Is It Disbelief to Not Repeat a Prohibitively Disliked Prayer?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
I prayed in a congregation in a hall with pictures of athletes in front of us. Most images didn’t have a whole body, but I can’t remember if there were any with an entire body. I later read that praying toward a picture of a living being is prohibitively disliked.
I planned on repeating the prayer later in the night. However, I fell asleep though I had time to make up the prayer before this. Does this fall under the category of kufr due to neglecting prayer?
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful
No, you are still a believer despite failing to repeat this prayer.
Rest assured that if you believe in Allah, Most High, and His Messenger, Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), convinced that what Allah’s Messenger has brought is true; you are a Muslim. [Bajuri, Tuhfatu al-Murid]
Repeating this Prayer
Praying in front of big pictures of living creatures is prohibitively disliked (and thus sinful). [Shurunbulali, Nur al-Idah]
Despite this, the prayer you prayed in the congregation was valid.
The fatwa position of most of the later scholars is that if a prayer was performed with something prohibitively disliked, it is: (1) necessary (wajib) to repeat within the time; and (2) recommended (mustahab) to repeat after the time. [Haskafi, al-Durr al-Mukhtar; Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]
Thus if you decide to repeat this prayer now, you will be rewarded. If you don’t, you will miss this reward.
And Allah knows best.
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found.
Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.
He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha’ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others.
He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.
