[Mowselelew]

السلام عليكم


A guy at the office wants to pray 'Asr for example, and he doesn't want to miss the prayer so he selects a direction and prays in it but afterwards he discovers that the Qiblah was in the other direction, is his prayer accepted according to the Shafi'i opinion?

Salam.

[Mowselelew]

Bumped

[Geetiill]

Salam aleikum

You mean he just randomly selected a direction? If yes, then his salat is batil, even if he happened to pray in the right direction.

If he is in an office he could use http://www.qiblalocator.com/

[endulundaSauh]

From Reliance of a Traveller:

f6.6 If one does not find an informant to tell
one of the proper direction of prayer by having
seen the Kaaba in that direction, then one
employs personal reasoning, using other evidence.
(n: To establish the direction of prayer in cities far from Mecca one may use
a world globe and a piece of string, since in North America, Australia, and other
regions, using a flat world map will yield the wrong direction because of the curvature
of the earth, and the error factor is often considerable. One puts the end of
the string on the position of Mecca on the globe, the other end on one's own city,
and pulls the string taut, observing the bearing of the string and drawing a line in
the same direction ona local map, which can be oriented with a compass and used
to indicate the proper direction to pray.)
If one does not know how to use other evidence,
(0: and it is a communal obligation (def:
c3.2) for someone to know,) or one is blind, then
one follows another (0: reliable sighted person
acquainted with the evidence).
f6.7 If, after praying, one becomes certain one
was mistaken, then the prayer must be repeated.
(n: In the Hanafi, Maliki, and Hanbali
schools, the criterion for facing the direction of
prayer is merely that some portion of the person's
face be directed towards the Kaaba (al-Fiqh 'ala
al-madhahib al-arba'a (y66), 1.195). (A: This
takes in 180 degrees, from far left to far right, such
that when the Kaaba is anywhere betw~en, one is
considered to be facing the direction of prayer.))

[Mowselelew]

Hmmm... Thanks a lot.

About this part:

(n: In the Hanafi, Maliki, and Hanbali
schools, the criterion for facing the direction of
prayer is merely that some portion of the person's
face be directed towards the Kaaba (al-Fiqh 'ala
al-madhahib al-arba'a (y66), 1.195). (A: This
takes in 180 degrees, from far left to far right, such
that when the Kaaba is anywhere betw~en, one is
considered to be facing the direction of prayer.)

^ Why doesn't this part site the Shafi'i, are we in agreement with the rest?

[endulundaSauh]

Hmmm... Thanks a lot.

About this part:

(n: In the Hanafi, Maliki, and Hanbali
schools, the criterion for facing the direction of
prayer is merely that some portion of the person's
face be directed towards the Kaaba (al-Fiqh 'ala
al-madhahib al-arba'a (y66), 1.195). (A: This
takes in 180 degrees, from far left to far right, such
that when the Kaaba is anywhere betw~en, one is
considered to be facing the direction of prayer.)

^ Why doesn't this part site the Shafi'i, are we in agreement with the rest?

Lol, I too thought about that. Try this from sunnipath: http://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?...=2830&CATE=400

I have seen a more detailed answer somewhere, but i cant remember where. Something like- whether the 'attempt' to determine the correct direction was made etc etc.

[Geetiill]

The second point in the fatwa is not totally correct, Allahu A'lam. In Bughya it says:
وتبين الخطأ أما بمشاهدة الكعبة ولا يتصور إلا مع القرب أو إخبار عدل وكذا رؤية المحاريب المعتمدة السالمة من الطعن قاله في التحفة ويحمل على المحاريب التي ثبت أنه صل الله عليه وسلم صلى إليها ومثلها محاذيها لا غيرهما

The second point was translated in this way:
having someone upright inform of his witnessing the Kaaba This part "of his witnessing the Kaaba" is not mentioned in the text and is only partially true. This is from al-Tuhfah
كقوله هذه الكعبة ، أو رأيت الجم الغفير يصلون لهذه الجهة [ ص: 498 ] أو القطب مثلا هنا وهو عالم بدلالته وكمحراب وهو بقرية نشأ بها قرون من المسلمين بشرط أن يسلم من الطعن لا ككثير من قرى أرياف مصر وغيرها أو بجادة يكثر طارقوها من المسلمين According to this, if someone tells you that the direction is wrong, and he is aware of how to use the north star as an evidence showing where the Qiblah is, then you have to repeat the prayer.

Why doesn't this part site the Shafi'i, are we in agreement with the rest? The mu'tamad of the shafi'i school is that you have to face 'ayn al-Ka'bah, i.e. its not enough to face the direction of the Ka'bah.

[Mowselelew]

Jazakallah Khayran Abbe, so it is actually stricter may Allah save us

[Geetiill]

amin