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From: bes@tybalt.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: Ahadith dilemma: # of prayers/day
Message-ID: <1991Jun6.010816.3944@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 6 Jun 91 01:08:16 GMT
Sender: bes@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 71
Approved: bes@tybalt.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi)


Brother jle@locus.com (John Elghani) writes:

>The shea't do pray 3 times a day due to 2 reasons that I have heared
>
>1- They say that we are travelling in this life (ala safar), i.e. life
>   on earth, so we can do kasr.
>
>2- They say that you don't actually know exactly when the zuhr or Asr time
>   comes, so to be sure, you pray them together (it did not make 
>   much sense to me, someone may clarify please).  The same is applied to 
>   Isha prayer, you actually know when maghreb and fajr due to sun
>   rus and sun down.
>
>   But the above did not make sense to me because if that was the case, then
>   why didn't Sayyedna Muhammad (SAAWS) pray 3 times.  Or why did we
>   call it asr and zuhr, why wasn't it called the 8 rukaat of the mid day, 
>   and the 7 rukaat of the night.

Assalamu Alaikum.  Please don't take my reply as 
an attempt to argue over these things. I am replying only 
because I feel that perhaps I can provide some information 
about a few of the questions asked in your posting. (You 
also asked some questions whose answers I don't know).

Concerning the first question, one needs to be reminded that 
Shias do not believe that Muslims are required to do the 5 
prayers at 3 times:  They believe Muslims have the option to do 
so, but are not required to.

Regarding the question of "why" according to Shias Muslims are 
given the option of saying the 5 prayers at 3 times:  The answer 
is that in cases when scholars believe that there are either 
Quranic verses OR authoritative and correct ahadith that permit 
Muslims to do a certain thing, then it is not for them to 
challenge such rulings.  

In this case, there are some ahadith which seem to say that 
it is permissible to do the 5 prayers at 3 times.  These to 
be found in certain Shia and Sunni collections of hadith.  
Shia scholars apparently believe that these ahadith imply 
that it is O.K. to pray at 3 times.

Concerning the woman who said "Ya Ali," when she stood up:  

We must be reminded that Islam is not to be blamed for 
everything each individual Muslim does.  I doubt that we can 
find any Muslim scholar (Shia or Sunni) who believes that 
Imam Ali or any other dead human being has the inherent power 
to help somebody rise up. (This is assuming that saying "Ya Ali" 
is a request for such aid).  We can always find Muslims who do 
things that contradict the spirit of Islam.

On the other hand, if somebody says "Ya Ali" merely for
remembering him or paying respect to him, then there would 
obviously  be nothing un-Islamic about it. (All "Ya Ali" means 
is "O, Ali").

Concerning the practice of cutting/bruising the body with a 
knife while mourning the martyrdom of Imam Husayn:

Once again, actions of individual Muslims must not be always
attributed to Islam or all Muslims.  Needless to say, most 
Shias don't practice the form of mourning our brother mentioned.  
In fact, the practice of cutting the body in such manner has been 
made illegal in Iran, a country that is largely Shia.  I am sure 
we can also find Sunni brothers & sisters who in their zeal might 
sometimes go overboard and do things that they would be better off 
not doing.

Behnam Sadeghi