Thursday, December 2, 2010

Punishment for Not Having Straight Lines in Jamaa`ah

One of the biggest sunan (pl. sunnah) acts that we, Shee`ahs, have lost is in regards to the straightening of our lines in Salaah during jamaa`ah. This is a disease that is rampant amongst our shee`ahs all over the world from the east to the west. We are not taking care of our Salaah when we are reading in jamaa`ah. Unfortunately people are not straightening their lines and making sure that they their shoulder’s are touching the shoulders of the people next to them.

This burden of straightening the lines is on the "Imaam" (leader) of the prayer as well as the people reading in the jamaa`ah.

Here is a SaHeeH hadeeth from our books on the punishment that Allaah (سبحانه و تعالى) does on people who abandon straightening their lines, and the ill-effects that it causes the ummah.


(Taken from my personal copy of Thawaab Al-`Amaal wa `Iqaab Al-`Amaal, pg. 274)
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وَ فِي عِقَابِ الْأَعْمَالِ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ سَعْدٍ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ بْنِ أَبِي الْخَطَّابِ عَنْ وُهَيْبِ بْنِ حَفْصٍ عَنْ أَبِي بَصِيرٍ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع يَقُولُ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَقِيمُوا صُفُوفَكُمْ وَ امْسَحُوا بِمَنَاكِبِكُمْ لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ فِيكُمْ خَلَلٌ وَ لَا تُخَالِفُوا فَيُخَالِفَ اللَّهُ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ أَلَا وَ إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ مِنْ خَلْفِي

I heard Abaa `Abd Allaah (عليه السلام) said that the Messenger of Allaah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: “O people! Straighten your lines with your shoulders touching each other so in you is friendship, and do not separate, and (if you do separate) Allaah will separate your hearts. And surely I can see you from behind me”
Source:
1.     Al-Sadooq, Thawaab Al-`Amaal wa `Iqaab Al-`Amaal, pg. 230

(Taken from my personal copy of Al-MaHaasin, vol. 1, pg. 160, hadeeth # 226 (#9 in Chapter))
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عنه عن محمد بن علي عن وهب بن حفص عن أبي بصير قال سمعت أبا عبد الله ع يقول إن رسول الله ص قال يا أيها الناس أقيموا صفوفكم و امسحوا بمناكبكم لئلا يكون فيكم خلل و لا تخالفوا فيخالف الله بين قلوبكم ألا و أني أراكم من خلفي و في رواية أبي بصير عن أبي عبد الله ع قال قال علي ع من لم يقم صلبه في الصلاة فلا صلاة له

I heard Abaa `Abd Allaah (عليه السلام) said that the Messenger of Allaah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: “O people! Straighten your lines with your shoulders touching each other so in you is friendship, and do not separate, and (if you do separate) Allaah will separate your hearts. And surely I can see you from behind me”

And in a narration Abee Baseer from Abee `Abd Allaah (عليه السلام) said that `Alee (عليه السلام) said: “Whoever doesn’t stand straight in salaah, there is no salaah for him”
Source:
1.     Al-Barqi, Al-MaHaasin, vol. 1, ch. 3, pg. 80, hadeeth # 7


Want to know why there is so much disunity amongst our ummah especially amongst our own Shee`ahs? Well now you know.

3 comments:

  1. Salamu 'Alaikum

    This really is an eye opener, the only time that i have seen shoulders touching in jamaa'ah is when there are slightly too many people and everyone is forced to touch shoulders. It's sad that this sunnah is seen as a 'sunni' thing. they really are so much more disciplined in their salah than us.

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  2. A problem is also that in many shi'a mosques, there are no lines on the carpet, so people are expected to line up themsleves, often the 'line' turns into a semi circle

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  3. Assalaamu `Alaykum,

    Yes, it is disheartening that this isn't practiced in our masaajid / centers. This is one of the reasons why I have said this is one of the lost sunan.

    And you are right, we need to have masaajid that have lines that are already placed in the carpets, or have those carpets that have the muSallahs set up on the carpets as a design.

    Regardless of having lines, I have been to masaajid that do not have lines, but their lines are straight.

    It is once again up to the "imaam" (leader) of the prayer, just like it was the job of the Prophet (SAWAS) to straight the lines of when he was leading prayers.

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