Janamaaz

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

This topic neither involves Shias or sunnis or wahabis or ahmedis
so just stick to the point
(that is if you can :hehe

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So kher today i was offering namaz and along came chooti and decided that the janamaaz was going to be hers

So instead of having a tug of war bw her and me, I decided to take out the other janamaaz that I got as a gift

So kher i took it out but to my dismay it had the picture of a mosque and it had a small round compass in the middle of the janamaaz with a kaaba khanaa ki tasveer

I waited till chooti let go of my janamaaz to offer namaaz

Call me freaky, but why do janamaaz have these pictures on em
I mean i sure dont feel comfy standing on a mosque, or a kaaba khanaa

is this ok to sell and make janamaazain with these pictures on them

arent these places considered holy …
my other janamaaz is plain just got lines on it

2

A good question Anchal....
and u can bet there will be a million answers to it.

Even the presence of a picture is not allowed in the room where u pray. So I too have had the same question in mind.
One reasoning that comes to mind is that since we are bowing towards the Khana Kaaba anyway, its ok to have a janamaaz with Kaaba's picture on it. But then, since we dont exactly bow to Khana Kaaba...we only bow towards Kaaba, does it make it ok? Perhaps it does.

But that brings me to my other dilemma. There are just as many janamaz's with Masjid-e-nabvi's picture on them as there are with Kaaba's picture on them. So whats the justification of that, since we dont bow towards Masjid-e-nabvi?

And since all pictures are prohibited while praying, why is it ok to draw out a picture of Kaaba? Yes, its a replica of the place that we bow towards while praying, but still, a picture is artificial. If bowing to an artificial Kaaba is ok, then why not a person just make a shrine in their home, as do hindus, and put in a replica of the Kaaba, and bow towards that?

All these are merely questions....genuine ones...hope they dont get chewed off.

[This message has been edited by Akif (edited November 29, 2000).]

3

i thought only the pictures of living beings arent suppose to be in the room or rooms where u say ur prayers.. and pictures of places and other things were ok with islam.. i am not claiming to be right as my knowledge is very limited but i think those mosque pictures are made on the ja’namaz so you can get inspiration in some way and not because you are bowing down to that pictures on ja’namaaz. and every ja’namaz i have seen never had any pictures on where u stand but they have pictures made wehre u do your sijda so that kinda rules out the argument of standing on sacred mosque while praying.. though all the ones i pray on have no pictures but i dont think there is something tooo wrong having a picture on your ja’namaaz.. once again i am just saying what i think and dont claim it to be right or wrong so please dont tell me how bad of a muslim i am or something cause i am not calling you one..

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.. be good..

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Don’t love everybody–specialize.. :wink:

4

i agree with akif...masjid-e-nabwi and all that.....nah...a white or plain coloured chadar works even better....in my house, all the janamaz's have a plain coloured sheet sewn on them ...

5

i agree with u yankee..Janamaz are suppose to be special..not just a peice of cloth..after finish praying then through it away like its an ordinary chaadar

"Prayer is a shield for the believer. When you knock on the door repeatedly it is sure to be opened for you. - Imam Ali (as)"

"..Say (O' Muhammad unto mankind): I do not ask of you any reward for it but love for my relatives(Ahlul-Bayt)"Holy Quran(42:23)

(after his last pilgrimage) the Holy Prophet (saw) stood to give us a speech beside a pond which is known as Ghadir Khum & said,"I am leaving for you 2 precious things.First of them is the book of Allah in which there is light & guidance...
The other one is my Ahlul-Bayt.
I remind you in the name of Allah about my Ahlul-Bayt.(3 times)Sahih Muslim,Chapter of the virtues of the companions, section of the virtues of Ali,1980 Edition Pub. in Saudi Arabia, Arabic version,v4,p1873,Tradition #36.
Then the Prophet held up the hand of Ali and said:"Whoever I am his leader,Ali
is his leader.O God,love those who love him,& be hostile to those who are hostile to him."(Sunni hadith:
Sahih Tirmidhi,v2,p298)
The Prophet said to Ali:"Glad tiding O Ali!Verily you & your companions & your Shia followers will be in Paradise."Sunni hadith:Hilyatul Awliyaa,v4,p3

[This message has been edited by Sherazz (edited November 29, 2000).]

6

yes, but many times in teh times of our prophet,they did not have elegant cloth to pray upon…im not saying that just b/c the prophet ate dates a lot..you should too…what i mean is : to pray, you just need a clean ‘paak’ place adn good intentions…how does having pictures enhance your concentration towards ALLAH??? b/c if you are praying your are SUBMITTING yourself to ALLAH for a given amt of time…right??

btw, anchal auntie…im sticking to the topic right???

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[This message has been edited by X_Communist (edited November 29, 2000).]

7

yeh and even if they have the pictures then what makes it bad..atleast it makes u respect it even more..and not just a piece of cloth

8

I beg to differ
Its not 'just a piece of cloth'

If that was so then we would be standing anywhere and offering prayers

I see it as this way
I wouldnt stand on a piece of paper that has Allah's name waghera on it
why would i be standing on Khana Kaba?

wouldnt that be bayhurmati ?

9

yeh i hav seen sunni pray and then through away Janamaz..and like yankee said u arent standing on Khane Kaba..picture of Khane Kaba is where u do sijda

[This message has been edited by Sherazz (edited November 29, 2000).]

10

[quote]
Originally posted by Sherazz:
**yeh i hav seen sunni pray and then through away Janamaz..and like yankee said u arent standing on Khane Kaba..picture of Khane Kaba is where u do sijda

[This message has been edited by Sherazz (edited November 29, 2000).]**
[/quote]

What do shia do that Sunni dont do & needs to be done ??really??

Showing respect is non quantitative thing.Its either u sdhow respect or you don't.Pictures of LIVING organism-animals & human ae prohibited & one of the reason is human should not act as creater for he doesnt have power to breath life into it.But even flowers .leaves botanists say have 'life' but some how in moghul & islamic architecture ,use of geometric figures,leaves & flowers are used WITHOU ANY BIRDS ANIMALS OR HUMAN FORM>!
Building pictures in my opinion doesnt carry that forbiddence.

11

Anchal: *'...Why would i be standing on Khana Kaba? wouldnt that be bayhurmati?..."
*

Well my opinion is different in this regard.

  • First I don’t think it is. Its just a piece of cloth with a pic on it, does it carry any spiritual significance? NO, Does it owe any unworldly value? NO

  • Secondly, as akif mentioned, we are not bowing TO kaba or kalesa. WE ARE PRAYING TO ONE ALL MIGHTY.

And regarding the issue, pics are only distracters (like music or loud gupshup), that's why all the audio and visual stimuli, which cause disruption, are prohibited during prayers so as to make better concentration. (for e.g. it’s a routine in mosques, that after salat people who finish ahead, start laughing and chatting around, while the others who are still praying, loose their concentration with their tittle-tattle, - IMAGES triggers the same effect) May be one reason they put images of kaba and madina on prayer-rugs is to keep them focused.

Sherazz: *"..Janamaz are suppose to be special..not just a peice of cloth..after finish praying then through it away like its an ordinary chaadar..."*

I don’t think there is need for special expensive prayer rugs; a tidy floor is also adequate.

For a prayer, ‘CLEANLINESS’ is the key word - a clean place, a clean dress, a clean body and a clean mind. These are the only pre-requisites.

By the way Allah don’t need our prayers, He just wants us to become righteous.

  • Well this brings another issue - Washing prayer-rugs. I can bet very few have thought washing them.

From hygienic point of view, jai-namaz is the unhealthiest utility we use. Usually, after prayer, the foot-end is folded on the sajda-end, transferring the germs, which are later inhaled or stick to the face (depending upon sajda habit), or transferring ones expectorants to other, thus making a bed full of microbes.

Ever sniffed a prayer rug? eweeee. The black spots on jai-namez are not sajda burns, they are actually molds grown on rug dampen with forehead sweats.

One should wash it regularly, or roll a vacuum cleaner on it, atleast once a week.

PS: sorry my reply is going off the track, but this just pop up in my mind.

Sherazz: *"...yeh i hav seen sunni pray and then through away Janamaz..and like yankee said u arent standing on Khane Kaba..picture of Khane Kaba is where u do sijda..."*

Who says, nothing is impossible. Shia-Sunni debate can run full-fledge on this topic also. (not to mention, ‘with full enthusiasm’)

I have a question for you sherazz. I have seen some shias, placing a piece of clay in front while praying. Is this so called karbala-ki-mitti really has any importance in ones prayers?

TO me a piece of clay or a sketch of kaaba, both means the same. I think we prostrates in front of Allah and not to these un-spiritual gears.

SHIRK is the key word which best defines them.

[This message has been edited by Zalim (edited November 30, 2000).]

12

Nowhere does it state that you need a Janamaaz to offer salat. We use it because it offers us a clean place to pray. Anywhere that is clean is ok to pray.

Ever offered prayers in a field when it was time for Maghrib or in the car when you were going nowhere? I didn't have to use a Janamaaz then!

13

Hmmm..interesting topic.

Here are my two cents. I don’t think having images of the kaba or other mosques on our janamaaz is disrespectful, or that it hints towards anything questionable. Someone made a point regarding the difference then between bowing down to the kaba on our janamaaz and prostrating ourselves towards a model of the kaba placed in some area of our house irregardless of the qibla...there is a difference, in my opinion anyways, I mean when we pray we face the qibla—towards the kaba, when we pray we pray to Allah swt, the haram sharif, or any other mosque are places for worship. And what is a janamaaz afterall but a place for worship...hmm just a thought maybe an image of a mosque would even aid in salaat as it would remind ppl of their duty to remain steadfast to Allah swt in their prayer.

I don't think we should place unnecessary importance upon a janamaaz, it is just cloth upon which we pray...decorated and beautified perhaps, as it is our nature to beautify things we hold dear...but it is afterall something that is not necessary for us to perform salaat, our salaat is accepted whether we pray upon a janamaaz, a plain white cotton sheet, or the grass....for me having an image of the kaba or mosque on a janamaaz doesn’t make a difference, it doesn’t seem important to me. However, I can see a point where one might be forced to draw a line...and that’s where the janamaaz becomes so decorated that it is not a place for worship but a place for distraction....in that its beauty, its loveliness takes away one’s concentration for salaat. I mean in that case, we just have to remember the story of one of the sahabas...

Abu Talha radhiyallaho anho, Abu Talha radhiyallaho anho was a man who had in his possession a very beautiful garden, wherein he used to offer his salaat, one afternoon his attention was drawn to a bird with a very sweet song, flitting about the dense foliage, for a little while he followed the bird with his eyes....and lost track of what he was doing, he forgot the number of his rakaat. His sorrow knew no bounds, he thought how could he remember Allah swt when his heart was full of beautiful gardens and bird songs…that very night he went to the Prophet sallallaho alaihe wa sallam and told him how this garden which he dearly loved, had been a cause of distraction for him in his salaat, and how he wished to give it away in the cause of Allah swt, for the Prophet sallallho alaihe wa sallam to use for the benefit of all the muslims in Madina.

I guess a contemporary example of this would be the Hassan II Mosque in casablanca(?), well morocco anyways, which is so beautiful....so intensely radiant, that some muslim scholars say that one should not pray there....that it should be made into a museum, a friend of mine who has been there told me, how she thought one would find it almost impossible to pray as with every breath one cannot help but say subhanAllah.....wry smile don’t attack me about that I know mosques are usually extravagantly decorated, just trying to give an example:)

14

Most of the distractions that namazis encounter during their namaz are mental, not physical. The sight of a beautiful janamaaz or a beautiful calligraphy on the wall is far less likely to distract a namazi than his own wandering mind.

However....on the issue of janamaaz....regarding what pictures are ok to have and which ones are not.....I have seen 3 kinds of janamaaz's. Ones with the image of kaaba/masjid-al-haram, ones with masjid-e-nabvi, and ones with nothing on them. I would like to hear about these three classifications.
Like i said in my previous post, ok, the image of the Kaaba makes sense since we pray while facing that same structure. But if thats the reason for Kaaba being ok on a janamaaz, then why do we have janamaaaz's with the image of masjid-e-nabvi on them?
Ok, maybe that can be justified by saying that masjid-e-nabvi is a masjid, and all masjids are 'Allah ka ghar'. Granted.
So why have i never seen a janamaaz with the image of any other masjid?

15

Most of the distractions that namazis encounter during their namaz are mental, not physical. The sight of a beautiful janamaaz or a beautiful calligraphy on the wall is far less likely to distract a namazi than his own wandering mind.

I agree:)

*So why have i never seen a janamaaz with the image of any other masjid? *

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u haven’t? I know i have…