Why is there an absence of worship
frequencies in the Quran
The
reader of the Quran will note that throughout the Quran God never set any
frequencies in connection to the worship practises. We do not find in the Quran
any set number of times we must wash our hands in ablution or the percentage of
Zakat we are to pay or the number of times we must travel the distance between
Safa and Marwah during Hajj and Umrah .... etc.
As a
constant learner and reader of the Holy Quran I have often wondered about this
noticeable absence and wondered why did God deliberately omit any mention of a
minimum number of times we must adhere to in connection to practising our
religious rites. I have also questioned where do all the frequencies we were
brought up to follow come from? They certainly don't come from the Quran! In
constant awareness that the Quran contains all the details of our religion
(6:114) and that nothing has been left out of the book (6:38) it becomes
evident that God did not require of us any set frequencies in connection to any
of the worship practises.
On
further study of God's book it becomes evident that we have numerous
indications that these practises are indeed left open to each individual. The
following are some of these indications:
1- A good case is given in connection with
Zakat (obligatory charity). We note that the traditional percentage of 2.5% has
no Quranic reference and can only be traced in origin to hadith. Yet, in the
Quran we have very strong evidence that God never set a fixed percentage for
the payment of Zakat. The evidence to this truth is found in the following
verses:
"You
shall give the due alms to the relatives, the needy, the poor, and the
travelling alien, but do not be excessive, extravagant.
"The
extravagant are brethren of the devils, and the devil is unappreciative of his
Lord.
"Even
if you have to turn away from them, as you pursue the mercy of your Lord, you
shall treat them in the nicest manner.
"You
shall not keep your hand stingily tied to your neck, nor shall you foolishly
open it up, lest you end up blamed and sorry" 17:26-29
The
words "due alms" in verse 26 speak of an obligatory
payment which means that the subject here is the Zakat which is an obligatory
charity. With this in mind, the words in verse 29 become very significant:
"You
shall not keep your hand stingily tied to your neck, nor shall you foolishly
open it up, lest you end up blamed and sorry"
We
must meditate on these words a while and pose the question: If the traditional
2.5% rate is from God, then why would God command us not to be stingy nor too
extravagant? Surely following a fixed 2.5% rate would not give rise to a
situation where anyone would be stingy nor too extravagant! The command not to be stingy nor too
extravagant confirm that the percentage is NOT fixed, but is flexible and that
it has been left to each individuals means.
2- Another strong indication which confirms
that God left the frequencies of worship practises open is found in the
following Quranic words:
"The
knolls of Safa and Marwah are among the rites decreed by God. Anyone who
observes Hajj or Umrah commits no error by traversing the distance between
them. If one volunteers more righteous works, then God is Appreciative,
Omniscient" 2:158
From
these words we note the following:
a- The words "the distance
between them" speaks of one distance. Hence the Quranic
command is to travel the distance once and not seven times as tradition
dictates.
b- The words "If one volunteers more righteous works, then God is
Appreciative, Omniscient" indicate that God left any extra
practise to each individual and that all extra righteous work and worship is
noted and appreciated by God. This once again indicates strongly that God left
the frequencies of worship practises open to each individual. Thus after
travelling the distance between Safa and Marwah once, one is free to
voluntarily travel any additional number of times, but the decreed requirement
is just the once.
As a
result of this presentation, we must totally reject any non Quranic set
frequencies in connection to our religious practises. Among those are the 2.5%
for Zakat, the seven times of circling the Kaba'a and seven times of travelling
the distance between Safa and Marwa, the three times of washing (face, hands ..
etc) in ablution, the two prostrations after every one bowing, and so on.
------------------------------
Recently,
a group of scholars have made a claim that the Quran requires a minimum number
of two rakas per each Salat.
They
base such claim on the words in 4:101, and specifically the concession from God
for the believers to shorten their Salat at times of war. They argue that the
Salat must be at least two rakas in order to be shortened, since it is not
possible to shorten a Salat that is made of one raka.
On
initial reading this may make good sense, but does it really?
The
answer is no, and here are the reasons:
1- The concept of "raka" for a start is not a Quranic concept nor
format. This word is not mentioned anywhere in the Quran, consequently the
starting point of this line of thought is based on a traditional concept (raka)
rather than a rule authorised in the Quran.
The
Quran commands us to observe 3 positions during Salat, these are the standing,
bowing and prostrating (in that order), however, the Quran does not give us any
specific length of time in which we are to spend in any of these three
positions. Consequently, one may choose to spend 5 or 10 minutes in the
standing position glorifying God, the same applies to the time one may spend in
the other positions. Similarly, one may also choose to bow once or 10 times
before prostrating, and as long as the bowing (in any frequency) is followed by
prostrating (in any frequency), who is to say that this violates any Quranic
law?
Needless
to say, the traditional format for the raka (standing, then one bowing followed
by 2 prostrations) is not Quranic, and thus to adhere to this
format and condition our thinking in terms of multiples of rakas is to follow
tradition rather than Quranic law.
2- Consequently, the command to shorten the
salat does not pertain to shortening the number of raka's, since (as explained)
God would not give us instructions to shorten something that WE invented and
which He never devised.
3- With this in mind, the command to
shorten the Salat becomes more clear. Since the Quran does not authorise a
specific format for the frequency of any of the three positions, thus the
command to shorten the Salat becomes clearly a command to shorten the OVERALL
TIME we spend in our Salat .... for example if we normally spend 10 minutes in
one Salat (which could be only one sequence of the 3 positions), at times of
war we are advised to shorten this time for reasons of safety. Let us say spend
only a couple of minutes. The concession to shorten the time of our Salat would
also mean that instead of uttering the phrase "sobhan rabi Al-Aala"
(Praise God the Most High) 10 times, we can say it only once or twice.
4- If we read ayat 102 we get confirmation
that prostration signals the end
of the Salat. Verse 102 does not speak of two, three or more prostration, but
only of "once they prostrate":
"and
if you are among them and you conduct the prayer for them, let a group of them,
pray with you while another group are standing behind them with their arms (as
protection), then once they
prostrate let the other group that has not prayed
take their turn praying with you ....."
In
other words, after they prostrate, others would replace those who ended their
Salat (after prostrating) and would start their Salat again with the messenger
who would be leading a number of prayers for the benefit of the believers.
It
must be stressed again that these words speak of one prostration and not
multiple prostrations. This confirms that the claim of more than one raka
cannot be justified by the words in 4:102.
We
know that God is NOT short of words (18:109) .... if we have to prostrate at
least twice to make the Salat lawful God would have told us so, the Quran
indeed is fully detailed.
God
defined our Salat as a sequence of three movements (standing, bowing,
prostrating) without placing a time limit to the overall length of our Salat
nor placing a fixed number to each of the three movements before proceeding to
the next movement.
If
there is no frequency given in the Quran to any of the three movements, then
the only meaning of shortening our Salat becomes TIME related, it cannot be
frequency related since there is no frequency given in the Quran to start with.
Since
God gives us the concession to shorten our Salat during war, then the only
meaning of this command, and if we are to avoid interpreting or guessing, is to
observe our Salat in a shorter time.
----------------------------
From
all the above, it becomes evident that all these frequencies connected to our
religious practises are man made. In contrast, God left the frequency of all
our religious rites to the ability and willingness (for righteousness) of every
individual. One can think of two major reasons for this flexibility:
1- God in His Infinite Wisdom and Mercy
knows that different people have different abilities and means. A young man can
go round the Kaba any number of times, but an old man does not have the same
energy or fitness. Similarly paying 2.5% of ones net income for Zakat would not
burden a millionaire in any way, yet for a poor man with a family, 2.5% may
mean supper for two or three nights for his family. To impose a set fixed
number for the above practises or any others would not be in line with God's
Justice.
2- The second reason is that each will
receive in exact equivalence to their work. If God was to set any fixed
presets, then our account would not reflect an expression of voluntary
righteousness but enforced worship.
The
reader is advised to note that the only frequency set in the Quran for a
religious practise is the one month (29/30 days) of Ramadan for fasting.
Personally, I am not enlightened yet to know the wisdom behind this exception.
I am sure that God has His wisdom in so doing.
Having
said that, we note that God has set numerous fixed frequencies in the Quran for
religious rites, but if we examine them we note that they are all connected to
atonements for violating God's law. As an example, we read in 5:89 the
following:
"If
you violate an oath, you shall atone by feeding ten poor people from the same
food you offer to your own family, or clothing them, or by freeing a slave. If
you cannot afford this, then you shall fast three days"
In
the case above, and if we violate an oath, we must feed a minimum of ten poor
people, and not any less. It is understandable that God would set a fixed
penalty (e.g. feeding 10 poor people) since only God knows the exact penalty
that atones for the violation which we have committed. But when it comes to
worshipping God willingly, God rewards each according to their deeds, there are
no pre-set, minimums nor maximums.
The
reader is well advised to always remember that the Quran is complete and fully
detailed (6:114) and that God has left nothing out of the book (6:38). What
this means is that those who attempt to devise a fixed number for any religious
practise where there is no such restriction in the Quran are guilty of
following hadith and tradition rather than the fully detailed Quran.
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