling is a tortuous experience. It deprives a person of his sleep, his food and drink. When one of you has accomplished his purpose, he should hasten his return to his family.” (Sahih Muslim Book 004, Hadith No. 1450). There is another hadith wherein our Holy Prophet has described traveling as an “ordeal”.
So far the instructions for Qasr are clear and reasonable i.e. our Holy Prophet has allowed us to shorten our prayers during travel. What constitutes a journey qualifying for a Qasr prayer in the twenty-first century when traveling is easy, fun and recreation? This is the crux of the problem.
The source i.e. the teachings of our beloved Prophet are clear and unambiguous on the definition of a journey to qualify for shortening of prayers , even though different narrations have been reported. On the basis of Sahih ahaadith, a journey of three Manaazil is required as a minimum to qualify for this dispensation. Thus a person who sets out with the intention of eventually traveling three manaazil is regarded as a musaafir in the Shariah. One manzil is defined as traveling by foot or on camel back, starting after dawn and continuing till the time for the zohr prayers. Other reports suggest a total of two days and nights of traveling are required and still others state that the Prophet (PBUH) called a journey of one day & one night as traveling to justify Qasr prayers.
The conclusion from these reports is obvious to any Muslim with an open and thinking mind namely 99.99% of travel by the ordinary folks nowadays does not qualify for this dispensation of Qasr. Unfortunately this is not the opinion of many eminent Jurists of the Islamic Ummah -- past and present. By a long process of convoluted reasoning they have decided to retain the qasr prayers in our times also. Our holy Prophet did not allow the noble Sahaabaas to shorten their prayers after two hours of traveling on the camel under the hot sun in the cruel climate of the desert of Arabia; the minimum requirement was a journey of one day and one night. Our Imams, Fuqahaa and scholars want us to shorten our prayers for a journey of two hours in an air-conditioned limousine. I am sorry but I do find it dumbfounding? Islam has the unique distinction amongst all the religions of the World to mention “the PEN”3 -- an obvious reference to critical thinking and knowledge4 -- in the VERY FIRST WAHEE, followed by repeated reference to “people of understanding, folks who think, men with knowledge” through out the Book. In his very first Khutba after being elected the first Caliph, Hazrat Abu Bakr requested loyalty ONLY if he is following the Quran and practice and preaching of our Holy Prophet; if not he expected the Muslims to correct him. Imam Shafai’ has stated that every action and statement of a great scholar is not necessarily correct; he may be wrong at times and may have to be corrected. Oh yes, we need our Ulema and Shaikh’s and Imams to guide us and teach us our religion. However, we have to learn from them and understand them; not be pulled and led by them by a leash; please do not make padres out of them.
My experience at the Annual Convention of MAS-ICNA at Chicago last year provided a vivid practical demonstration of the anachronistic (and perhaps farcical to my taste) practice of Qasr Namaaz by most of us and our scholars. It was a very impressive five day affair with a big attendance, State of Art arrangements for lectures and presentations, Five star arrangements for board and lodge providing every comfort of Home. It was a display of twenty-first century standard of religious education. At prayer time, suddenly it appeared as if we have rolled back in time and space to the seventh century. It was imagined that we have travelled on camel back, taking us more than a day and night to arrive at the convention; so Qasr prayer is not only Jaaiz but is called for. It is noteworthy, Imam Nawaai (of the 40 hadith fame) had declared in the eleventh century CE that offering qasr is optional; short and full prayers are equally blessed.5 But we will opt for qasr because we have full five days for lectures from our scholars and cannot spare the usual time for our visit to the Almighty. So we will follow Imam Abu Hanifa who regards qasr as Waajib. But his mazhab does not allow Jama’ (combing prayers) except when we are actually traveling; once we break our journey we have to offer all five prayers separately. No problem; for this purpose, we we will follow Shafia’ who allow this practice of combining the prayers even at breaks; however they do recommend to pray the five prayers separately during the break and restrict combining the prayers only actual travel time. But the organisers and the scholars advising them decided to accept the permission but ignore the recommendation of Shafia. Also, this mazhab allows only four days as journey; a journey of five days require full prayers. No problem again; we will follow Hanafia this time who allow 15 days. According to the rules of Imaamat, it would have been a reasonable proposition to choose a local imam to lead the prayers. In this case all the participants could join the congregation and offer full prayers and receive full rewards under all the three schools except Maliki. But our priority in this convention is to listen to our eminent scholars; prayer is secondary. So we will follow malikia and not invite a local imam. In short the whole attitude for the mandatory prayers was “get over with it in the shortest time and as infrequently as possible” switching from the guidelines of one school to another and then the third one to suit our goal of praying qasr and jama’. The organisers and the scholars who advised them seem to think that we have a whole year for prayers but only five days to listen to our scholars for which we have used a lot of money, time and energy. I think that was the practical lesson given to our growing children. On the other hand, It would have been much better to add some spirituality and piety to this primarily religious extravaganza by organising complete prayers for all the participants at one time and adding some melodious qira’t in slow measured sequence, as prescribed in the Holy Book. It could have served as a practical outcome of all the high sounding lectures of Islam we heard at this meeting. However on balance, the convention was a wonderful experience and I do intend to attend this year as well, Insha Allah. I will not shorten my prayers, though; nor did I do it last year.
The account hitherto is the perspective of the Muslims who regard Islam as a dynamic and progressive Divine Religion which was revealed in the seventh century CE to remain relevant till the dooms day. Our Lord and Cherisher has commanded a set of fundamental and eternal principles in life and encourages and expects “those who believe” to use their God given intellect and prowess of critical thinking to respond to the demands of time and place while remaining true to the core and the essence.
There is another perspective -- distinct and opposite -- which is very dear to a large section of Muslims. The philosophy of Taqleed which has shut the door of Ijtihaad or reasoning on the Muslims; only deductive analogy is permitted. A vast number of Muslims subscribe to this view.
Next month we will discuss the dispensation of Qasr from the traditional Sunni Fiqh -- Islamic jurisprudence -- point of view. I find it very confusing and conflicting. Let us see what you make of it.
........and Allah knows best.
........and Allah knows best.
May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding--“fahm”--of our Deen, Aameen.
TO BE CONTINUED
THE MAIN STORY
In the name of Allah, we praise HIM, seek HIS help and ask for HIS forgiveness. Whosoever Allah guideth none can misguide; whosoever HE allows to fall astray, none can guide him right. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah alone and we bear witness that Mohammed, SAW is HIS slave-servant and the Seal of HIS Messengers. Further, we recall that Allah Ta’aala has declared in HIS Book1 “He granteth wisdom to whom He pleaseth; and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing; but none will grasp the Message (or remember or receive admonition) but men of understanding (or intellect)” and we also recall that he has warned us about the day of judgement2 “Then on that day you shall most certainly be questioned about the boons (joy, pleasure).” We realise, that there cannot be a greater boon or blessing or benefit than wisdom and we wonder if this should be a timely reminder to very many of us good and sincere Muslims who use their critical thinking to enhance the mundane for themselves and their families but resort to compulsory following -- taqleed, doctrine of classical Sunni Islamic Fiqh -- in matters religion.
The ayah chosen for this month is the main (and to the best of my knowledge, the only one) ayah about Qasr prayers during traveling. Please note, contrary to the common impression, there is no commandment or even a gift from God Almighty in this ayah. It is a concession (a sort of discount) granted by Allah Ta’aala to shorten your prayers, if you wish in the face of a danger of attack by the Kuffaar. Allah Ta’aala says “ there is no blame on you if ye shorten your prayers”. Also it is a conditional permission, as the ayah says “ for fear the Unbelievers May attack you”. It is a permission by Allah Ta’aala to shorten your prayers if you wish in the face of a danger of attack by the Kuffaar. It does not cover traveling in general by all of us. As will be clear from a hadith quoted later on, even the Sahaabaa had understood this ayah as conditional one and were wondering if it remained relevant in the absence of any danger from the unbelievers. Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that the practice of Qasr prayer does not have any sanction in the Holy Quran.
It was our Holy Prophet, the seal of the Messengers of Allah who extended this concession of the Holy Quran to traveling in general: “Yǎla bin Umayyah said: I asked Umar bin Al-Khattab (RA), “Do you see that people are shortening the prayers? This, despite the fact that Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, said: ‘if you fear that those who disbelieve will put you in trial.’ And this fear has now gone in our days.” Umar Farooq (RA) replied, “I also wondered about what you are wondering, and I mentioned this to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) and he said: (This is a) charity that Allah has given to you, so accept His charity.” (Hadith No. 1199, Book of The Traveller’s Prayers, Sunan Abu Dawud, Vol. 2; Hadith No. 1573 (686), Book of The Traveller’s Prayers & Shortening Thereof, Sahih Muslim, Vol. 2).
Kindly note that our beloved Prophet has called it a “charity” which generally connotes something given to help the needy. Contrary to a common belief, Qasr prayers should not be construed as a gift or a present. Why did the sahaabaa need a charity during traveling? What was the state of traveling in the period when these concessions of traveling were dispensed for Muslims? Let me quote part of a very long hadith depicting the condition of travel in those days:
“On the authority of Abu Huraira, that the Prophet (may peace be upon him) said: Traveling is a tortuous experience. It deprives a person of his sleep, his food and drink. When one of you has accomplished his purpose, he should hasten his return to his family.” (Sahih Muslim Book 004, Hadith No. 1450). There is another hadith wherein our Holy Prophet has described traveling as an “ordeal”.
It certainly DOES NOT mean that Holy Prophet has “abrogated” the condition of fear from this ayah as has been stated by some scholars in the Fiqh literature. The ayah is there to stay as the immutable words of God Almighty, literally in its entirety. Broadly speaking, it has been asserted by many Fuqahaa, Scholars and Ulemaa that “ Sunnah can abrogate the Quran”. My immediate and emotional response on reading this statement was “this is plain blasphemy”. After some cool thinking, I continue to feel very strongly against this concept of abrogation for two reasons:
First, I think and feel this statement is very degrading and disparaging to the impeccable Character and towering Personality of my beloved and Holy Prophet. He had made it very clear in theory and practice that he is merely a slave-servant and a Messenger of the King and Sovereign of Mankind -- Maalikin Naas -- and therefore it would be inconceivable to him to even dream of abrogating a Word or Words of God Almighty.
Second, this statement is tantamount to rejecting some of the attributes of Allah Ta’aala Subhanahoo: All-Knowing, All Powerful, All-Seeing, Best of judges, The Mighty, the Sovereign Lord and King and Sovereign of Mankind. All the schools of Sunni Islamic Fiqh agree that rejecting or restricting any of the attributes of God is tantamount to the great sin (gunaahe kabeera) of kufr.
Coming back to the issue of Qasr, so far the instructions for qasr are clear and reasonable. Our Holy Prophet has allowed us to shorten our prayers during travel. What constitutes a journey qualifying for a Qasr prayer in the 21st century when traveling is easy, fun and recreation? This is the crux of the problem. It appears, here that the practice of compulsory following (taqleed) by our present day scholars of the interpretation of our past Imams and Fuqahaa (outstanding and brilliant jurists but humans living in the third century Hijra, about 1200 years in the past) is erroneous and dangerous leading to anachronistic and imprudent conclusions. Let me explain.
The source i.e. the teachings of our beloved Prophet is clear and unambiguous on the definition of a journey to qualify for shortening of prayers, even though different narrations have been reported. On the basis of Sahih ahaadith, a journey of three Manaazil is required as a minimum to qualify for this dispensation. Thus a person who sets out with the intention of eventually traveling three manaazil is regarded as a musaafir in the Shariah. But a person who travels from place to place, intending to travel less than three manaazil each time, will not become a musaafir even if he travels the entire world in this way. One manzil is defined as traveling by foot or on camel back, starting after dawn and continuing till the time for the zohr prayers. Other reports suggest a total of two days and two nights of traveling are required and still others state that the Prophet (PBUH) called a journey of one day and one night as traveling to justify Qasr prayers.
The conclusion from these reports is obvious to any Muslim with an open and thinking mind namely 99.99% of travel by the ordinary folks nowadays does not qualify for this dispensation of qasr. Unfortunately this is not the opinion of many eminent Jurists of the Islamic Ummah -- past and present. By a long process of convoluted reasoning they have decided to retain the qasr prayers in our times also. The camel has been driven away from Makkah and Medina even during the purely and exclusively religious activity of Hajj and Umrah, yet our scholars bring in the camel as the vehicle of commuting to build a case for qasr prayers. Our holy Prophet did not allow the noble Sahaabaas to shorten their prayers after two hours of traveling on the camel under the hot sun in the cruel climate of the desert of Arabia; the minimum requirement was a journey of one day and one night. Our Imams, Fuqahaa and scholars want us to shorten our prayers for a journey of two hours in an air-conditioned limousine. I am sorry but I do find it dumbfounding? Islam has the unique distinction amongst all the religions of the World to mention “the PEN”3 -- an obvious reference to critical thinking and knowledge4 -- in the VERY FIRST WAHEE, followed by repeated reference to “people of understanding, folks who think, men with knowledge” through out the Holy Book. Taking a cue from this, the Muslims achieved great heights in science, philosophy and other fields of human knowledge and became the torch bearers of civilisation in the five to six centuries of our initial history. No wonder the intellectual stagnation betrayed these days is exasperating to many Muslims. Moreover I have solid support of very eminent and outstanding personalities of Islam for my practice of challenging the opinions of some highly esteemed scholars. In his very first Khutba after being elected the first Caliph, Hazrat Abu Bakr requested loyalty ONLY if he is following the Quran and practice and preaching of our Holy Prophet; if not he expected the Muslims to correct him. One of the four great Imams, Shafai’ has stated that every action and statement of a great scholar is not necessarily correct; he may be wrong at times and may have to be corrected. Oh yes, we need our Ulema and Shaikh’s and Imams to guide us and teach us our religion. However, we have to learn from them and understand them; not be pulled and led by them by a leash; please do not make padres out of them. Please remember and remember very clearly, we will be on our own on the Day of Judgement; no promptings or help from even the Four Great Imams of the four Schools of the Sunni Islam, not to speak of our present day scholars and imams. Allah Ta’aala Subhanahoo has vividly described the scene on the Day of Reckoning -- the ultimate goal for all our struggle and scramble in this world -- in these words:5 “At length, when there comes the Deafening Noise, That Day shall a man flee from his own brother, And from his mother and his father, And his wife and his children, For every man, that Day, will be a matter adequate for him.” (Yusuf Ali) “Every man” in this ayah, includes Imams, Mufassiraan, Muftis, Mohaddesin, Ulemas,Sheiks, Maulvis and Maulanaas. So, if I want to shorten my prayers after a forty-eight miles journey in my air-conditioned car, I have to be ready with my personal explanations, based on the Holy Quran and the example of my beloved Prophet on the Day of Judgement. I will have to give reasons to equate twenty-four hours journey on camel back in the desert of Arabia to a two hour car drive in America. I may be asked why did I like to avail of the “charity” generously offered by the Holy Prophet to a camel rider under the hot desert sun when Allah Ta’aala has blessed me with comforts and luxury of an air conditioned limousine. Quoting our Imams or books of hadith or books of the four schools of Islamic law will not help me on that day because these are not sources of reference in the Final Court of Almighty God which is mine and ought to be every Muslim’s ultimate driver and goal in life. And Allah knows best.
My experience at the Annual Convention of MAS-ICNA at Chicago last year provided a vivid practical demonstration of the anachronistic (and perhaps farcical to my taste) practice of Qasr Namaaz by most of us and our scholars. It was a very impressive five day affair with a big attendance, bursting with activity and enthusiasm. State of Art arrangements for lectures and presentations by eminent scholars. Five star arrangements for board and lodge, shopping, entertainment and children activity. Each and every comfort of Home was taken care of with additional luxury. An extra bonus was available in the form of no cooking, no washing, no cleaning and no vacuuming. It was a display of twenty-first century standard of religious education with full comfort and luxury. Folks had spared full five days from their pursuits for continual religious education; the five days were full of energy and enthusiasm. At prayer time, suddenly it appeared as if we have rolled back in time and space to the seventh century. Out of respect for our Aslaaf, it was imagined that we have travelled on camel back, taking us more than a day and night to arrive at the convention; so Qasr prayer is not only Jaaiz but is called for. It is noteworthy, Imam Nawaai (of the 40 hadith fame) had declared in the eleventh century CE that offering qasr is optional; short and full prayers are equally blessed.6 But we will opt for qasr because we have full five days for lectures from our scholars and cannot spare the usual time for our visit to the the Almighty. So we will follow Imam Abu Hanifa who regards qasr as Wajib. But his mazhab does not allow Jama’ (combing prayers) except when we are actually traveling; once we break our journey we have to offer all five prayers separately. No problem; for this purpose, we we will follow Shafia’ who allow this practice of combining the prayers; however they do recommend to pray the five prayers separately during the break and restrict combining the prayers only actual travel time. But the organisers and the scholars advising them decided to accept the permission but ignore the recommendation of Shafia. Also, this mazhab allows only four days as journey; a journey of five days require full prayers. No problem again; we will follow Hanafia this time who allow 15 days. According to the rules of Imaamat, it would have been a reasonable proposition to choose a local imam to lead the prayers. In this case all the participants could join the congregation and offer full prayers and receive full rewards under all the three schools except Maliki. But our priority in this convention is to listen to our eminent scholars; prayer is secondary. So we will follow malikia and not invite a local imam. In short the whole attitude for the mandatory prayers was “get over with it in the shortest time and as infrequently as possible” switching from the guidelines of one school to another and then the third one to achieve our goal of praying qasr and jama’. The organisers and the scholars who advised them seem to think that we have a whole year for prayers but only five days to listen to our scholars for which we have used a lot of money, time and energy. I think that was the practical lesson given to our growing children. On the other hand, It would have been much better to add some spirituality and piety to this primarily religious extravaganza by organising complete prayers for all the participants at one time and adding some melodious qira’t in slow measured sequence, as prescribed in the Holy Book. It could have served as a practical outcome of all the high sounding lectures on Islam we heard at this meeting. However on balance, it was a wonderful experience and I do intend to attend the convention this year as well, Insha Allah. I will not shorten my prayers, though; nor did I do it last year.
The account hitherto is the perspective of the Muslims who regard Islam as a dynamic and progressive Divine Religion which was revealed in the seventh century CE to remain relevant till the doomsday. Our Lord and Cherisher has commanded a set of fundamental and eternal principles in life and encourages and expects “those who believe” to use their God given intellect and prowess of critical thinking to respond to the demands of time and place while remaining true to the core and the essence.
There is another perspective -- distinct and opposite -- which is very dear to a large section of Muslims. The philosophy of Taqleed. A group of eminent scholars, fuqahaa and muftis decided in the late fourth century Hijra that the work of carving out Islamic Law and Jurisprudence has been completed by the four great Imams and their schools. No additional work is possible or needed. They, therefore shut the door of Ijtihaad or reasoning on the Muslims. Only deductive analogy is permitted to later Ulemaa and Mujtahedin. Then onwards the Muslims are only allowed “taqleed” -- compulsory and exclusive following -- of the four major schools of Sunni Islam. No out of box interpretations are allowed. A vast number of Muslims subscribe to this view. One group among them truly believes in this approach and has carved our their entire personal and family life and their career on these lines. Another group of modern educated Muslims have developed a sort of dichotomy in their approach. They use their
Divine blessing of Intellect to the full in pursuit of their worldly matters. Hence they are very successful in achieving a good life for themselves and their family. In matters of religion, however they opt for taqleed (which can be interpreted as mindless following) of the fourth century Hijra Classical Sunni Islamic Fiqh. Many of them truly believe in this approach but many others do it as a path of least resistance, or lack of interest or time or just carelessness.
Next month we will discuss the dispensation of Qasr from the traditional Sunni Islamic Fiqh -- Islamic jurisprudence -- point of view. I find it very confusing and conflicting. Let us see what you make of it.
........and Allah knows best.
May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding--“fahm”--of our Deen, Aameen.
TO BE CONTINUED
FOOTNOTES
(1) Surah 2/269
(2) Surah 102/8
(3) 96/4-5
Sahih International:
Who taught by the pen - Taught man that which he knew not.
(4) In 610 CE i.e. at the very beginning of the seventh century when the Hijra calendar had not even started, Allah Ta’aala, in his total wisdom had decided that the chain of Revelations is going to be permanently terminated twenty-two years later with the demise of His Last and Beloved Prophet in 632 CE. However, Islam was not destined to be a religion of Pooja Paat fossilized in the seventh century. It was designed by Allah Ta’aala Subhanahoo to be living and breathing till the Doomsday providing a Philosophy and Code of Life for its followers. So in the very First and Short Wahee and immediately after declaring that the Lord and Cherisher has created the whole Universe including man from very humble beginning, it is proclaimed that the other method of Divine Guidance to humans is the PEN through which our Gracious and Generous Rub has been teaching in the past and will continue to teach man what he does not know. ( according to Maulana Mufti Mohammed Shafi, there are some reports to suggest that Prophet Adam was the first one to write, while other reports mention that the art and skill of writing was first taught to the Prophet Idrees who was thus the very first scribe) The PEN is symbolic of knowledge, information, education; it implies reading, writing, books, study, research. Bari Ta’aala has blessed mankind with Intellect and Thinking to be able to use the PEN to seek Allah’s guidance in all the fields of knowledge including religious, spiritual and physical Sciences, Arts and literature, Medicine and Mathematics, Philosophy and Psychology. This process has been going on and will continue all along the march of time with its constantly changing needs and demands. Through the agency of the PEN the Almighty has helped man to develop Universities and Laboratories with Electron Microscopes and Hubble telescopes, the internet, digital revolution, the print, electronic and social media as part of a perpetual ongoing process. These are Divine blessing to us and must be utilized in full to dwell into the Divine Purpose and Mystery to achieve salvation in the Hereafter.
(5) Surah 80/33-
فَإِذَا جَاءَتِ الصَّاخَّةُيَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ
وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ وَصَاحِبَتِهِ وَبَنِيهِلِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مِنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ
(6) Yes, it is permitted for the traveller to take the dispensation of combining prayers alone without shortening the prayers. It is also permitted for them to shorten alone without joining, and also to do both.
Likewise, it is permitted for them to leave both dispensations and to perform each prayer in its time, without shortening. They have free choice regarding all the above. [As mentioned in Nawawis Minhaj and its commentaries]
( quoted elsewhere: Imam al-Nawawi said in his Majmu`)
(Minhaj al-Talibin منهاج الطالبين وعمدة المفتين في فقه الإمام الشافعي, a classical manual on Islamic Law according to Shafi’i Fiqh)
