An innovated prayer to help in memorizing the Quran

27-7-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

Salaam Alaikum Sheikh In the Hadith of Ibn Abbaas about Ali's memory in which he was told to pray 4 rakah of prayer on Friday night and by reciting 4 different Surah after the opening chapter namely - Surah Yaseen in first rakah, Ad-Dukhkhaan in second rakah, then in third rakah Surah As-Sajdah and in last rakah Surah Al-Mulk. Now I need to know that would it be permissible in prayer to take Mushaf in hand and recite from it the above cited chapters because in this Ramadaan I prayed Tahajjud in congregation where the Imam was reciting by holding small copy of Qur'aan Al Kareem. Also I want to know in this Hadith for whether one should say that particular supplication before Tasleem or after it? Jazaak ALLAHu Khair
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, it should be mentioned that the Hadeeth which you mentioned in the question is a fabricated Hadeeth, which means that it is a lie and it is not true that the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said it.

Imaam Ath-Thahabi may Allaah have mercy upon him said about this Hadeeth in his book “Siyar Aa’laam An-Nubalaa’a”: “In my opinion this Hadeeth is fabricated.”

Besides, among the scholars who ruled that it is fabricated is the prominent scholar Al-Albaani may Allaah have mercy upon him in his book “Da’eef At-Tirmithi”.

Anyway, a fabricated Hadeeth is a lie and it is not permissible to act upon it whether in virtuous deeds or otherwise. Also, it is not permissible to attribute it to the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) as we have already mentioned.

Moreover, it is an obligation to know that acts of worship are Tawqeefiyyah (i.e. determined by text from the Book of Allaah or the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) and not amenable to personal opinion). So, Allaah is not worshipped except with what He legislated in His Book or on the tongue of His Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ).

Therefore, it is not permissible for you, dear questioner, to pray that prayer as it is not confirmed in the Sharee’ah as we mentioned.

As regards reciting from the Mus’haf (the Arabic text of the Quran) while performing the prayer, then the Fatwa we adopt here in Islamweb is that this is permissible whether it is done by the Imaam or by a person who is performing the prayer individually. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 83531.

Allaah Knows best.

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