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The absence of worship frequencies in the Quran . The reader of the Quran will note that throughout the Quran God never set any frequencies in connection to the worship practices. We do not find in the Quran any set number of times we wash our hands in ablution or the percentage of zakat we are to pay or the number of times we must travel the distance between Safa and Marwah during Hajj and Umrah .... etc. As a constant learner and reader of the Holy Quran I have often wondered about this noticable absence and wondered why did God deliberately ommit any mention of a minimum number of times we must adhere to in connection to practicing our religious rites. In constant awareness that the Quran contains all the details of our religion (6:114) and that nothing has been left out of the book (6:38) it becomes evident that God did not require of us any set frequencies in connection to any of the worship practices. On further study of God's book it becomes evident that we have numerous indications that these practices are indeed left open to each individual. the following are some of these indications: 1- A good case is given in connection with Zakat (obligatory charity). We note that the traditional percentage of 2.5% has no Quranic reference and can only be traced in origin to hadith. Yet, in the Quran we have very strong evidence that God never set a fixed percentage for the payment of Zakat. The evidence to this truth is found in 17:26-29: 17:26-29 26 "You shall give the due alms to the relatives, the needy, the poor, and the travelling alien, but do not be excessive, extravagant. 27 "The extravagant are brethren of the devils, and the devil is unappreciative of his Lord. 28 "Even if you have to turn away from them, as you pursue the mercy of your Lord, you shall treat them in the nicest manner. 29 "You shall not keep your hand stingily tied to your neck, nor shall you foolishly open it up, lest you end up blamed and sorry." The words 'due alms' in verse 26 speak of an obligatory payment which means that the subject here is the Zakat which is an obligatory charity. With this in mind, the words in verse 29 become very significant: "You shall not keep your hand stingily tied to your neck, nor shall you foolishly open it up, lest you end up blamed and sorry." We must meditate on these words a while and pose the question: If God had actually set a fixed percentage (e.g. 2.5%) for the payment of the Zakat (due alms), would He command us not to be stingy nor too extravagant? The command not to be stingy nor too extravagant indicates that the percentage is NOT fixed, but is flexible and that it has been left to each individual's means. If everyone was paying an obligatory 2.5% (or a minimum of 2.5%) how can anyone be stingy? 2- Another strong indication which confirms that God left the frequencies of worship pratices open is found in the following Quranic words: 2:158 "The knolls of Safa and Marwah are among the rites decreed by God. Anyone who observes Hajj or Umrah commits no error by traversing the distance between them. If one volunteers more righteous works, then God is Appreciative, Omniscient." From these words we note the following: 1- The words "the distance between them" speaks of ONE distance. Hence the Quranic command is to travel the distance once and not seven times as traditon dictates. 2- The words "If one volunteers more righteous works, then God is Appreciative, Omniscient." indicate that God left any extra practice to each individual and that all extra righteous work and worship is noted and appreciated by God. This once again indicates strongly that God left the frequencies of worship practices open to each individual. As a result of this presentation, we must totally reject any non Quranic set frequencies in connection to our religious practices. Among those are the 2.5% for Zakat, the seven times of circling the Kaba'a and seven times of travelling the distance between Safa and Marwa, the three times frequencies in ablution, the two prostrations after every one bowing .... etc. ------------------------------ Recently, a group of scholars have made a claim that the Quran requires a minimum number of two Raka's per each Salat. They base such claim on the words in 4:101, and specifically the concession from God for the believers to shorten their salat at times of war. They argue that the salat must be at least two Raka's in order to be shortened, since it is not possible to shorten a salat that is made of one raka. On initial reading this may make good sense, but does it really? The answer is NO , and here are the reasons: 1- The concept of 'raka' for a start is not a Quranic concept nor format. It is not mentioned anywhere in the Quran, consequently the starting point of this line of thinking is based on a traditional concept (Raka) rather than a Quranic given rule. Yes, it is true that the Quran commands us to observe 3 positions during salat, these are the standing, bowing and prostrating (in that order), however, the Quran does not give us any specific length of time in which we are to spend in any of these three positions. Consequently, one may choose to spend 5 or 10 minutes in the standing position glorifying God, the same applies to the time one may spend in the other positions. Similarly, one may also choose to bow once or 10 times before prostrating, and as long as the bowing (in any frequency) is followed by prostrating (in any frequency), who is to say that this violates any Quranic law? Needless to say, the traditional format for the Raka (standing, then one bowing followed by 2 prostrations) is NOT Quranic, and thus to adhere to this format and condition our thinking in terms of mulitiples of Raka's is to follow tradition rather than Quranic law. 2- Consequently, the command to shorten the salat does not pertain to shortening the number of raka's, since (as explained) God would not give us instructions to shorten something that WE invented and which He never devised. 3- With this in mind, the command to shorten the salat becomes more clear. Since the Quran does not authorise a specific format for the frequency of any of the three positions, thus the command to shorten the salat becomes clearly a command to shorten the OVERALL TIME we spend in our salat .... for example if we normally spend 10 minutes in one salat (which could be only one sequence of the 3 positions), at times of war we are advised to shorten this time for reasons of safety. Let us say spend only a couple of minutes. The concession to shorten the time of our salat would also mean that instead of uttering the phrase "sobhan rabi Al-Aala" (Praise God the Most High) 10 or 20 times, we can say it only once or twice. 4- If we read ayat 102 we get confirmation that the salat ends with prostration, this is evident from the words: "..... let them stand behind you as you prostrate. Then, let the other group that has not prayed take their turn praying with you ....." In other words, after they prostrate, others would replace those who ended their salat (after prostrating) and would start their salat again with the messenger who would be leading a number of prayers for the benefit of the believers. This is not different in concept to what happens in a masjid on Friday when the multitudes are great and the Imam leads more than one complete prayer. Note here that God did not say in 4:102 "after the second prostration ...." we are only told after prostrating. We know that God is NOT short of words (18:109) .... if we have to prostrate at least twice to make the salat lawful God would have told us so, the Quran indeed is fully detailed. God defined our salat as a sequence of three movements (standing, bowing, prostrating) without placing a time limit to the overall lenght of our salat nor placing a fixed number to each of the three movements before proceeding to the next movement. If there is no frequency given in the Quran to any of the three movements, then the only meaning of shortening our salat becomes TIME related, it cannot be frequency related since there is no frequency given in the Quran to start with. Since gives us the concession to shorten our salat during war, then the only meaning of this command, and if we are to avoid interpreting or guessing, is to observe our salat in a shorter time. ---------------------------- From all the above, it becomes evident that all these frequencies connected to our religious practices are man made. In contrast, God left the frequency of all our religious rites to the ability and willingness (for righteousness) of every individual. One can think of two major reasons for this felxibility: 1- God in His Infinite Wisdom and Mercy knows that different people have different abilities and means. A young man can go round the Kaba any number of times, but an old man does not have the same energy or fitness. Similarly paying 2.5% of one's net income for Zakat would not burden a millionare in any way, yet for a poor man with a family, 2.5% may mean supper for two or three nights for his family. To impose a set fixed number for the above practices or any others would not be in line with God's Justice. 2- The second reason is that each will receive in exact equivalence to their work. If God was to set any fixed presets, then our account would not reflect an expression of voluntary righteousness but enforced worship. The reader is advised to note that the only frequency set in the Quran for a religious practice is the one month (29/30 days) of Ramadan for fasting. Personally, I am not enlightened yet to know the wisdom behind this exception. I am sure that God has His wisdom in so doing. Having said that, we note that God has set numerous fixed frequencies in the Quran for religious rites, but if we examine them we note that they are all connected to atonements for violating God's law. As an example, we read in 5:89 the following: "If you violate an oath, you shall atone by feeding ten poor people from the same food you offer to your own family, or clothing them, or by freeing a slave. If you cannot afford this, then you shall fast three days." In the case above, and if we violate an oath, we must feed a minimum of ten poor people, and not any less. It is understandable that God would set a fixed penalty (e.g. feeding 10 poor people) since only God knows the exact penalty that atones for the violation which we have committed. But when it comes to worshipping God willingly, God rewards each according to their deeds, there are no pre-sets, minimums nor maximums. The reader is well advised to always remember that the Quran is complete and fully detailed (6:114) and that God has left nothing out of the book (6:38). What this means is that those who attempt to devise a fixed number for any religious practice where there is no such restriction in the Quran are guilty of following hadith and tradition rather than the fully detailed Quran. . |
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