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Fatwa CenterIntending to pray in Al-Masjid Al-Haraam and then pray elsewhere
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh, Shaykhs. I wanted to pray the eid prayer in Al-Masjid Al-Haram, so I followed your fatwa to my question, No. 2626704 and performed ablution earlier and left for the masjid enough time before the Fajr prayer. However, the police did not allow the taxi driver to drop us off at Al-Masjid Al-Haram, and the taxi drivers were dropping people off at a distance from Al Masjid Al Haraam, so I also had to wait there with others, and buses were coming and taking people to Al-Masjid Al-Haram from there. However, there were a lot of people, and I suffer from my knee, so I was not able to get into a bus before the Fajr. Time was passing, so I asked two police men about the prayer direction and prayed in that direction. I did get the chance to get onto a bus and pray the eid prayer at Al-Masjid Al-Haram, praise be to Allah, but I am worried about the validity of my Fajr prayer, which I prayed in the direction they had pointed me to, and one of them had said that while pointing towards the clock tower, but the clock tower has the Kaabah on one side only, and I do not know whether it was the prayer direction or not. Hence, I repeated that Fajr prayer at my residence later on. Was the prayer that I had prayed there, in that direction, valid? Did I do good by repeating, or was that wrong? Another concern is that I had performed ablution earlier for in order to pray the Fajr and the eid prayer in Al-Masjid Al-Haram, but I did not pray the Fajr there, so is there any sin on me, or is my prayer invalid due to this? It seems to me that this might repeat itself during future eids also, as praise be to Allah, I live in Makkah. Is there any harm in doing what I did this time? Is something else better? Please note that I desire to pray the eid prayer in Al-Masjid Al-Haaam. May Allah reward you, Shaykhs.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The basic principle is that the prayer direction which the officer informed you of is correct unless proven otherwise. Accordingly, your prayer was valid and you were not obliged to repeat it. There is no harm in that you held the intention of performing the prayer at Al-Masjid Al-Haraam and could not do so. Rather, you did well by performing the prayer on time. There is no harm in that you do the same thing the next times or that you do what is easier for you to be able to attend the 'Eed prayer at Al-Masjid Al-Haraam, like leaving the house earlier than this, or the like.
Lastly, we advise you to refrain from immoderation and from getting carried away with obsessive doubts, as this leads to evil consequences.
Allah knows best.
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