Praying on a street/path

Society Religion & Philosophy
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Is it allowed in shariah to offer your prayer on a street in a mixed society where half the people are non-muslim and obviously they wouldn’t be joining you for prayer? What is the opinion of sunni and shia schools regarding this?

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Re: Praying on a street/path

I have found this but i dont know the refernce...

Places where Offering Prayers is Makrooh907. There are a number of places where it is Makrooh to offer prayers. Some of them are the following:

  • Public bath
  • Saline land
  • Facing a human person
  • Facing an open door
  • On a road or street, provided that offering of prayers at these places does not cause inconvenience to others. If it is a source of inconvenience, and discomfort to them, it is haraam to obstruct their way.
  • Facing fire or a lamp
  • In the kitchens, and at every place where there is a furnace
  • Facing a well or a pit where people often urinate
  • Facing the picture or models of living creatures, unless it is covered
  • In the room where a Mujnib is present
  • At a place where there is a picture, even if it may not be placed in front of the person who offers prayers
  • Facing a grave
  • On the grave
  • Between two graves
  • In the graveyard
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Re: Praying on a street/path

^Thank you. :k:

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Does this have anything to with the recent ruling in France? :)

But yes. Agreed, that muslims shouldnt pray on the street if it makes life inconveniant for others...which in most cases it does!

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inconveniant for others is also but the main thing is that HOW you could pray or concenterate by yourslef on pray in front on hundred peoples around you? ye namaz nahi ek tamasha hai, bhai namaz Allah ke darbar main hazri dene wali bat hai, you should be very humble and need full concenteration.PERIOD

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Re: Praying on a street/path

This whole universe is Allah ka darbar , praying in congregation has its own reasoning and logic and remembering Allah in solitude has its own.
Namaz ba jammat can be offered anywhere which is pakk and saaf even on a street and road . Now if that praying on a street becomes inconvenience and others take offense to your prayer in public , it is better to make other arrangement to end the fitna and fasad and pray in peace.
In initial stage of Islam Muslims prayed in sanctity of homes , it was after Hazrat Omar became Muslim that Muslims prayed in Kaaba. ( so I have read)
This is an example of staying level headed and act according to the demands of the situation and to be humble by accepting ground realities. How one can hope to win minds and hearts of hostile people around them by offending them specially if they are a majority. Once they see that we are law abiding , peace loving folks who do not bother others they will stand by our side when we need their help.

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As far as i have seen, who wanna offer his prayers he regardless to others just offer their prayers of'coz at a clean place. I hav seen many peoples offering their prayers at many places like at beach, on the road-side, at park, in shoping malls and in garden.

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Re: Praying on a street/path

namaz is the first farz that would be questioned about. When somebody is in a very crowded mall, street, park or anywhere where there isn't any specific place for prayer and the time is running out, I think it should be ok to perform it on one side making sure it doesn't block the way of people and doesn't cause inconvenience to them.

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Re: Praying on a street/path

Prophet :saw2: used to cut short the congregational prayer as Imam, when he used to hear some kid crying in the back rows, because of the fear that the kid might be in need of his/her mother.

When he used to offer his midnight prayers (tahajjud), he used to make sure that Hazrat Aisha wont get disturbed and sometimes used to pray in a very tight place and Hazrat Aisha’s feet used to be at his Sajda’s place.

This is how much you need to be careful about the discomfort of others when offering your prayers.

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What if it’s a quite little corner in the mall, away from everyone’s path so you’re not a hindrance yet they can still see you praying. Should you not pray just because they might get ‘offended’ if they see you praying?

I’ve had to do that sometimes, and also used little corners/ rooftops etc to pray in college (before our MSA got a room of their own to pray).
If I’m in anyone’s way, then I’d understand but if I’m not allowed to pray just because some people can’t stand the sight of me praying then I’d be upset about that.

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Oh no. I did not mean that. My wife and I never miss our prayers, no matter where we are. Airport, mall, driving long distance - so I am not saying do not pray, but dont cause discomfort for others.

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My bad, I think I read someone implying that somewhere else and thought it was you. It's because you're all over the place.
That was on a blog with your comments that I read. Sorry.

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Thanks :) .. I may be a be-hooda person but I am not a be-namazi person :D

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If it's time for prayer, and you can not get to any mosque or any home in time and you fear that the time of prayer will pass, then, find a clean, dry corner even on the street which is not in the way of other people and offer your prayer.

You offer prayer in sickness even if you can not move. Companions and Prophet (saw) offered prayers in the midst of war in the battlefield. All other justifications are simply "pretty" excuses; nothing else. :)

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TLK bhai. That's really not what I meant. There are people who pray 5 times a day but are okay with getting them qazaa sometimes just because they don't want to pray in public incase it offends or makes someone uncomfortable.
I really didn't mean to attack you personally or question whether you pray or not. That's really none of my business.

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Re: Praying on a street/path

Yeah, sort of.

I was thinking what a true Islamic government would do in such situation?

Would they ban people from praying outside the mosque?

Or would they simply cater for the need of namazis so there'd be no need left to even announce a ban?

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I had no idea about the ban in France when I wrote on this thread. Now that I know, I'm appalled. If it's a ban on a group prayer out in the streets blocking pedestrians or a hindrance to traffic then it can be justified, however if it's individuals praying in corners away from the main path then the ban shouldn't have been applied. What if it's a street vendor, taxi driver or someone else working out in the streets and can't find a masjid close enough to pray? This means he will have to miss his prayers and it's sad to see some Muslims being okay with this ban altogether.
As far as Muslim countries are concerned, there's usually a masjid on every street so space is normally not limited. However, I'd think the government will just make a new mosque instead of banning people from praying on the street if the need arises. I remember eid prayers being offered on our local street when the masjid ran out of space when I lived in Pakistan.

I live in california at the moment and the masjid I go to runs out of space as well during Jummah prayers, so the imaam just decided to do two jamaats now. We do have enough masjids throughout our county but somehow there has been an increase in attendees over the past years and almost all masjid have an overflow especially on Fridays. So there are other solutions to the problem instead of banning people from praying on the streets altogether.

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What I think is that the government should have worked with the local imaams to find a solution to the problem. Even allotted some land to accomodate more people.

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Its a cultural thing as well!
On a recent road trip to Paris..(Reaaaaalllly long )....we thought nothing of pulling over on a motorway rest stop...and praying on the grass...there were the odd glances but nothing unpleasant....i dont think that would be doable here in the UK.
A true islamic goverment would obviously cater for the prayees! As thats what keeps them in power!

In any case the prayers should be offered when convenient but not when troublesome to others!

Its the whole nuisance to others that shows our deen in a bad light. Non muslims then think that we are inconsiderate!

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that text is actually from Syed Sistani website so that view is from Shia perspective…just saying tht b/c OP asked for Shia POV too…for more details u may refer to more links from Syed Sistani website…

places where namaz should be prayed…Islamic Laws - The Official Website of the Office of His Eminence Al-Sayyid Ali Al-Husseini Al-Sistani
mustahab places…Islamic Laws - The Official Website of the Office of His Eminence Al-Sayyid Ali Al-Husseini Al-Sistani
makrooh places…Islamic Laws - The Official Website of the Office of His Eminence Al-Sayyid Ali Al-Husseini Al-Sistani