Al-Shaf' Prayer
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Al-Shafʿ prayer (Arabic: صلاة الشَفع) is a two-rak'a prayer included in night prayer. Al-Shaf' prayer is performed at the end of night prayer, after performing four two-rak'a prayers. After al-Shaf' prayer, one rak'a is performed called al-Watr prayer with which night prayer ends. Al-Shaf and al-Watr prayers are considered the most rewarded parts of the night prayer.
Cause of Naming
The word "shaf'" means appending something to something else and means even,[1] against al-Watr which means odd.[2]
Method of Performing
Al-Shaf' prayer has two rak'as.[3] This prayer is a part of night prayer, performed at the end of it, before al-Watr prayer.[4] Night prayer has eleven rak'as and is comprised of four two-rak'a prayers, one two-rak'a prayer of al-Shaf' and one rak'a prayer of al-Watr.[5]
According to some hadiths, it is recommended to recite Qur'an 112 after Qur'an 1 in al-Shaf' prayer.[6] In some hadiths, it is advised to recite Qur'an 113 in the first rak'a and Qur'an 114 in the second rak'a after Qur'an 1.[7]
Time of Performing
According to some sources, the time of night prayer is after shar'i midnight, upon the true fajr.[8] Some others considered its time after Isha' prayer.[9]
Merits
Al-Shaf' prayer together with al-Watr prayer make the most rewarded parts of the night prayer.[10] In Imam Khomeini's Tahrir al-wasila, it is mentioned that a person who does not have time to perform all eleven rak'as of the night prayer, can suffice to perform al-Shaf' and al-Watr prayers.[11]
Supplication after al-Shaf' Prayer
According to Shaykh Abbas Qummi in Mafatih al-jinan, after al-Shaf' prayer, it is recommended to recite the supplication beginning with "Ilahi Ta'arrad-a lak-a…" (الهی تَعَرَّضَ لَکَ) which is among the supplications of the eve of the mid-Sha'ban.[12]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Tafsīr al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, vol. 3, p. 1358; Qarashī Banāʾī, Qāmūs-i Qurʾān, vol. 7, p. 178.
- ↑ Qarashī Banāʾī, Qāmūs-i Qurʾān, vol. 7, p. 178.
- ↑ Qummī, Mafātīḥ al-jinān, p. 758; Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 1, p. 485.
- ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāyiʿ al-Islām, vol. 1, p. 46.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, Miṣbāḥ al-mutahajjid, vol. 1, p. 26.
- ↑ Qummī, Mafātīḥ al-jinān, p. 758; Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 1, p. 485.
- ↑ Qummī, Mafātīḥ al-jinān, p. 758; Ṣadūq, Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh, vol. 1, p. 485.
- ↑ Khomeinī, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 1, p. 136.
- ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-ifhām, vol. 1, p. 144.
- ↑ Khomeinī, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 1, p. 136.
- ↑ Khomeinī, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 1, p. 136.
- ↑ Qummī, Mafātīḥ al-jinān, p. 758.
References
- Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. al-Ḥasan al-. Sharāyiʿ al-Islām fī masāʾil al-ḥalāl wa al-ḥarām. Tehran: Istiqlāl, 1409 AH.
- Khomeinī, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh. Taḥrīr al-wasīla. Najaf: Ādāb, 1390 AH.
- Qummī, Abbās. Mafātīḥ al-jinān. Edited by Shaykh ʿAlī Kawthar. Qom: Majmaʿ Iḥyāʾ al-Thiqāfat al-Islāmiya, [n.d].
- Qarashī Banāʾī, ʿAlī Akbar. Qāmūs-i Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1412 AH.
- Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad al-. Tafsīr al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī. Riyadh: Dār al-Waṭan, 1424 AH.
- Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn b. ʿAlī. Masālik al-ifhām ilā tanqīh sharāyiʿ al-Islām. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīyya, 1413 AH.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh. Qom: Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn-i fī al-Ḥawza-yi al-ʿIlmiyya, [n.d].
- Ṭūsī, Muḥamamd b. al-Ḥasan al-. Miṣbāḥ al-mutahajjid. Beirut: Muʾassisat Fiqh al-Shīʿa, 1411 AH.