The prayer of fear (during battle)

The prayer of fear (salat al-khawf) is the special mode of prayer prescribed by Islamic law for times of danger, above all in battle. The encyclopedia of fiqh devotes three sheets to it: its legal ruling, the way it is performed, and the prayer during close combat and fighting. The positions of the schools, the scriptural evidence and the references to classical works are reproduced below in full.

The legal ruling of the prayer of fear

The majority of the jurists held that the prayer of fear was legislated during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), that it remained so after his death, and that it remains legislated until the Day of Resurrection; this is established by the Book and the Sunnah.

As for the Book, it is the saying of the Most High:

"And when you are among them and lead them in prayer, let a group of them stand with you"

Surah An-Nisa, 102

The address made to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is an address to his ummah as long as no evidence establishes that it is specific to him; for Allah the Most High commanded us to follow him by saying:

"So believe in Allah and in His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, who believes in Allah and His words, and follow him so that you may be guided"

Surah Al-A'raf, 158

The specificity of the address does not entail the specificity of the ruling, as established by the verbal Sunnah, in His saying:

Pray as you have seen me prayReported by al-Bukhari

This authentic hadith, cited earlier in the encyclopedia, is general in scope.

Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the prayer of fear was, in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), legislated for all the people of his era, whether with him or apart from him, and its legal status has continued until today; it will continue until the end of time. The shaykh Abu Hamid and the rest of our companions (the Shafi'is) said the same, and on this point the entire ummah agrees, with the exception of Abu Yusuf and al-Muzani. Abu Yusuf held that it was specific to the Prophet and to those who prayed with him, and that it ended with his death; al-Muzani held that it existed and was then abrogated during the Prophet's lifetime.

In support of Abu Yusuf, the verse was invoked, and he said: the alteration that enters the prayer could be excused only when it was performed with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), unlike anyone else.

Al-Muzani argued that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) missed prayers on the day of the Trench: had the prayer of fear been permitted, he would have performed it and would not have missed the prayer.

Our companions (the Shafi'is) invoked the noble verse: the original principle is to take the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as a model, and the address made in his presence is an address to his ummah; as well as his saying, "Pray as you have seen me pray", reported by al-Bukhari and general in scope; as well as the consensus of the Companions: authentic reports come from a group of Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) establishing that they performed it, after the death of the Messenger of Allah, in gatherings attended by senior Companions.

Among those who performed it: Ali ibn Abi Talib in his wars, at Siffin and elsewhere; the Companions who attended were many, beyond counting, among them Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, Abd al-Rahman ibn Samurah, Hudhayfah, Sa'id ibn al-'As and others. Their hadiths are reported by al-Bayhaqi, part of which appears in the Sunan of Abu Dawud and other collections.

Al-Bayhaqi said: the Companions who saw the prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in fear never interpreted it as specific to the Prophet or to his era; each of them transmitted it while considering it legislated in the form he had seen (al-Majmu', 5/540-541; Sunan al-Bayhaqi, 3/252; al-Ifsah, 1/228).

How the prayer of fear is performed

Many ways of performing the prayer of fear are established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); this is why the jurists differed over its manner, because of the multiplicity of narrations. They nevertheless agree that all the descriptions narrated from the Prophet in the prayer of fear are authoritative; their disagreement concerns only which one is preferred (al-Ifsah, 1/229).

Imam Ahmad said: any hadith reported in the chapters of the prayer of fear may be acted upon; and he said: six or seven ways are reported therein, each of them permitted.

Al-Athram said: I said to Abu Abdillah (Ahmad): do you hold to all the hadiths, each in its place, or do you choose one of them? He replied: whoever holds to all of them does well; as for the hadith of Sahl, it is the one I choose (al-Mughni, 3/145).

Ibn Hubayrah (may Allah have mercy on him) reports that Abu Hanifah adopted what Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated. Here is the hadith of Ibn Umar:

I went out on an expedition with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) towards Najd and we encountered the enemy, so we lined up against them. The Messenger of Allah stood to pray with us: a group stood with him in prayer and another group faced the enemy. The Messenger of Allah bowed with those who were with him and prostrated twice, meaning he completed one full rak'ah; then they took the place of the group that had not yet prayed, and when that group came, the Messenger of Allah bowed with them one rak'ah and prostrated twice, then he said the salam. Each one of them then stood up and bowed for himself one rak'ah and prostrated twice.Reported by al-Bukhari (4130) and Muslim (842)

As Ibn Hubayrah describes it: the imam prays with the first group, the one behind him, one rak'ah and two prostrations; when he raises his head from the second prostration, that group moves off to face the enemy and the other group comes to enter the prayer with him. The imam then prays with them one rak'ah and two prostrations, performs the tashahhud and says the salam, but they do not say the salam: they go off to face the enemy, and the first group comes back to perform one rak'ah and two prostrations, without recitation, then withdraws to its position. The second group then comes to perform one rak'ah and two prostrations, with recitation and tashahhud, and they say the salam.

Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad followed what Sahl ibn Abi Hathmah reported about the prayer of fear: the imam divides the worshippers into two groups, one facing the enemy and one behind him. He prays with the group behind him one rak'ah and remains standing; the group completes for itself another rak'ah, with al-Fatihah and a surah, then says the salam and goes off to keep guard. The group that was facing the enemy then comes: he prays with them the second rak'ah and sits for the tashahhud; that group completes for itself the other rak'ah, with al-Fatihah and a surah, while the imam lengthens the tashahhud until they have completed it, then he says the salam with them. According to another report from Malik, the imam says the salam without waiting for the second group to say theirs (al-Ifsah, 1/226-227; Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/150; Fath al-Qadir, 2/97; Ibn Abidin, 2/187; al-Ishraf, 1/137 and 140; al-Istidhkar, 2/401; al-Majmu', 5/542 and 546; al-Mughni, 3/138 and after; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/9; Fath al-Bari, 2/498 and 503; Nayl al-Awtar, 4/191).

This hadith of Sahl ibn Abi Hathmah is reported by al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud and others, from Salih ibn Khawwat, from a man who had prayed with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) on the day of Dhat al-Riqa'; its full text is quoted below, in the sheet on the prayer during close combat and fighting.

The prayer during close combat and fighting

The authoritative narration of the prayer of fear on the day of Dhat al-Riqa' is the following:

A group lined up with him, and a group faced the enemy; he prayed with those who were with him one rak'ah, then remained standing, and they completed the prayer for themselves; then they withdrew and lined up facing the enemy, and the other group came, and he prayed with them the remaining rak'ah, then remained sitting, and they completed the prayer for themselves, and he said the salam with them.Reported by al-Bukhari (3900), Muslim (842) and Abu Dawud (1238)

The jurists differed over the permissibility of fighting during the prayer. The majority of the jurists, namely the Malikis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis, held that fighting is permitted in this severe situation during the prayer, and that the worshipper is excused for the movements it involves: successive blows and thrusts, or holding a weapon stained with blood, out of necessity; however, delaying the prayer beyond its time is not permitted. That is why Allah the Most High said:

"and let them take their weapons"

Surah An-Nisa, 102

Taking up weapons serves no purpose other than fighting, by analogy with the walking and the riding mentioned in the verse.

Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: because he is legally accountable, it is not permitted for him to leave the time of prayer free of its performance, as with the sick person; and because it is an act made lawful out of fear, the prayer is not invalidated by it, as with facing the qiblah, riding, and praying by gesture; and because, when the need for much action arises, it can only fall into one of three cases: delaying the prayer beyond its time, the prohibition of which is not disputed among us; abandoning the fight, in which lies his destruction, and Allah the Most High said:

"And do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction"

Surah An-Nisa, 195

The Muslims agree that this is not required of him; or continuing the disputed act, which is permitted by consensus: its performance therefore becomes binding, and the prayer remains valid with it (al-Mughni, 3/148-149; al-Ifsah, 1/230; al-Majmu', 5/570; al-Qalyubi, 1/300; Rawdat al-Talibin, 2/60; Bulghat al-Salik, 1/342).

Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: it is not permitted to shout or to utter any other speech, without any disagreement; if the worshipper shouts and two letters come out from him, his prayer is invalidated, without any disagreement, because he has no need of it, unlike walking and the like. Slight actions do not harm, without any disagreement, because they do not harm outside the state of fear, all the more so here.

As for much action: if it has no connection with fighting, it invalidates the prayer without any disagreement; if it is connected to it, such as successive thrusts and blows, and the worshipper has no need of it, it invalidates the prayer without any disagreement as well, because it is a futile act; if he has need of it, three views are reported, the soundest of them in the view of the majority being that the prayer is not invalidated, by analogy with walking, and because fighting revolves around striking, and the aim is in most cases not achieved with one or two blows, and the blows cannot be distinguished from one another (al-Majmu', 5/570-571).

The Hanafis, for their part, held that the validity of the prayer performed in this manner requires that one not fight. Al-Kasani said: among the conditions of validity is that one does not fight during the prayer; whoever fights during his prayer has rendered it void in our view; for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was distracted from four prayers on the day of the Trench and made them up after a part of the night had passed, saying:

They distracted us from the middle prayer, the Asr prayer; may Allah fill their houses and their graves with fireReported by al-Bukhari (2773) and Muslim (627)

Had the prayer been valid along with fighting, why would the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have delayed it? Introducing into the prayer much action that is not among the acts of prayer is corruptive in principle; this principle is only abandoned where a text exists, and the text came for walking, not for fighting.

Moreover, at the place of the text, what is meant is the continuation of the prayer along with walking, not its performance, and performance ranks above continuation: how then could the argument stand? This is unlike taking up weapons, which is a slight act, and for which the text came affirming its permissibility (Ma'ani al-Athar, 2/154-155; see Ibn Abidin, 2/188).