Q. Could you please explain the importance and details of Tassabeeh and Dhuha prayers.
K. Abdul-Jabbar
Dammam
A. Dhuha prayer is a voluntary prayer which may be offered at any time starting about half an hour after sunrise until shortly before noon. It is 2 to 8 rakaahs which are normally short. It may be offered any day, on regular or sporadic basis. Recitation in this prayer is normally private. It is certainly encouraged for anyone who can offer it, because it comes at a time when people are normally busy with their business. If one can take a short break to offer a couple of rakaahs, it does him well. If circumstances do not allow, then one may do it on weekends.
Tassabeeh prayer is a night prayer, offered sometime before dawn. It is 2 rakaahs with long glorification of God in certain parts of each rakaah.
There is only one Hadith which mentions this type of prayer, and it is not really authentic. In fact, Imam Ahmad, the founder of the Hanbali school of thought, who was one of the top scholars of Hadith and Fiqh, finds no basis for this prayer and does not encourage it. Still, if one wants to offer it, no blame attaches to him.
Permissible uses of alcohol
Q. Could you please explain the restrictions on the use of alcohol as a drug and in cosmetics. Is it permissible to use or not?
M.E.
Jeddah
A. When used in drinks, alcohol makes them intoxicants. As such it is forbidden to use. When alcohol changes in character as a result of a chemical reaction, so as to make the substance cause no intoxication, it becomes permissible. Thus, grape juice is permissible to drink. When it is brewed to make wine, it becomes forbidden. If it is left to become vinegar, it is again permissible to use in food, salads, etc.
Alcohol is a component of many food stuff, such as bread and yoghurt. In neither case does it cause any intoxication, not even in the mildest degree. If a person eats nothing but bread, or takes yoghurt for a full meal, consuming a large quantity of it, it does not affect him in any way similar to that of drinking even a small sip of wine. No scholar has ever suggested that eating bread or yoghurt may be even discouraged because of the alcohol in them.
I have gone into this simply to show that what we talk about in the prohibition of alcohol is simply alcoholic drinks, because they intoxicate. Even if a large quantity of a drink causes a mild intoxication, that drink is forbidden even in very small sips.
The use of alcohol in cosmetics, including perfumes, is permissible and does not affect the validity of prayer. We do not eat or drink such stuff, but we make only an external use of it. The impurity of intoxicants is an abstract, not real one. As for drugs containing alcohol, particularly cough mixtures, they should be avoided. There is no need for them, as other medicines are available. The World Health Organization has worked hard with drug companies to produce cough medicines for children that do not include alcohol. These are now available. Hence, the ones with alcohol should be avoided in all situations.