Risalatan fi al-Salah
- Author died
- 1420 AH
- Editions
- Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da'wah and Guidance - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Risalatan fi al-Salah (Two Treatises on Prayer) is a legal treatise by the Saudi scholar Ibn Baz (1330–1420 AH / 1910–1999 CE) that details the practical description of the Islamic ritual prayer and establishes the legal obligation of performing it in congregation.
Structure and Contents
The work brings together two independent treatises authored by Ibn Baz concerning the prayer (al-salah):
The Manner of the Prophet's Prayer
The first treatise, titled Kayfiyyat Salat al-Nabi (كيفية صلاة النبي ﷺ), is addressed to Muslims seeking to perform the prayer in accordance with the Prophet's instruction, صلوا كما رأيتموني أصلي ("Pray as you have seen me pray"). It presents a step-by-step description of the prayer across fourteen numbered points:
- Purification and Orientation: The worshiper performs complete ablution (isbagh al-wudu') as commanded in the Quran, faces the Kaaba with the entire body, and forms the intention in the heart without vocalizing it, which Ibn Baz characterizes as an unlegislated innovation (bid'ah).
- Opening and Standing: The worshiper pronounces the opening takbir while looking toward the place of prostration, raises both hands to shoulder or ear level, places the right hand over the left palm, wrist, and forearm upon the chest, and recites one of the transmitted opening supplications (du'a al-istiftah). This is followed by seeking refuge, the basmalah, Surah al-Fatihah, the vocal or silent amin, and additional Quranic recitation adapted in length to the specific prayer.
- Bowing and Prostration: The worshiper bows (ruku'), keeping the back level and clasping the knees with separated fingers while glorifying God, rises while saying the prescribed praises and returning the hands to the chest, and then descends into prostration (sujud) upon seven limbs (the forehead and nose, both hands, both knees, and the toes of both feet), placing the knees down before the hands unless difficult.
- Sitting and Remaining Cycles: The worshiper sits between the two prostrations in the iftirash posture (spreading the left foot and erecting the right foot), supplicates for forgiveness, performs the second prostration, and may briefly sit in the rest posture (jalsat al-istirahah) before rising for the second cycle.
- The Tashahhud, Salutations, and Post-Prayer Adhkar: In two-cycle prayers, the worshiper sits in iftirash, gestures with the index finger to signify God's oneness, recites the tashahhud and the Abrahamic prayer upon the Prophet, seeks refuge from the four trials (Hellfire, the grave, life and death, and the False Messiah), and performs the two salutations (taslim). In three- and four-cycle prayers, the worshiper rises after the first tashahhud to recite al-Fatihah in the remaining cycles, sits in tawarruk for the final tashahhud, concludes with the salutations, and recites the transmitted supplications and the twelve confirmed voluntary units (al-rawatib).
On the Obligation of Congregational Prayer
The second treatise, titled Fi Wujub Ada' al-Salah fi al-Jama'ah (في وجوب أداء الصلاة في الجماعة), was composed after Ibn Baz observed that many people were neglecting the congregational prayer in the mosques, leaning on lenient rulings from certain jurists.
Ibn Baz establishes the strict individual obligation (fard 'ayn) of attending congregational prayer for men based on scriptural evidence:
- Quranic Proofs: He cites the divine command to maintain the prayers ( حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ , al-Baqarah 2:238), the explicit command to وَارْكَعُوا مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ ("bow with those who bow," al-Baqarah 2:43), and the legislation of the fear prayer (salat al-khawf) in congregation during warfare (al-Nisa' 4:102), arguing that if combatants facing enemy attack are not excused from congregation, those in peacetime have even less justification.
- Hadith Proofs: He adduces prophetic traditions, including the Prophet's stated intention to burn down the houses of those who absent themselves from congregational prayer, Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud's report that only known hypocrites or the sick stayed away, and the Prophet's refusal to grant a dispensation to a blind man who heard the call to prayer.
- Dangers and Communal Benefits: He warns that abandoning the congregation frequently leads to leaving the prayer entirely, which constitutes disbelief (kufr), while noting that communal prayer fosters mutual acquaintance, cooperation in righteousness, instruction of the unlearned, and the manifestation of Islamic rites.
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