Assalam O Alaikum Sister,
Read the following news recently published on islamonline.net and give us your thaughts after coming back from your holidays. Hope Insha Allah Muslims can practice their faith free under Muslim rulers one day. Ameen
Tunisia Combines Friday, `Asr Prayers
By Hussein Al-Asmaai, IOL Correspondent
TUNIS — When Malaysian Abduallah went to one of Tunisia's ancient and largest mosques to perform the weekly Friday prayer on time during his journey to the North African country, the mosque's custodian put it to him politely, "Sorry sir, but you can come three hours later."
"It never crossed my mind that the doors of Al-Zaytuna grand mosque at the heart of the Tunisian capital would be shut down at Friday prayers," Abdullah, who only gave his first name, told IslamOnline.net Monday, July 23.
"At first glance, I thought the mega mosque might be under restoration."
Abdullah was later shocked to know that in Muslim but secular Tunisia some mosques are closed during the obligatory weekly prayers.
Abdullah was curious to know why.
"Because Friday has been a working day and Sunday a weekend since its independence (from France) in 1956," replied a passerby when asked by the dumbfounded tourist.
"Then president Habib Bourguiba adopted a set of laws that entrenched some of the occupation's traditions like the Sunday weekend.
An outcry from practicing Tunisians forced Bourguiba to "strike a balance" between Islam and secularism.
"Some scholars tailored fatwas at the behest of Bourguiba, authorizing Tunisians to combine Friday and `Asr (afternoon) prayers," Abdullah came to know.
"Under the fatwa, mosques were also divided into two categories: one performing Friday prayers on time to appease religious civil servants, while the other delaying the weekly prayer 30 minutes before the `Asr time so that others employees perform it after work," he added.
Tunisian scholars had actually taken things further as under Islam both prayers cannot be combined.
"Each one of the five prescribed prayers as well as the Friday prayer has a specific time. God Almighty says: 'Verily, the prayer is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours.' (An-Nisa’: 103)" said Mohammed Al-Bana, the Managing Editor of IslamOnline.net's Arabic Shari`ah page.
"Combing Friday and `Asr prayers runs counter to the order of Qur'an, unless there is an overwhelming excuse to do, but never a state policy," he added.
In Islam, Muslims are allowed — in some certain circumstances basically travels — to combine Zuhr with `Asr, on the one hand, and Maghrib with `Isha’, on the other, during travels or
The combination can be done whether by offering the second at the time of the first or by delaying the first to the time of the second.
State Sermons
Another thing has left Abdullah mesmerized: the Friday sermon at the mosques that perform the prayer on time.
"I was disappointed to know that authorities distribute one-theme sermon every Friday among such mosques," he said.
Some of the sermons were too dull and angered worshippers.
"I went to the Al-Basha mosque the other Friday to find the imam preaching about the importance of respecting traffic and pedestrian rules to head off tragic road accidents," he said.
"I knew that the same imam had tackled the beauty of flowers and how Islamic it is to maintain them on the streets."
Abdullah continued: "The themes drove some worshippers to heckle the imam, who insisted that such manners are purely Islamic."
More and more, the imam concluded his sermon with a long supplication dedicated to President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, the Interior Minister and policemen.
"The imams are powerless because if they did not abide by the sermon's them, they would be held accountable," said Abdullah.
Wassalam
Its Morocco, Algeria and then you get Tunesia...
