Min al-Ahkam al-Fiqhiyya fi al-Tahara wa al-Salah wa al-Janaiz
- Author died
- 1421 AH
- Editions
- Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da‘wah and Guidance - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Min al-Ahkam al-Fiqhiyya fi al-Tahara wa al-Salah wa al-Janaiz (Legal Rulings on Purification, Prayer, and Funerals) is a concise jurisprudential compendium authored by the Saudi scholar Ibn Uthaymin (d. 1421 AH / 2001 CE), detailing essential rulings on Islamic ritual purity, the daily prayers, and funeral rites.
Structure and Content
The work is organized into three distinct treatises (rasāʾil), arranged sequentially according to traditional legal subjects:
The First Treatise: Purification (al-Ṭahāra)
The opening treatise outlines the rules and step-by-step procedures of ritual purity:
- Ablution (wuḍūʾ) and Major Ritual Bath (ghusl): Defines minor and major ritual impurities, details the step-by-step manner of performing ablution and ghusl starting with internal intention (niyya) without vocalization, and cites scriptural virtues for both acts.
- Dry Ablution (tayammum): Explains its performance using clean earth when water is absent or injurious to use.
- Wiping over Footgear (al-masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn): Covers the proofs of its permissibility from the Qur'an and mutawātir hadith, along with its four foundational conditions: donning footwear in a state of complete purity, purity of the footwear itself, wiping only after minor impurity, and adhering to the prescribed time limits of one day and night for residents and three days and nights for travelers.
- Purification and Prayer of the Sick: Details fourteen practical rules for ill individuals regarding water usage, bandaged injuries, tayammum on dust-bearing surfaces, removing impurities, and continuous incontinence. It also describes how the sick person prays standing, sitting, on their side, or lying down, including guidelines on head motions, shortening, and combining prayers during medical travel.
The Second Treatise: Prayer (al-Ṣalāh)
Authorized for printing by the author in Dhu al-Hijjah 1411 AH, this section addresses the core aspects of prayer and repentance:
- Manner and Invalidation of Prayer: Provides a sequential, twenty-eight-step description of prayer from facing the qibla to the final taslīm, followed by listings of disliked (makrūhāt) and nullifying (mubṭilāt) actions.
- Prostration of Forgetfulness (sujūd al-sahw): Examines its causes (addition, omission, or doubt) and delineates whether the prostrations occur before or after the taslīm, supplemented by a summary chart.
- Prostration of Recitation (sujūd al-tilāwa): Discusses its legal status as a confirmed sunnah rather than an obligation, citing the practice of Umar ibn al-Khattab, and outlines its specific supplications and takbīr rules inside and outside formal prayer.
- Ruling on the Abandoner of Prayer (ḥukm tārik al-ṣalāh): Contains a legal responsa dated Safar 1410 AH stating that completely abandoning prayer constitutes apostasy from Islam based on evidence from the Qur'an, Sunnah, and statements of the Companions, detailing the resulting civil and funerary consequences.
- Repentance (al-tawba): Concludes with the obligation, virtues, conditions, and necessity of sincere repentance.
The Third Treatise: Funerals (al-Janā'iz)
Authorized for publication in Dhu al-Hijjah 1411 AH, the concluding treatise addresses the communal obligations (farḍ kifāya) regarding deceased Muslims:
- Washing the Deceased (taghsīl al-mayyit): Explains the duties and trustworthiness of the washer, the impermissibility of men washing women except spouses, and the step-by-step method using water, lotus leaves (sidr), and camphor (kāfūr).
- Shrouding (takfīn): Details the preference of three white garments for men and five pieces for women, along with the application of embalming scent (ḥanūṭ).
- Funeral Prayer (ṣalāt al-janāza): Explains the four-takbīr prayer, the position of the imam at the head of a man and middle of a woman, and the ruling on miscarried fetuses aged four months or older.
- Burial (dafn): Describes the construction of the niche (laḥd) or trench (shaqq), placing the body on its right side facing the qibla, sealing the grave with mud bricks, and the prohibition of burial during three specific times of the day.
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