Innovators preventing some Muslims from entering their mosque

20-4-2009 | IslamWeb

Question:

Asalamualaikum!
I am a convert muslim from India, tamilnadu. here in our place i see a board in mosque, written as those who does not wear a cap, placing hands over the chest and whoever do not follow any of four madhabs is not to be allowed inside the mosque. is this how it was during prophet(puh). are they correct in their messages. can i pray behind these type of imams? also there is a function going on inside the mosque during this rabiulawal month for prophet's(puh) birthday. they are singing songs and providing food. if i ask about this they are telling it is good to praise prophet. please help me about this.
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

 

First of all, we welcome you in our site and we praise Allaah Who guided you to Islam and we ask Him to make you firm and steadfast on His Religion until the day you meet Him. We advise you to seek beneficial knowledge, perform good deeds and befriend righteous and pious people.

As regards hanging that notice in the mosque, then it is a grave error and it is evidence of the ignorance of its doer. Covering the head is not a pillar among the pillars of the prayer and it is not a condition among the conditions of the prayer and it is not an obligation [among its obligations]. Therefore, it is not permissible for those people to prevent the people from performing the prayer in the mosque just because of this; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 86786.

On the other hand, putting the hands on the chest during the prayer is a confirmed Sunnah from the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) as we clarified in Fatwa 83175. Even though the jurists may Allaah have mercy upon them differed in opinion about the place of putting the hands whether it is on the chest or below the navel, they do not differ about the principle of putting the hands [whether on the chest or below the naval]; they just differed about the matter of preference and excellence. In any case, it is not permissible to prevent a Muslim from performing the prayer in the mosque just because of this.

Moreover, celebrating the birthday of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is a religious innovation because the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) and his noble companions may Allaah be pleased with them did not do it, and no Imaam among the four Imaams said so, as we clarified in Fatwa 81804.

Furthermore, it is not an obligation for a Muslim to follow one of the four Imaams. What is strange is that those people prevent the people who do not follow the four Imaams from entering the mosque while they themselves act contrarily to the four Imaams about the celebration of the birthday of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ). Indeed, we have already issued Fataawa 82358 and 83321 about the ruling of following the four Imaams, so please refer to them.

Therefore, if you find another mosque, we advise you to pray in it, and if not, then you may pray in that mosque while not agreeing about their mistakes, unless the mistakes which they do take a person out of the fold of Islam, in which case the prayer behind them is invalid.

Finally, we advise you to seek religious knowledge from the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) and continue visiting our site so that you would have an insight about your religion.

For more benefit about performing the prayer behind an innovator, please refer to Fatwa 82606.

Allaah Knows best.

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