The following are my beliefs on 2 prescribed times of Salaat in the Quran, as well as Salaat itself. These are my beliefs on the subject. I have not expounded upon the islamic idea of a rak'ah, what this really means, if it should be taken as a traditional "unit" of movement during prayer and how many of those "units" i agree or disagree with, or whether I agree with the concept itself. I have also not touched upon all the verses that are pertinent to what we can and should say during prayer, nor have I touched on recitation of the Quran during prayer. i am also not using this article to make counter points against those who believe in more prescribed times or in no prescribed time for prayer. So don't think I'm being remiss, I just wanted to deal with the basic idea of Salaat and how many prescribed times there are (btw I believe standing at night outside of dawn and dusk and praying/meditating is an encouraged form of prayer but not prescribed). Please do not attack me if you feel that I missed something or even if you totally disagree with my reasonings and the verses I use for my reasonings. I am not here to debate, but to state how I see things so far, hopefully give good support for it and for you to do the same. Ask sincere questions, please. But do not try to challenge or debate me. I believe this to be negative behavior. So here is the main debut, as I promised:
Salaam to you all,
As you all have seen on the website (www.quranists.com) I believe that the Quran only promotes 2 mandatory Salaat a day, which are mentioned by name Salaatul-fajr (salaat of dawn) and Salaatul-eshaa (salaat of the evening).
I use Salaat here instead of prayer because I know that the Muslim mind associates Salaat with bowing, which is correct in that we have been told to bow when we pray in the Quran.
Salaat is first defined in Lisanul-Arab as bowing down in worship (ar-rukoo3 wa as-sujood). The words rukoo3 and sujood are generally synonymous, and they both mean to bow down, usually in homage (i3dhaam). Lisanul-Arab gives the term Sujood a primary meaning of bowing with one's forehead to the ground and then expounds upon how the word can mean 'homage' as well as 'humility' and 'submissiveness.' Mu'jam Al-faadh Al-Quran primarily speaks to its meaning of inclining into a low position physically and being in a low station in life or rank. It also expounds on how the term sujood was used for how being in a state of lowliness in station or rank is done in relation to God and in worshiping God. It says that in its sense of physical position and state of being it is used for people, animals and immobile objects. Lisanul-Arab also made reference to the inclining tree, and the drooping eye, as being referred to as saajid, i.e. making sujood.
Rukoo3 takes on a connotation of bowing down in worship to only God, and not to idols. Lisanul-Arab tells us that the pre-Islamic Arabs called someone who did not worship idols but who only worshipped Allah, raaki3, whose form is exactly the same as the one used for whoever bows down, rukoo3 is said to be bowing down with knees to the ground or otherwise. Mu3jam Al-faadh Al-Qur'aan also gives its meaning of humility and lowliness in worship and not in worship.
The words used in Arabic for humility in order to describe rukoo3 and sujood are tataamun, tadhallul, khudoo3 and tawaadu3. These words are not only the opposite of arrogance but they are the opposite of any sort of sense of grandeur, superiority, highness, loftiness or power.
In the end, both words mean to bow down physically and mentally and rukoo3 is inclusive of both the movement of bowing and even prostration itself.
Nonetheless, the word Salaat is not static and has other meanings like 'any plea or supplication', 'asking for forgiveness' and 'to bestow blessings (rahmah)' along with some other meanings.
For our purposes we will be dealing with Salaat as the ritual of bowing down to God, and I will show verses that confirm this meaning and the 2 prescribed times for this sort of prayer.
Taking into mind the concept given to us in 3:7 we should be referring any unclear verse to a clear verse and preferably accepting the meaning of the unclear verse that coincides with the much clearer verse. This is the meaning behind the concise verses being called Ummul-kitaab.
Umm in Arabic is a reference to both the origin (asl) of something and the support or pillar (3imad) of something. It is also a place of meeting or a place of entry or joining. It is also a reference point for all things associated with it, the point where things come together (al-mujtama3). Umm comes from amma which is synonymous with qasada, i.e. to head towards. Every city is an Umm (point of reference or central destination) for the villages that surround it. just as these concise verses are to be reference points for our understanding of anything that is not very clear in the Quran. These concise verses should be coloring our readings of verses with similar topics but different wording.
So with that in mind 24:58 with its clear reference to dawn prayer and evening prayer with absolutely no reference to a noon prayer, despite mentioning the noonday heat, should be coloring the way we view other verses that have to do with prayer.
Before i proceed we should all understand that fajr is the beginning of daylight (nahaar) but is also still at night. Lisanul-Arab tells us that fajr is the light of the morning that is the redness of the sun during the blackness of night. So technically night does not stop until there is no more darkness, that is until the sun's light fills the entire sky. So twilight is both daytime and night time at once.
Also Ishaa' is evening. And evening is the first part of night when the sun sets. Despite popular Muslim usage, the first definition Lisanul-Arab gives us for Ishaa' is " it is the first darkness of night. It is said that: it is from the prayer of sunset (maghrib) until complete darkness." So do not be confused by the mistaken belief of most Muslims that ishaa' is night after twilight, because they have come to call their night prayer ishaa', This common mistake is similar to how we commonly call night, 'evening' despite the fact that evening is not 'night' but rather when night falls at and around sunset.
25:64 says that we stand and bow for our lord at night. This refers to our standing and bowing at dawn and dusk, which in Arabic are considered both night and day, since they are the ends of daytime and the beginning (dusk) and end (dawn) of night time.
You will find that all of the verses that promote Salaat converge on these two times.
The other passages that mention prayer or praising God during specific times are very important. And the next passage that I will address is 50:39-40. However before I do this I must deal with an issue of of major importance in how we read the Quran.
Many of us are used to reading the term qabl as before in the sense of time only, as this is the only way it is used in Modern Standard Arabic and Arabic dialects and it is the most common way that it is used in Classical Arabic. However, in Qaamus Al-Muheet I recently had a long time suspicion of mine confirmed.
Qabl like 'before' in English can also be used in a spatial sense as well. As in "I stand here before you" as opposed to 'I was standing here before you got here."
God willing the Arabic will show, but here it is:
قَبْلُ (القاموس المحيط)
قَبْلُ: نَقيضُ بعدَ.
وآتِيكَ من قَبْلُ وقَبْلُ، مَبْنِيَّتَنِ على الضم،
وقَبْلاً وقَبْلٌ، مُنَوَّنَتَيْنِ،
وقَبْلَ، على الفتح.
والقُبْلُ، بضمٍّ وبضمتينِ: نَقيضُ الدُّبُرِ،
و~ من الجَبلِ: سَفْحُه،
و~ من الزَّمَن: أوَّلُهُ.
وإذا أُقْبِلُ قُبْلَكَ، بالضم: أقْصِدُ قَصْدَكَ.
The third line translates as follows:
"I am coming to you in front of you/ahead of you" (it states that you can use both 'min qablu' or just 'qablu' after 'i am coming to you). The meaning here can only be 'before' or 'qablu' in the spatial sense of 'in front of you' or 'ahead of you' or facing you, as the action is in present tense. The next two lines go on to say how you can also use 'qablan' , 'qablun' and 'qabla.' The sixth line then explains 'al-qablu', qablun and by default the forms previously mentioned and says that it is the opposite of ad-dubur which means 'behind.' so qabl means before your face or in your presence, before you eyes, etc. Line seven says that 'qablun' or 'alqablu' as it refers to a mountain is the face of the mountain. Line 8 says that as it concerns time, it is what comes first or was earlier.
Futher down we find:
وقد قَبَلَتْ، كنَصر، قَبْلاً وقُبولاً، بالضم والفتح
Here qabl is the verbal noun of qabala and is synonymous with qubool. Qabala al-yawmu or qablul-yawmi would mean 'the coming of the day.' qabla tuloo3i shamsi wa qablal-ghuroob can mean 'at the coming of the sun's rising and at the coming of its setting. Or as we saw earlier, 'upon the sun's rising and upon its setting.'
I have alluded to 50:39 here, which we will see again below.
There are some verses that tell us to praise God that directly relate to Salaat. And there are others that are commands to praise God outside of Salaat. 50:39-40 will clear all of this up.
50:39 "So be patient, [O Muhammad], over what they say and exalt with praise for your Lord UPON the rising of the sun and UPON its setting..."
I have allowed 24:58 to color my understanding of qabl in the above verse so that these times of praise coincide with the times of Salaat already established in clearly established 24:58 and confirmed throughout the Quran as the Salaat we are to make at the ends of the daylight, during the night.
50:40 then tells us: "..., at night. And exalt him after prostration."
The Quran does not delineate or separate ideas by verse. Sentences will often be spread over more than one verse. So do not let the fact that these are two separate verses allow you to think that they must be two separate ideas. Take a look at 50:24-50:26 for a cursory proof of this. And next time you read through the Quran read it with an eye out for sentences and ideas that are not limited to any particular one verse. You will quickly spot many of them.
With that said the ", at night' refers to the 'upon the rising of the sun and its setting' and clarifies that these are the two times of night that were are to be praising God and this coincides with the two prescribed prayers.
Then the verse says 'And exalt him after prostration.' This tells us that we are to praise God not just while in salaat or prayer. This has opened up our understanding of praising and now we need not think that praising God necessitates us being in the act of Salaat, i.e. bowing and prostration. So we know we are to be praising God within the confines of Salaat and outside of Salaat.
With that said, any mention of times of praise or glorification mentioned outside of the two prescribed prayer times are calls for us to praise God outside of the confines Salaat.
I hope I have answered any questions and doubts. Please feel free to ask if something is not clear to you or is bothering you about this stance.
Peace to you all!
Read more:
http://www.quranists.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=islamicrituals&action=display&thread=58#ixzz2in6obMLiTo clarify my perspective, I do not use the Quran to define Classical Arabic words although I know that Quranic contexts can be used as ONE source of evidence for a certain meaning. I use Classical Lexicons and occasionally modern comprehensive dictionaries as a help, and I am not against using hadeeth as linguistic evidence as long as the meanings do not contradict the logic of a pre-quranic understanding of a Classical Arabic word. I must admit that this does require knowing a little history to make such a decision; i.e. Christian and Jews being present in Arabia and surrounding lands having an affect on their words that deal with theology. In addition to pagan religions also being highly developed religious systems, in addition to some of the quran's admission to pagan gods, previous Arabian prophets and an entrenched concept of Allah even among pagan Arabs, i.e. Arabic speakers. However, the Classical Lexicons have the final say for me as they are the true attempt to give us the meanings that the Arabs actually used. I will admit however, that if you don't know what you are looking for or how to look you may wrong try to default them to the status of hadeeths, but even that would be a broad and over-reaching judgement on hadeeths as invalid and worthless writings that all belong in the same category. Quranists often forget that the Quran is a hadeeth. Merely mentioning this really ruffles feathers because it is a valid argument that Sunnis use, that Quranists have not been wise enough to study, research and make educated conclusions about.
In addition to that when dealing with Quranic contexts I try to eliminate Modern or post-quranic theological meanings and not use them unless they still can be proof of a pre-quranic understanding of Classical Arabic words. So I apologize to those of you who want me to use the Quran to define words through the use of the Quranic context. I do not find this methodology logical or intellectually honest. I've seen contextual definitions lead to abuse over and over again, on top of it being an unsound method, which has only served as evidence for me with the stance I take on it.
Salaam to all, once again!
