Salat al-Mumin
- Author died
- 1440 AH
- Editions
- Markaz al-Da'wah wa-al-Irshad, Al-Qasab
Salat al-Mumin (Salat al-Mu’min: Mafhum, wa-Fada’il, wa-Adab, wa-Anwa‘, wa-Ahkam, wa-Kayfiyyah fi Daw’ al-Kitab wa-al-Sunnah — "The Believer's Prayer: Concept, Virtues, Etiquette, Types, Rulings, and Manner in the Light of the Quran and Sunnah") is a comprehensive legal manual on ritual purification and prayer by the Saudi scholar Saeed bin Ali bin Wahf al-Qahtani (d. 1440 AH / 2018 CE) .
Composition and Purpose
Al-Qahtani completed the work on the morning of Friday, 14 Sha'ban 1421 AH . His stated objective was to provide a concise yet comprehensive reference presenting everything a Muslim needs regarding prayer and its preparatory acts, supporting each ruling with evidence directly from the Quran and the prophetic Sunnah . In determining legal preferences and verifications, the author drew extensively on the rulings and scholarly determinations of his teacher, Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz .
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into thirty-four thematic chapters (mabahith) published across three volumes :
- Purification and Prerequisites (Chapters 1–9): Definitions of ritual and spiritual purification; types of impurities and methods of cleansing; the innate sunnahs (sunan al-fitrah); etiquette of relieving oneself; ablution (wudu); wiping over leather socks, turbans, and splints; full ritual washing (ghusl); dry ablution (tayammum); and rulings concerning menstruation, postnatal bleeding, non-menstrual bleeding (istihadah), and incontinence .
- Rulings, Virtues, and Performance of Prayer (Chapters 10–22): The definition, legal obligation, status, distinctive characteristics, and virtues of prayer; the ruling on abandoning prayer; the call to prayer (adhan) and its commencement (iqamah); the conditions (shurut), description (sifah), pillars (arkan), obligatory acts (wajibāt), and recommended acts (sunan) of prayer; disliked (makruhat) and nullifying (mubtilat) actions; inner devotion (khushu‘); and the prostration of forgetfulness (sujud al-sahw) .
- Types of Prayers and Special Circumstances (Chapters 23–34): Voluntary prayers (salat al-tatawwu‘); congregational prayer and mosques; leading the prayer (imamah); prayers of the sick, travelers, and the prayer in times of fear (salat al-khawf); Friday prayer (salat al-jumu‘ah); the two Eid prayers; the eclipse prayer (salat al-kusuf); the prayer for rain (salat al-istisqa’); and funeral rites and prayer (salat al-jana’iz) .
Publication
The work was printed in multiple editions, notably by Markaz al-Da'wah wa al-Irshad in al-Qasab as part of the author's multi-volume series on the pillars of Islam (Arkan al-Islam), with a second edition published in 1424 AH (2004 CE), a third in Safar 1431 AH (January 2010 CE), and a fourth in Shawwal 1431 AH (2010 CE) . The author placed a stipulation granting unrestricted permission to reproduce and distribute the work freely without additions, omissions, or modifications, on condition that copies be designated as an endowment for God (waqf lillah ta'ala) .
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