Hadith Lesson: Nullifications of Prayer

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa RaḥmatuLlāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu BiLlāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. BismiLlāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi RasūliLlāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad.

1Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “When someone among you is praying, he should pray towards a Sutrah like a stick or a pole and be close to his Sutrah so that shaytan who is both from shaytan and people, or a person who passes in front of Sutrah doesn’t interrupt his prayer by making him busy with such actions.” When you are praying, Sutrah means something put in front of you so that others don’t pass in front of you but go behind it. When someone passes (in front of you), it is a sin for him. People pass without knowing. But in old times, they used to put some things. Even if it was small, they knew that person was praying there. It is also Sunnah of our Holy Prophet ﷺ.

2Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “When you pray, face Qibla and approach your Sutrah by leaving three yards in between.” Get closer to it by facing Qibla so that people don’t pass in front of you. It should not be too far for people not to pass.

3Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Make Sutrah when you pray even with an arrow.” Put an arrow or a stick, or something in front of you so that people know that your place of prayer is until that point and pass behind it or around it.

4Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Shaytan appeared to me. And he attacked me in order to disrupt my prayer.” Shaytan both appeared and attacked our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam in order to break his ﷺ prayer. But our Holy Prophet ﷺ says, “Allah ﷻ gave me power, and I strangled him.” No one is as strong as our Holy Prophet ﷺ. Therefore, shaytan has no strength. He ﷺ said, “I strangled him. And in order for you to see him when you are up, I wanted to tie him around the pillars of the mosque.” Our Holy Prophet ﷺ strangled him like a rag. He was in our Holy Prophet’s ﷺ hands. “But I remembered that Sulayman ‘alayhi s-salam said in Qur’an ‘Azimu shShan, “My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me.” (Qur’an 38:35), so I set him free.” Based on these words, our Holy Prophet ﷺ set shaytan free. Allah ﷻ sent him away humiliated in grief. When our Holy Prophet ﷺ let him go, he ran away in disgrace. He stepped back ashamed and insulted. Otherwise, everyone would’ve seen him then.

5Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Sutrah of Imam is Sutrah of the people behind him.” As we said, Sutrah must be something small 2-3 yards or 1 to 2

meters away from you. That is enough. Praying behind it can be done without causing sin for others. Whoever passes may pass in front of it. He can’t pass between the praying person and his Sutrah. But he can pass around or behind it.

6Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “Praying on a saddle is like this, like this or like this. The condition of Qibla is lifted then.” When praying on a journey, people used to ride camels in old times. They could pray without getting off the camel. The prayer can be performed as such in a journey. When a bus goes without stopping between the cities, it is the same. It is same while traveling on a plane. In the sea, the direction of Qibla can be found. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ says Qibla can be like this, like this or like this on the way. You don’t have to stop and face Qibla. It is accepted, because you are a traveller and (the prayer) is obligatory. Therefore, our Holy Prophet ﷺ is showing that as easiness. Some people say it is wrong to pray as seated on the plane. Our Holy Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wasallam says it is ok to pray by sitting on the back of a camel as well, or on the back of a horse or a donkey. While in journey, they used to pray as such. And it is authentic. So it is easiness, and you don’t have to pray it again.

7Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “A cat passing in front of a praying person doesn’t break the prayer, because that cat is considered a household good.” A house cat is counted like a chair or basket in the house. Therefore, the prayer is not broken. And the things it touches are not Najis (dirty). This is the wisdom of Allah ﷻ in this Hadith. We have some Sufis who sometimes say it is wrong when a cat comes in. I saw it many times. They ask if the prayer is broken as the cat has come in. Some people say it is broken. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ says there is nothing wrong about the cat being there unless it defecates there. There is no obstacle if it goes around and leaves.

8Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “If whoever passing in front of a praying person knew what he takes on as a sin, waiting forty times longer would be better than passing in front of him.” When someone is praying and a person passes in front of him, it is wrong if he does it on purpose. But as he ﷺ said, putting something 3-5 yards in between, that is counted as Sutrah. Otherwise, passing right in front of someone is a big sin. If that person knew about that sin, he’d wait not once but 40 times before passing, says our Holy Prophet ﷺ.

9Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “If whoever passing in front of a praying person knew what he takes on as a sin, he would wish his leg to be broken and not pass in front of the praying person.” He’d say “If only my leg was broken and I didn’t pass here.” It is such a sin. We must pay attention to this. Some people do it without knowing. So people who are praying must also pay attention in order for others not to make a sin. There is a stick to put, for example, or something else; or they should pray facing Qibla somewhere others can’t pass in front of them. It is good for them to go there for others not to make a sin.

10-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “If someone among you knew what he does as a sin by passing in front of your Muslim brother while he is

praying, it would be better for him to stand still for a hundred years than make that one step.” That person would regret making one step so much that he’d say, “I’d rather wait for a hundred years. Why did I do this? I should have gone behind him.” He would regret and say so.

11-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “When someone among you prays, he should make Sutrah by drawing a line in front of him,” (these lines on the mat are counted as lines, but people should pass from a bit further) “or by putting a stone or something else he finds,” (he can put his stick or Miswak). “This way, the prayer of Mu’min will not be cut off by anything.” Even if you pass in front of him, his prayer won’t be broken. If you don’t do so, the sin will be yours.

12-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “When someone among you is going to pray, he should make Sutrah by putting something like a stick that he leans on.” He must put a stick or a pole in front of him. “When someone passes in front of him, he doesn’t harm his praying.” When so, neither the prayer is broken, nor the passer commits a sin.

13-Qala RasuluLlah salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ (peace be upon him ﷺ) says:

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ is saying, “When the person who passes on purpose in front of a praying man sees the severity of its punishment on Judgment

day, he will wish to become a dry tree and not having passed in front of that person.” This is such a big sin. It is not a light thing. Sometimes people do so without knowing. But Shukr to Allah ﷻ, there are signs on praying mats now. And it is not considered as such a sin insha’Allah.

Sadaqa RasuluLlah fi ma qal, aw kama qal. The Messenger of Allāh ﷻ says the truth in what he ﷺ said or as he ﷺ said.

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Ihda’ – Dedication:

Ziyadatan ila sharafi’ ‘n-Nabi, sallaLlahu `alayhi wa sallam wa Alihi wa Asahabihi l-kiram, wa ila arwahi jamee’i al Anbiya’i wa l-Mursalin wa Khudama’i sharai’ihim wa ila arwahi al ‘Aimmati al arba’a, wa ila arwahi Mashayyikhina fi tTariqati n-Naqshbandiyyati l-Aliyyah, khassatan Imamu t-Tariqah wa Ghawthu lKhaliqah Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, wa sai’ri Sadatina wa s-Siddiqiyun, wa man nahnu fi hadratihim wa jiwarihim, to all our passed ones, for the souls of all Shaheeds. Li-Llahi Ta’ala, AlFatiha.

(Translation) To the honor of the Prophet, Prayers and Peace be upon Him, and his family, and his companions, and the souls of all the prophets as well as of His messengers and of those who served their Sharia, and to the souls of the four Imams. And to the souls of our Mashayikh of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Tariqa, in particular to the soul of the Imam of the Tariqa Ghawth al-Khaliqa (the Help of Creation), Khwaja Bahauddin Muhammad al-Uwaisiyi l-Bukhari, Sayyidina Abdul Khaliq al Ghujduwani, Mawlana Shaykh Sharafuddin al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah al Faiz al Daghestani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani, and the rest of our masters and Siddiqiyun, and to whom we are in their presence and near them, to all our passed ones, for the souls of all Shaheeds. To Allah Almighty, Al-Fatiha.

Al Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 20 August 2024/ 17 Safar 1446 Beylerbeyi Dergah, Istanbul