ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Shiism in Sunnism Simultaneous Performance of Prayers One of the issues, which is of great attention to the observers and is especially evident in places of pilgrimage like Mecca and Medina, is that most of the Sunnis, even their travelers, perform the five prayers at five distinct times and the Shi’a perform them as Jam’ Taqdim [^1] or Jam’ Ta’khir .[^2] This difference is very astonishing for the public who are unaware of the traditional and jurisprudential issues and also for most of the Sunnis who are used to differentiating between the five times.

During the hajj pilgrimage, I met a young salesman in Medina who was originally Turkish. He asked me, “Why do Iranians miss their Evening Prayer?” The simplest answer to persuade him in that short time was that at least they are travelers and it is permissible for them to delay the Evening Prayer and perform the Evening and Night Prayers together.[^3] Further elaboration was not possible in that short period, but it can be deeply discussed with the scholars to inform people of it and hence eradicate some false opinions.

They say: We found our fathers on a course, and surely we are guided by their footsteps. (44:22) Both the Shi’a and the Sunnis should therefore know that some of their habitual rules, which are taken for granted, are not really self-evident in Islam; rather they have no true document.

The reason for the existence of these common habits has been the verdict of great scholars in some cases, and political considerations in most others, while the same rules had not been common previously and had just been some alternatives beside others. Surprisingly, these habitual rules are evident even in case of everyday duties of the Muslims, like ablution, prayer, etc. So painful it is!

Muslims who have seen the Prophet’s ablution and prayer everyday, have so much disagreement even in a tangible issue like the crossed position of hands in prayers.