Chapter Two
The Rest of Obligatory
and Recommended Prayers
(A) The Friday prayer
The Friday prayer replaces the noon prayer on Friday – as will be explained; it is two rak‘ahs exactly like the dawn prayer, but the difference is that it has two qonuts: one before the roku‘ of the first rak‘ah and another after the roku‘ of the second rak‘ah; this is in addition to two sermons before the prayer.
Its rulings are as follows:
First: The conditions/requirements for the Friday prayer
428. For the validity of the Friday prayer, there are several conditions:
1- It must be offered in congregation (the rulings of congregational prayers will be explained later in a specific chapter.)
2- The number of participants must not be fewer than five, including the leader (imam).
3- Two sermons precede it, given by the leader of the congregation. This is done by the imam, who stands up, praises God and expresses gratitude to Him, advises the congregation on God fearing (teqwa), reads one chapter from the Holy Qur’an, then sits for a very short while, stands again, praises God and expresses gratitude to Him, asks God’s blessings to Mohammed (sawa) and the Imams (as) and forgiveness (istighfar) for the believers; he should talk about fearing God, call for justice, doing favours/good to people, reconciliation between them, social issues etc. The imam must raise his voice in both sermons so that (at least) a number of the followers can hear it. It is not obligatory that elements of the sermon other than the Qur’an be given in Arabic, although it is better, but if the congregation does not understand Arabic, he has to use the language that they understand.
4- Another Friday congregation within a distance of one fersekh, which is equal to 5.5 km, must not have been already in progress, otherwise the acts of both congregations would become void if the prayers started at the same time and both know of the existence of the other.
429. The time of the sermons is before the Friday prayer and after zawal, so the imam cannot start them before zawal, not even one part of them. The imam must stand during the sermon, but if he is unable to stand and there is no one else who is able to lead the Friday prayer, it is allowed for the former to give the sermon sitting, without the obligation of the prayer becoming void. Also, the people must listen during the sermon and abstain from talking.
Second: The rulings of the Friday prayer
430. Friday prayer is obligatory in the case of the presence of the infallible Imam or his specified deputy who was appointed by him. But it is also obligatory when he is not present, if the Friday prayer is performed by those who have the necessary requirements, it becomes obligatory on every Muslim who can attend and participate in it.
431. Some persons are excluded from the obligation to attend:
1- Anyone who finds it harmful or extremely difficult to attend.
2- Women.
3- The ill, the blind and the elderly.
4- Travellers who are on a journey that makes taqsir in prayers (i.e. praying shorter prayers) obligatory.
5- Those who live at a distance of around two fersekh, i.e. around 11 km (or more).
But if these do attend, their Friday prayer is valid and they do not have to pray the noon prayer afterwards.
432. For those for whom attendance at the Friday prayer is obligatory, it is not allowed to travel at noon on Friday, except if they are going to pass by a place where a Friday prayer is performed, so they will be able to attend it there.
433. The time of the Friday prayer starts at zawal, and stretches to the time of the astronomical afternoon (‘asr) as listed in the published calendars, so if it is not performed by then, the noon prayer, not the Friday prayer, becomes obligatory.
(B) The ayat (signs) prayer
First: The reasons for obligation
434. The ayat prayer becomes obligatory when the following take place:
1- An eclipse of the sun, which is when the sun becomes obscured by the moon; there are two types: whole and partial.
2- An eclipse of the moon, which is when it becomes obscured by the Earth's shadow cast by the sun; there are likewise two types: whole and partial.
3- Earthquakes on earth.
4- Every exceptional event that takes place on earth or in the sky, such as black wind (i.e. one that causes unusually severe darkness), lightning/thunder, tornado etc, provided that it generally causes fear in people.
435. If an obligatory reason takes place, the prayer of ayat becomes obligatory on every person who is obliged to pray the other prayers; therefore, it is not obligatory on women during the menses or nifas, neither at the time nor after it (qada’).
436. If the sign takes place in a town or country, the prayer is obligatory on the people of that particular town or country, not other towns or countries that did not have that sign. Also, it is not a condition that one must sense it, as the obligation applies also to sleeping people, for example, as long as they are present in the place where the sign occurred.
437. The obligation of the prayer becomes repeated if the reason is repeated, so if an eclipse of the sun occurs, and an earthquake and a frightening episode of thunder and lightning/ take place at the same time at the same time, it becomes obligatory to offer this prayer three times. The same applies if an earthquake occurs twice or more, unless what happens after it is some sort of an immediate echo or aftershock, in which case it is only obligatory once.
Second: How to perform the ayat prayer
438. The ayat prayer consists of two rak‘ahs, and each rak‘ah consists of five bows and two prostrations. It may be offered in two forms:
First: The person praying says ‘Allaho akbar’, recites the Fatihah and another chapter, then bows for roku‘, lifts his head and recites the Fatihah and another chapter, then bows for roku‘s, and so on, repeating this until he completes five bowing acts; then when he lifts his head from the fifth roku‘ and reaches an upright standing position, he begins prostrating, performing two prostrations; then he stands up and performs the second rak‘ah exactly the same as the first, then performs teshehhod after the two prostrations, finishing his prayer with teslim.
Second: (This is a shortened form.) The person recites the Fatihah in the first rak‘ah, then spreads another chapter over the five bowing acts: he readsone verse from the chapter then bows (the first roku‘), then lifts his head and reads the second verse from the same chapter, then bows (the second roku‘), and so on until he achieves a complete chapter in the five roku‘s; then he stands up, then begins prostrating, and does the same in the second rak‘ah, ending his prayer with tashahhod and taslim as above. In this shortened form, the person must observe the following:
1- He must read a complete verse each time he is standing for roku‘, counting the basmalah as one verse of the chapter.
2- He must complete the whole of the chapter in each rak‘ah, so if there is more than one verse left in the fifth roku‘, he has to recite all the rest to the end of the chapter.
3- The Fatihah chapter is (coupled with) one (other) complete verse, so he does not have to recite the Fatihah with every verse when he is spreading the other chapter’s verses over the bowing acts, but must recite the verse only when he lifts his head from roku‘; but if the chapter finishes before the fifth roku‘, he must recite the Fatihah again with a complete chapter or part of a chapter, and complete this chapter before the fifth roku‘.
439. The general conditions and rulings of the ayat prayer are not different to those of other prayers, so purity, facing the qiblah, the dress or cover and the rest of what has been mentioned are obligatory.
Third: Its time and rulings
440. The time for an eclipse prayer stretches from the beginning of the eclipse until the last moment (when the obscured sun or moon is completely out of the eclipse); it is better to offer the prayer at the beginning of the eclipse. As for the other prayers, there is no time for them, so one should hasten to offer them as soon as the signs happen, but if one declines to do so until a short or long period of time has elapsed, the prayer must be offered without the intention of qada’.
441. If an eclipse of the sun takes place and the person does not know about it until after the darkness has left the disc, in this case if the eclipse was complete, qada’ of the prayer becomes obligatory, but if it was partial, qada’ is not obligatory.
442. There are several situations in which doubts may arise in the ayat prayer:
a- If the person doubts the number of rak‘ahs (is he in the first or second?); in this case the prayer becomes void.
b- If the person doubts the number of roku‘s (i.e. whether he is in the fourth or fifth roku‘ for example), but before starting the prostrating; in this case he should regard it as the lowest number (the fourth in this assumed case) and complete his prayer accordingly.
c- If the person doubts the number of roku‘s after he has started the prostrating; in this case he should disregard his doubt.
d- If the person doubts whether he is in the fifth roku‘, so that he is about to finish the first rak‘ah, or in the sixth roku‘, so that he is already in the second rak‘ah; here the prayer becomes void since this is a doubt in the number of rak‘ahs.
(C) The Eid prayer
443. The Eid prayer is specific to the day of Fitr – the first of Shewwal – and the day of Ashura – the tenth of Thol-hijjah. It occurs in two situations:
a- It is performed by the Infallible Imam (as) in congregation; in this case attendance is obligatory.
b- Other than in the above case, it is recommended, in congregation or otherwise.
444. The Eid prayer is not obligatory on the traveller, even if it is performed by the righteous imam; it is recommended that the traveller offers it in all cases however.
445. If it is performed in congregation, it is recommended that the imam gives two sermons after the prayer, separating them with a very short sitting as in the Friday prayer. However, it is not obligatory on the people praying to attend the sermons or to listen to them. Also, there is no certain (minimum) number required for it to be performed, nor does the condition of distance between it and any other prayer session apply, i.e. unlike the Friday prayer.
446. There is no call to prayer nor iqameh for the Eid prayer, but it is recommended that the caller calls by saying ‘As-salat’ three times.
447. The time for the Eid prayer is from sunrise to zawal, and there is no qada’ in it.
448. The Eid prayer consists of two rak‘ahs, like the dawn prayer, but there are additional things added to it. Its best form is the following: to recite the tekbir ‘Allaho akbar’, followed by the Fatihah and another chapter, five times in the first rak‘ah, and to perform qonut after each tekbir, with supplication for what he wants for himself and his brethren, then to bow and prostrate after the fifth qonut; then to perform tekbir, after the Fatihaha and another chapter, four times in the second rak‘ah, with qonut after each of them, then to bow and prostrate and end his prayer (tashahhod and teslim). When the person performs the last qonut in each rak‘ah, he should do so with the intention that it is required.
449. It is allowed to perform three tekbirs in each of the two rak‘ahs after the Fatihah, with qonut after each one.
450. It is recommended that the chapter of ash-Shems (the sun) is recited in the first rak‘ah and al-Ghashiyeh (the Overwhelming Event) in the second, (both) after the Fatihah.