Tahiyyat al-Masjid
- Author died
- 1441 AH
- Editions
- al-Jāmiʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah
Tahiyyat al-Masjid (Greeting of the Mosque) is a specialized treatise in hadith and Islamic jurisprudence authored by Muhammad Diya al-Rahman al-Azami (d. 1441 AH / 2020 CE), examining the legal status and disputed cases surrounding the two-rak'ah prayer performed upon entering a mosque .
Subject and Legal Status
The treatise investigates the prayer of Tahiyyat al-Masjid, beginning with the foundational hadith narrated by Abu Qatada, in which the Prophet ﷺ stated: إذا دخل أحدكم المسجد فليركع ركعتين قبل أن يجلس ("When one of you enters the mosque, let him pray two rak'ahs before he sits") . The author notes that if a person forgets or intentionally sits before praying, it remains legislated to stand and make it up, referencing the report where the Prophet ﷺ questioned Abu Dharr and instructed him to perform them, as well as the incident of Sulyak al-Ghatafani .
Regarding the imperative formula in the text, al-Azami discusses whether the prayer is recommended or obligatory:
- Recommendation (nadb): The view held by the majority of jurists and hadith scholars, citing Malik ibn Anas, who remarked that the prayer is good but not obligatory .
- Obligation (wujub): An opinion attributed to Dawud al-Zahiri . The author clarifies that Ibn Hazm explicitly regarded it as an emphatic Sunnah (mu'akkadah) rather than an absolute duty, because no daily prayers are obligatory other than the five prescribed ones .
Disputed Times and Juristic Debates
The core of the book concentrates on two main scenarios of legal disagreement:
During the Friday Sermon
The author details the controversy regarding performing the prayer while the imam is delivering the Friday sermon (khutbah) :
- The jurists of hadith, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Dawud al-Zahiri maintained that it remains recommended to pray the two rak'ahs even while the imam is speaking, relying primarily on the hadith of Jabir ibn Abd Allah concerning Sulyak al-Ghatafani, as well as narrations from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri .
- Malik and Abu Hanifa held that the entrant must sit down and listen attentively to the sermon without praying, arguing from Quranic verses commanding attentiveness and hadiths enjoining silence, such as the report of Abdullah ibn Busr where the Prophet ﷺ told a man stepping over attendees: اجلس فقد آذيت ("Sit down, for you have caused harm") .
Al-Azami analyzes the counterarguments raised by Hanafi scholars such as al-Tahawi, Ibn al-Humam, and Badr al-Din al-Ayni—including claims that the Prophet ﷺ paused his sermon for Sulyak or that the text had irregularity (shudhudh)—and defends the sound transmission and generality of the hadith through a structural chain-of-transmission analysis (kharitah tawdihiyyah) .
During Prohibited Times
The author examines entering the mosque during times when voluntary prayers are ordinarily disliked (awqat al-nahy), analyzing how jurists reconcile the general command to pray upon entry with the general prohibition of prayers at specific intervals . Al-Shafi'i and Ahmad permitted prayers tied to specific causes (dhawat al-asbab), whereas Malik and Abu Hanifa disliked them during these periods .
The work concludes by extending the discussion to performing the two rak'ahs following circumambulation (tawaf) at Mecca during times of prohibition, evaluating the narrations of Jubayr ibn Mut'im and Ibn Abbas, and highlighting the juristic positions, including al-Tahawi's departure from the standard Hanafi view to permit them .
Answer updated