Amakin al-Takhyir (places of choice)

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Amākin al-Takhyīr (Arabic: اماکن التخییر, Places of Choice) or al-Amakin al-Arba'a (Arabic: الاماکن الاربعة, the Four Places) are the places where a traveler can perform the prayer in complete or short form. According to the view attributed to most Shi'a jurists, these places are: Mecca, Medina, the mosque of Kufa and holy shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a). However, some jurists have considered the old and new perimeters of these places different with regards to this rule and have considered the rule of choice for performing prayer applicable to the old perimeters of these places.

Naming

Amakin al-Takhyir (places of choice) or al-Amakin al-Arba'a (the Four Places) are the places where a traveler can perform the prayer in complete or short form. Since a traveler has the choice in these places to perform prayer either in short or complete form, they are called "places of choice". Also, with regards to the number of these places, they are called "the Four Places"[1].

Places

It is attributed to most Shi'a jurists that they have considered Mecca, Medina[2], the Mosque of Kufa and the shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) among the places of choice[3].

Al-Shaykh al-Tusi said that according to some hadiths, the rule of choice applies to the whole cities of Kufa[4] and Najaf[5] as well. Some jurists have considered the city of Kufa among the places of choice too[6]. Some others have limited that to al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the Mosque of the Prophet (s) in Medina[7].

Some jurists have considered the old and new perimeters of these places different with regards to this rule and have considered the rule of choice for performing prayer applicable only to the old perimeters of these places.

It is attributed to al-Sayyid al-Murtada and Ibn al-Junayd that they considered the rule of choice and recommendation of performing the prayer in complete form applicable near the grave of all Infallible Imams (a)[8]. Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi the author of Jawahir said that there is no clear proof for this claim[9].

Rulings

In their works, Shi'a jurists have typically discussed about Places of Choice in two parts: rulings of prayer[10] and Hiring someone to perform worship acts[11]. According to the opinion of most Shi'a jurists, travelers have the choice to perform their four-rak'a prayers either in short or complete form. But, they have considered performing the prayer in complete form recommended in these places[12].

Some other rules of the places of choice are:

  • The rule of choice is specific to prayer and does not apply to fasting[13].
  • Most jurists consider performing a prayer which becomes qada in the places of choice in short form according to caution; while, some have considered it possible to be performed in either short or complete form[14].
  • According to the fatwa of some jurists, the rule of choice in the Four Places is continuous (the praying person can change his intention from short form to complete form or from complete form to short form during the prayer). However, if he does so, some have considered performing the prayer again according to caution[15].
  • According to the fatwa of some jurists, the rule of choice in the Four Places in only applicable to the old perimeters of the Four Places[16].

Notes

  1. See: Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 3, p. 624.
  2. ʿĀmilī, Miftāḥ al-kirāma, vol. 3, p. 491.
  3. Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya fī mujarrad al-fiqh wa l-fatāwā, p. 124; Ḥillī, Muntahā al-maṭlab, vol. 6, p. 366.
  4. Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya fī mujarrad al-fiqh wa l-fatāwā, p. 124.
  5. Ṭūsī, Al-Mabsūṭ fī fiqh al-imāmīyya, vol. 1, p. 141.
  6. Ṣīstānī, Minhaj al-ṣāliḥīn, vol. 1, p. 305.
  7. Ḥillī, Kitāb al-sarāʾir al-ḥāwī li taḥrīr al-fatāwī, vol. 1, pp. 302-3; Ḥillī, Mukhtalaf al-Shīʿa fī aḥkām al-sharīʿa, vol. 3, p. 138.
  8. Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, p. 339.
  9. Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, p. 339.
  10. See: Shahīd al-Awwal, al-Bayān, p. 153.
  11. Anṣārī, al-Makāsib, vol. 5, p. 134.
  12. Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, p. 124.
  13. Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 3, pp. 518, 624.
  14. Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 3, pp. 62-3; ʿĀmilī, Miftāḥ al-kirāma, vol. 3, p. 398.
  15. Ṣīstānī, Minhaj al-ṣāliḥīn, vol. 1, p. 306; Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 3, p. 518.
  16. Maḥmūdī, Manāsik-i ʿumra mufrada, p. 246.

References

  • Ḥillī, al-Ḥasan b. Yusuf al-. Muntahā al-maṭlab fī taḥqīq al-madhhab. Mashhad: Majma' al-Buhuth al-Islamiyya, 1412 AH.
  • Anṣārī, Murtaḍā. Al-Makāsib. Qom: Muʾassisa Maṭbūʿātī Dār al-Kitāb, 1410 AH.
  • Hamidānī, Aqā Riḍā. Misbah al-faqih. Edited by Baqiri, Mirzayi and Ja'fariyan. Qom: Mu'assisa al-Ja'fariyya li-Ihya' a-Turāth, 1416 AH.
  • Ḥillī, al-Ḥasan b. Yusuf al-. Mukhtalaf al-Shīʿa fī aḥkām al-sharīʿa. Qom: Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn, 1413 AH.
  • Ḥillī, Ibn Idrīs al-. Kitāb al-sarāʾir al-ḥāwī li taḥrīr al-fatāwī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1410 AH.
  • Maḥmūdī, Muḥammad Riḍā. Manāsik-i ʿumra mufrada. First edition. Qom: Intishārāt-i Mash'ar, 1429 AH.
  • Najafī, Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. Edited by ʿAbbās Qūchānī & ʿAlī Ākhūndī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1404 AH.
  • Shahīd al-Awwal, Muḥammad b. Makkī. Al-Bayān. Edited by Muḥammad Ḥasūn. Qom: 1412 AH.
  • Shahīd al-Awwal, Muḥammad b. Makkī. Al-Dhikrā al-shīʿa fī aḥkām al-sharīʿa. Qom: Mu'assisa Al al-Bayt, 1419 AH.
  • Ṣīstānī, Sayyid ʿAlī. Minhaj al-ṣāliḥīn. Qom: Office of Ayatollah Ṣīstānī, 1417 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Mabsūṭ fī fiqh al-imāmīyya. Tehran: al-Maktaba al-Murtaḍawīyya lī Iḥyāʾ al-Āthār al-Jaʿfarīyya, 1387 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Nihāya fī mujarrad al-fiqh wa l-fatāwā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1400 AH.
  • Yazdī, Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim al-. Al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā. Edited by Ahmad Muhsini Sabziwari. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1419 AH.
  • ʿĀmilī, Sayyid Jawād. Miftāḥ al-kirāma fī sharḥ qawāʿid al-ʿallāma. Edited by Muhammad Baqir Husayni Shahidi. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, [n.d].