Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalam alikum wa rehmatullah-e wa barakatuhu!

I`ll be more than pleased to receive an early response of the question written below.

Q1. Is it allowed to pass by (both intentionally and unintentionally) in front of the person who is reading `namaaz`? They say it`s a sin but in Khana Kaaba everybody passes without paying attention to anybody. Please elaborate.

Q2. Is sun really stationary? I always read that Sun is Stationary in the ordinary books But in Chapter 36 of The Holy Qur`an i-e Ya`Sin, verse number 37 says Sun keeps on moving in it`s path. and verse number 39 also shows that sun does move. Kindly guide me as soon as possible.

Thanks and regards,

Your Brother,

Umar Altaf.

p.s I haven`t written the Qura`nic verses exact as they are. I have just taken the gist of the verses. and Please mention (if there are) more verses regarding this topic.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Sun orbit and pass in front of prayer

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: Is it allowed to pass by (both intentionally and unintentionally) in front of the person who is reading `namaaz`? They say it`s a sin but in Khana Kaaba everybody passes without paying attention to anybody. Please elaborate.

Abu Hurairah relates that the Prophet (saws) said: "When one of you prays, he should place something in front of him (sutra). If he cannot find anything, he should prop up his staff [in front of him]. If he does not have a staff, he should draw a line [on the ground in front of him] then nothing that passes in front of him will harm him."

Related by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and Ibn Hibban.

Busr ibn Sa'id says that Zaid ibn Khalid sent him to Abu Juhaim to ask him what he had heard from the Prophet (saws) concerning passing in front of someone who is praying. He said that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "If one knew [the sin] of passing in front of one who is praying, he would rather wait forty (years) than to pass in front of him."

Related by Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ahmad and Abu Dawood.

Zaid ibn Khalid relates that the Messenger of Allah said: "If the one who passes in front of one who is praying knew what was upon him [of sin], it would be better for him to stand [and wait] for forty autumns than to pass in front of him."

Related by al-Bazzar.

Fiqh-us-Sunnah Fiqh 2.79

Preventing someone from passing in front of a praying person

It is permissible to keep some one from passing in front of a person who is praying.

If a praying person has a sutrah in front of him, then it is allowed for him to prevent any human or animal from passing in front of him. If a person passes in front of him from beyond the sutrah, then the person in salah is neither to prevent the passer-by nor will he be harmed by him.

Abu Saleh as-Saman said: "I will narrate to you what I heard and saw from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri. One day I was with Abu Sa'id and he was offering salah on Friday facing something which concealed him from the people when a young man from the tribe of Mu'ait came and tried to pass in front of Abu Sa'id. He pushed him back. He tried again and Abu Sa'id struck him harder. The two scuffled. The man went to Marwan to complain. Abu Sa'id also went to Marwan. Marwan asked: 'What has happened between you and the son of your brother that caused him to complain?' Abu Sa'id said: 'I heard the Prophet (saws) say: 'If any of you prays toward a sutrah and someone tries to pass in front of you, then turn him away. If he refuses, use force for he is the Shaytaan."'

Related by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

It is the responsibility of a believer engaged in prayer to place a ‘sutrah’ (any object to mark the space) before he starts his prayer. It is not permissible for a believer to pass between the believer engaged in prayer and the ‘sutrah’ the believer has placed, until the brother/sister completes their prayer.

Your Question: but in Khana Kaaba everybody passes without paying attention to anybody. Please elaborate.

Beloved brother in Islam, the ruling for the permissibility or impermissibility of any act or deed in Islam is derived from the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah; not from what is happening around us or in the Sacred Mosque!

It is not permissible and absolutely disliked in Islam to walk between the person engaged in prayer and the place where the brother would normally prostrate in prayer; and if one has seen or experienced this crossing even in the Sacred Mosque, it does not change the ruling that such a crossing is absolutely disliked and forbidden in Islam.

If one wishes to cross the place where their brother is engaged in prayer, one may do so either from behind the brother, or beyond the ‘sutrah’, but never between the brother engaged in prayer and his ‘sutrah’. If one tries to cross the space between the person engaged in prayer and his ‘sutrah’, the brother engaged in prayer is well within his rights to stop anyone from doing so, even if he has to use force.

Abu Sa'id said: 'I heard the Prophet (saws) say: 'If any of you prays toward a sutrah and someone tries to pass in front of you, then turn him away. If he refuses, use force, for he is the Shaytaan."'

Related by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Your Question: Is sun really stationary? I always read that Sun is Stationary in the ordinary books But in Chapter 36 of The Holy Qur`an i-e Ya`Sin, verse number 37 says Sun keeps on moving in it`s path. and verse number 39 also shows that sun does move. Kindly guide me as soon as possible.

The early scientists believed in the ‘geo-centric’ or earth-centered theory, where the earth was the ‘supposed’ centre of the universe and all the heavenly bodies revolved around it, as espoused by the likes of Aristotle and Claudius Plotemy (around 150AD). The geo-centric theory was widely accepted and it was only until the famed scientist and astronomer Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543 AD) from Poland who formed the ‘helio-centric’ theory whereby he claimed that the sun was the center of the universe, and all the heavenly bodies including the earth revolved around the sun!

It was only in the early 1600s that the two Italian scientists, inventor of the modern telescope Galileo, and especially Giordano Bruno who had the audacity to challenge the widely accepted and taught (albeit false) geocentric theory and dared to suggest that space was indeed boundless and that all the heavenly bodies, including he sun, were in motion, and were but one amongst the innumerable celestial systems of space!

Such was the ignorance prevalent only about 400 years ago, that the likes of Galileo and Bruno were tried and punished for their supposed blasphemy by the Church Inquisitions! For suggesting their supposed blasphemy that space was boundless and all the heavenly bodies including the sun were in motion, Bruno was tried before the Inquisition, condemned and burned at the stake in 1600. Galileo was brought to trial by the Church Inquisition in 1633, and under the threat of torture and death, forced to his knees to renounce all belief in Copernican-based theories, and was thereafter sentenced to house-imprisonment for the remainder of his life! Such was the ignorance prevalent in the world only about 400 years ago! D

But today, modern science has proved and it is not a theory but a scientific fact that space is indeed endless, and all the heavenly bodies, including the sun; all of them are in motion, each moving in its own orbit….only confirming what the Lord Creator Revealed to His unlettered Prophet (saws) in The Glorious Book of Guidance almost 1400 years ago!!!!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 36 Surah Yaa-Seen verses 37-40:

37 And a Sign for them is the night: We withdraw therefrom the day, and behold they are plunged in darkness;

38 And the sun runs his course for a period determined for it: that is the Decree of (Him), The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing.

39 And the moon We have measured for it mansions (to traverse) till she returns like the old (and withered) lower part of date-stalk.

40 It is not permitted to the sun to catch up the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day: each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Divine Law).

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 21 Surah Anbiyaa verses 32-33:

32 And We have made the heavens as a canopy well-guarded: yet do they turn away from the Signs which these things (point to)!

33 It is He (Allah) Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along each in its orbit.

Today it is a proven scientific fact that the sun, far from being stationary, travels in its pre-determined orbit called the ‘Solar Apex’ at the phenomenal speed of 720,000 km/hour; or 17,280,000 km a day!!!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 51 Surah Dhariyaat verse 7:

By the Sky (or Space); full of paths and orbits…

Surely at the time the Glorious Quran was being revealed 1400+ years ago, mankind did not posses today’s modern telescopes, nor the advanced observation techniques and technologies, nor the modern knowledge of physics and astronomy, etc. to determine that every celestial body is in motion, or that each of them travels in its own orbit, etc.!!! None could have related this information, except the One Who Created it all, the One and Only Lord and Creator of everything in existence, Allah Subhanah wa Taala.

When man was in utter darkness and ignorance regarding the nature of creation….in such darkness and ignorance that as late as 1600 years after the birth of Christ, scientists who merely theorized that space was endless, or that every celestial body was in motion, or that each celestial body traveled in its own orbit….were brought to trial for their blasphemy against the accepted beliefs held by the all-powerful Church, and were subsequently sentenced to torture, life-imprisonment and death by the powerful Church Inquisitions…..1400+ years ago, an uneducated, illiterate, Arab orphan (saws) from the desert, inspired by the Lord Who Created, declared the Truth to mankind, and secured the Revelations of the Lord Creator in the Divine Book called the Glorious Quran….truth which has only begun to become evident to modern scientists and astronomers today!!!!!

Praise be to Allah Subhanah Alone, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that exists between it!!!!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 67 Surah Al-Mulk verses 1-4:

1 Blessed be He (Allah) in Whose Hands is Dominion: and He over all things has Power!

2 He, Who created death and life, that He may try which of you is best in deed: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving.

3 He Who created the seven heavens one above another; no want of proportion (and perfection) wilt thou see in the Creation of (Allah), Most Gracious; so turn thy vision again (and observe His creation): seest thou any flaw?

4 Again! Turn thy vision a second time; (thy) vision will come back to thee dull and discomfited, in a state worn out!

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan