DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
A Turkish fatwa sanctioning Muslims should pray three times instead of five a day stirred controversy among Egyptian religious circles, with an Islamic thinker considering it “a modern necessity”, but others dismissed it at face value.
“Merging prayers has become a modern necessity. In most cases, people do not always perform the five prayers on time due to the pressures of modern life,” Islamic thinker Gamal Al-Banna told AlArabiya.net.
Islamic thinker Gamal Al-Banna told AlArabiya.net that prayer merging is a modern necessity. He pointed out that in most cases the 5 prayers are not performed on time due to the pressures of modern life.
Al-Banna based his theory on the fact that Islam is about flexibility and not rigidity and that the prophet himself has sanctioned merging prayers in many cases to set an example to his people.
Al-Banna, who is known for untraditional interpretations of Islamic rules, added that the prophet was aware of many cases in which people cannot do exactly what's required of them, and that is why exceptions were always taken into consideration.
Al-Banna counted some examples of necessities in modern life style, such as traffic jams, Ramadan banquets, college and school class schedule, and even afternoon naps.
Member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Youssef Al-Badri, however, rejected the argument, emphasizing it was unacceptable to broaden the cases that permit prayer merging. "We should only stick to the four cases in Sunnah."
The cases, according to Badri, sanctioned by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are travel, illness, rain, and pilgrimage.
Al-Badri told AlArabiya.net that there is nothing called modern emergencies. "Classes should be interrupted in prayer time or re-scheduled altogether." He cited the example of a scholar who, fifty years ago, stated that going to class is like going to war, thus the same prayer exceptions apply. "This crossed the line," he commented.
Some scholars even go as far as considering prayer merging "a grave sin."
Istanbul University Professor Mohamed Nour Dugan early this week issued a fatwa that Muslims could merge noon with afternoon prayers and sunset with evening. The ruling sparked controversy in Turkey.
(Interviews by Farraj Ismail, translated by Sonia Farid) |
