Mustafa Khattab – Q&A With The Maingate Students
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The importance of staying focused during prayer is emphasized, as it is better to avoid distractions and focus in the area of the prayer. Representatives and advice are given on maintaining healthy mental and physical health during prayer, including wearing a watch or something to avoid distraction. Prayer with shoes on during prayer is recommended, and the Prophet's recitation in the sun and walking is emphasized. The importance of praying with shoes on during the dry risah and the Prophet sallavi alaihi wa sallam in the Texan script is emphasized, and the Prophet's recitation in the same way as the Prophet sallavi alaihi wa sallam in the Texan script is also emphasized.
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Like last time, 25 of you were running
after me in the hallway. So, so they
will answer the questions. But before we begin,
I got, 2 people to honor today.
Abdul Majid.
Where's Abdul Majid?
Okay.
So,
who has a question?
But make sure that your question is good,
it's beneficial. Don't talk about jinn.
Don't talk about people falling off the plane
and dying and being crushed by the things.
So
yes.
Yeah.
They were like
do you have a question? I did. Yes?
Yes and no. There are 2 types of
salah.
If we're talking about namaz,
like, dhor, and aas, or sunnah, istikhara, you
have to have. Otherwise, your salah is not
accepted. But there are some other salawat
that do not require.
Like, if you say salah for the prophet,
if you say Allahu Masali alhamdulillah.
Right?
Alayhis salat Mus Salaam.
Or if you make dua, because dua is
a form of salah.
Right?
In English, you use prayer for code. Like
you pray a code, you call it prayer.
If you made dua, you Allah make me
successful, give me money. It's called prayer in
English. Salah.
Right? And linguistically
in Harabi, the word salah means a prayer,
to ask Allah for something,
to connect, because salah basically means
or connection with Allah. So for this second
type of salah, you don't need but for
the regular salawat and namaz, you need
good question.
Okay. Another good question.
You're the next question.
But,
the brother is asking, can I pray
with my eyes closed?
Technically,
you should you should keep your eyes open
and look at the place where you make
sajdah. So if I make sajdah here, this
is where I'm gonna keep my eyes.
Some people when they pray, they just travel,
they keep looking at the wall and, you
you know, all these things, and this is
not the right thing to do.
However, if you pray in a place
where you have a lot of distractions,
like you pray you're praying in a place
you're visiting your friend,
and they have pictures on the wall.
Or in some places, they have crazy carpets.
They have rabbits and birds and
like, all the characters in,
Walt Disney cartoons, you see them there? And
Pixar animations,
You see them on the floor, and as
soon as you start to pray, you see
them running after each other and flying, and
you can't focus.
So if this is the case, if there
are a lot of distractions in front of
you,
keeping your eyes closed will help you, maintain
kashur, so it's acceptable in this way.
Sometimes when we pray Tawih,
and we read a lot of Quran,
to be able to focus and remember the
Ayat, sometimes most of the Imams would say,
they close their eyes to be able to
focus,
on what they recite in salah, because they
recite,
long portions
in the salah.
So,
the summary is you keep your eyes open
unless
there are a lot of distractions, you need
to close your eyes then you can close
them to maintain for sure and focus in
the salah. We'll
get this brother then we'll move to the
sister. This guy.
Why does haram Okay. It's a good question.
Why is it haram for people to pass
in front of you in salah?
Well, we know that from the Hadith of
the prophet the most important thing when you
are in communication with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is to stay focused
and to have this for sure or connection
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. To be focused
in the salah, and that you're not distracted.
Of course, when people pass in front of
you,
you would be distracted.
Right? So this is why the scholars say
say for example, I'm standing here,
and this is where I make sajdah, and
this is the next line. If someone wants
to pass, they can pass
in that area or from behind you. But
minimum,
this is your space
from here till here.
No one should pass here
because there's another line, they know that this
is your space. They can pass right there,
knowing that
you're keeping your eyes here.
Right? As we said a minute ago. So
when you keep your eyes here, when they
pass over there or behind you, you're not
distracted.
But it is better anyway
to pass behind the people and not in
front of them, even over there.
And also when you pray, you make it
easy for people
not to distract your attention,
because some people, especially at Jum'ah, I see
them at the time all the time. When
they pray the sunnah,
the only spot in the masjid they choose
for praying the sunnah is over there,
in front of the door, and they know
that every single one in the room will
go there, will pass there. Why do you
make it difficult for yourself and for them?
You can just pray behind a wall or
a pillar or go somewhere close to the
wall, and you make it easy for everyone.
So the whole point about,
people passing behind you or away from you
is to keep your focus in the salah,
to to maintain the fashur.
Give the sister a word that we can
do. Mom, you're back.
If you if you
do with your eyes open if your eyes
closed, the magnetic thing, it makes your eyes
sound weaker. That's why I open my eyes
and do my. This is good.
I'm not sure about the scientific wisdom behind
it.
But,
but, but, yeah. We can,
look into more into it from a scientific
point of view.
Sister over here.
Yes.
Isn't it allowed
Okay.
So, the sister is asking, is it okay
for a sister to marry someone who's younger?
We know that from
the sunnah of the Prophet SAWS
that he got married to Khadija
and she was way older than him. Right?
But both of them were mature.
Because sometimes this is the fact,
maybe there's someone who is 50 years old,
and they are not mature.
Maybe there's someone who's 20, and they are
very mature. Right? So the age doesn't really
matter, as long as the people the persons
are mature
mentally and physically, and they're able to start
a family, it's acceptable Islamically.
So,
generally
generally, it is acceptable.
It is recommended, however, for the 2 to
be of about the same age.
Maybe
if there is 1 or 2 or 3
years of a difference,
by culture it's acceptable, I believe, but again,
it's different from one from one person to
another. Some people, they prefer, like sisters, they
prefer someone who's a bit older, 2 years
older,
but again, it's different from one culture to
another.
It's up to the person, and their family
and their culture. But Islamically,
as long as both are mature,
physically,
emotionally, mentally,
and they're able to maintain a family and
raise kids,
why not?
There are always flights
later the same day or tomorrow or for
2 weeks. You know?
Because people people miss flights all the time.
People miss flights all the time. But again,
what I meant,
if something bad happens to you, you shouldn't
be mad,
and you shouldn't question Allah because
it might turn out to be something good
for you that this that didn't happen.
All you need to do is just wait
and see. You know? Because Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has said last time, Allah sees the
whole picture,
we only see a small portion of it.
You never know. Exactly.
Get 1 brother and move back here.
A watch or something. A watch.
Well, wearing a watch would not distract your
attention in the salah, so this is why
wearing a watch or a ring or earrings,
it's not it's not a distraction.
But holding a cell phone
is a distraction. Right?
Yes. Okay.
Mister brother in the back.
Why why is the Quran recited out loud
during Bajid Muhammad and Isha Salaam? Why not
do they ask? Well, that's an excellent question.
We'll give you a prize next time.
Okay.
Number 1, when you come across questions like
this,
the number one reason is because the Prophet
SAW Alaihi Wasallam did it this way.
Right? So this by itself is enough reason
for us to do it because the Prophet
SAW Alaihi Wasallam said
Pray the same way, Musume prayed, and he
prayed this way. Number 2,
we know that in,
at the end of the Madqan period when
Sahaba used to pray,
and recite Quran, they would come and they
will attack them. Right?
So,
what happened basically,
the people of Mecca, they used to wake
up,
after sunrise.
That was the norm, especially for the rich
and the elite, they wouldn't wake up in
the morning,
they wake up late
that day.
Same thing, they go to bed early.
Marid time they go to sleep.
That was the norm at the time. So
what happens when they are active,
they're running around in the streets of Mecca
during the day,
the salah was silent.
Marid time when they're asleep, Aisha time when
they were dead sleep,
before they woke up, the salah was loud
because there were not many people, there was
not a lot of traffic in the streets,
so the harm
would be very, very minimal. So this is
the way the the prophet did it, and
this is what the scholars say. There's another
reason,
another reason
that I think is good,
is that,
now imagine if I'm the imam here, and
I recite for fashion,
and I recite in Ma'rib, and I recite
in Isha,
and sometimes there are new Muslims who are
praying behind me,
Sometimes
people who don't understand Arabic,
you know, they don't speak Arabic, they don't
know what I'm reciting in the salah. Like
they have I'm reading from Baqarah,
Yaseen, another surah. People don't know what I'm
saying in the salah.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving them
the chance
to read from the surahs they know.
So they basically understand what they themselves are
saying. So they give this chance in Surah
Al Asr, but they don't have this opportunity
in Fajr Marib and Isha Allahu Al Asr.
But it's an excellent question. Sister here. Can
you pray with your shoes on?
Well, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in
the sahab the question, can you pray with
your shoes on? The prophet and the sahaba
would say,
they prayed most of the time with their
shoes on.
The masjid of the prophet in Madinah basically
was not fancy like this, so with a
beautiful mimbar and
fancy carpets and chandeliers,
nothing of that sort. So they basically had
sand and pimples,
so this is how they prayed.
So they basically got inside with their shoes
or when they were traveling,
they would pray with their shoes on. There's
an authentic hadith
in Bukhary. The prophet
was praying, and everyone was praying behind him,
and the Sahaba loved the prophet
so much that they always copied him.
So they were standing in salah behind him,
all in their shoes,
and the prophet salaam took off their shoes
in the salah, he he put them to
the side, and every single one of them
behind him did the same thing.
So after salah, the prophet told him, okay,
why didn't you take your shoes off? They
said, we saw you taking your shoes off,
so we did the same thing, and the
prophet told me in salah, there was an
because Jibril alaihis salam told me in salah,
there was an najasa in my shoe, like,
below my shoe. There was something impure
under my shoe, so I took it off.
So they basically didn't have to. Right?
So if you're wearing shoes, you're playing soccer
or in the gym, and it's about time
to make salah, you can just wipe over
your shoes and you just pray. But make
sure that your shoes are clean from from
the bottom, and the easiest way is just
rub them against the floor or the sand.
I think it's convenient for a lot of
people. I know in our culture, especially in
the Arab culture,
it's disrespectful
to pray with your shoes on, but if
the prophet
did it,
there's nothing shameful about it. Right? If you
take it off, you think it's better, Alhamdulillah,
there's nothing wrong. Both are acceptable Islamically.
All I'm saying is the prophet
did it, so you shouldn't be ashamed to
do it, if if you want to.
We'll take one last question and let you
know.
We'll take.
Sorry. I always confuse you with your brother.
You look the same.
What? Sorry.
What was your question?
Okay. He's still thinking. Still thinking. We'll take
the sister here and we'll go back to
Haman.
Okay.
If they pray in the masjid, they will
give the reward, alhamdulillah. If they pray at
home, they will give the reward.
What is the difference? We know that
maybe they have kids,
and if they go to the masjid and
leave the kids behind,
it's it's gonna be difficult for the kids.
Right?
So they are given the option either to
pray in the masjid or pray at home,
and either way they will give the full
reward.
Same way.
For example, if the man
gets a chance to fast the whole month
of Ramadan,
and many sisters miss some days of the
month of Ramadan because of a certain reason,
some days of the month, they skip some
days.
So they end up missing a few days,
5 days, 7 more or less.
When they make up these 3 or 5
or 7 days after Ramadan,
they will get the exact same reward as
if they pass through the Ramadan. Because Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is fair and he's generous.
So he's giving the wife the same reward
that would give her husband.
I like that. Right?
So if there
if
if if the if Mohammed
said said about a few of the prophets,
why didn't he say all of them? Why
didn't he mention all of them? Yeah. As
as we mentioned last time, the Quran mentions
only 24
prophets in plus Muhammad, so the total is
25.
Because
as I
mentioned, the number of prophets was a 124,000.
Now imagine
if all these prophets are mentioned and store
their stories are mentioned in the Quran.
You need a truck
to carry the Quran with. Right? Because
a 124,000
stories in one book, but Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala gave us samples of the Prophets,
and in their time there were certain problems.
So one was dealing with financial corruption,
one was dealing with social corruption, one was
dealing with,
emotional corruption,
right,
and so on and so forth. So each
one of them had to deal with a
certain issue, Yusuf alaihis salam siblings' rivalry.
So each one of them was dealing with
a certain issue, but between them,
they were dealing with all the problems that
we're facing today.
Right? So there was no need to mention
all of them.
We'll
see you tomorrow.
And,
I'll answer the rest of the questions tomorrow
so you don't have to run after me
and 10 people are talking at the same
time, you know.