Iadat al-Salah - ضمن "Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Iadat al-Salah (Arabic: إعادة الصلاة, lit. 'Repeating the Prayer') is a legal treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1896–1966 CE) examining the jurisprudential and hadith evidence regarding the repetition of prescribed ritual prayers .
Subject and Legal Analysis
Al-Mu'allimi opens the treatise with the prophetic hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar: لا تصلوا صلاة في يوم مرتين ("Do not perform a prayer twice in one day"), examining its various transmissions and wordings in the hadith literature, including لا تعاد الصلاة في يوم مرتين and لا صلاة مكتوبة في يوم مرتين . He discusses the lexical and technical definition of repeating a prayer and adduces reports (āthār) from Ibn 'Umar permitting repetition in congregation, followed by ten marfūʿ hadiths establishing its permissibility, detailing their chains of transmission (asānīd) and evaluating their authenticity .
Under a section titled al-Fiqh, al-Mu'allimi investigates the legal rulings derived from these texts . He maintains that the default legal principle (aṣl) is the non-prescribed nature of repeating a prayer, and that the general prohibition in Ibn 'Umar's hadith is qualified by specific texts that permit repetition in four distinct scenarios :
- When an individual prays at home or elsewhere and subsequently finds a congregation in the mosque .
- When an individual sees someone about to pray alone and joins him as an act of charity (ṣadaqah) .
- When a designated regular imam (imām rātib) prays outside his assigned mosque and then returns to lead his regular congregation .
- In the context of the fear prayer (ṣalāt al-khawf) .
Al-Mu'allimi also reviews scholarly disagreements over repeating specific prayers—notably the Dawn (Fajr) and Afternoon ('Asr) prayers due to the prohibition of supererogatory prayer after them, and the Sunset (Maghrib) prayer due to its resemblance to the odd-numbered Witr—and argues for the validity of repeating all five daily prayers, answering the counterarguments of those who disapproved of doing so .
Chapters on Leadership and Following
In a chapter titled "Does one repeat as an imam?" (Hal yuʿīdu imāman?), the author examines the textual proofs of scholars who permit repeating the prayer in the capacity of an imam . He cites three primary hadiths:
- The narration of Jabir ibn Abd Allah concerning Mu'adh ibn Jabal, where al-Mu'allimi provides an extended analysis of its transmission paths through 'Amr ibn Dinar, 'Ubayd Allah ibn Miqsam, Abu al-Zubayr, Abu Salih, Muharib ibn Dithar, and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabir, addressing variant readings regarding whether Mu'adh prayed Maghrib or 'Isha' with the Prophet ﷺ .
- The narration of Jabir concerning the fear prayer .
- The narration of Abu Bakrah concerning the fear prayer .
He subsequently responds to the interpretations and objections raised by scholars who disallow leading prayer as a repeating worshipper . In the final section, al-Mu'allimi addresses the issue of an obligatory prayer being led by someone offering a voluntary prayer (iqtidāʾ al-muftariḍ khalfa al-mutanaffil), arguing for its legal validity and answering opposing arguments .
Manuscripts and Publication
The work was preserved in manuscript form within a composite volume under shelfmark [4693] (folios 10–26) . It was published as part of the collected works project Āthār al-Muʿallimī within the volume devoted to his legal treatises (Majmūʿ Rasāʾil al-Fiqh), edited by Muhammad 'Uzayr Shams and reviewed by Muhammad Ajmal al-Islahi and Sulayman ibn 'Abd Allah al-'Umayr .
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