Q. When a woman has gone through the khula’ procedure to terminate her marriage, what does she need to observe during her waiting period? If someone proposes marriage to her, can she think about the proposal, or she must wait until her waiting period is over?
(Name and address withheld)
A. Khula’ is the termination of marriage at the wife’s request. She puts her application through the court, which will rule that the marriage is terminated and require her to refund to her husband any dowry he had paid her. The woman must still observe a waiting period in the same way as a divorced woman. However, in the case of khula’, the waiting period is simply to establish whether the woman is pregnant or not. In divorce, the woman spends her waiting period in her divorcing husband’s home, but they use different bedrooms. The husband must maintain her, paying all her living expenses during the waiting period, which provides a cooling-off time during which the couple can reconsider their respective positions and the effects of the divorce on other family members, particularly their children. During this waiting period the husband has first right to reinstate the marriage should the couple want to be reunited.
Much of this does not apply in khula’, because it is the wife who terminates the marriage. The husband has no right to reinstate the marriage if he so wishes. If reunion is desired, the ultimate decision rests with the wife. Therefore, she departs from the family home and rejoins her parents’ family. She still needs to observe a waiting period, but the only purpose here is to make sure that she is not pregnant.
It is permissible during a widow’s waiting period that a man should drop her a hint that he wishes to marry her when her waiting period is over. She certainly can consider this, but no final decision can be made until the process is completed when the waiting period is over. In the case of khula’ she can also consider such a possibility, but no action can be taken during the waiting period.
Missed Prayers
Q. I began praying only when I was 25. I wonder whether I must pray all the prayers I missed since I was 10, or since the time when prayer became obligatory to me. When we do not fast in Ramadan because of ill health or travel, we compensate by fasting a similar number of days later. Does the same apply to prayer?
M. Arif
A. Many scholars advise that offering such missed prayers is necessary. They also recommend that every time you offer an obligatory prayer, you add a similar prayer in compensation. Thus, with every Fajr prayer, you offer one missed Fajr prayer, and with every Dhuhr, a missed Dhuhr prayer. Since you missed about 11 years, then you carry this on for 11 or 12 years and you would have completed all that you had missed.
However, other scholars take a totally different view, based on the fact that prayer is a time-related duty. When you have missed a prayer for no valid reason, you have missed it forever, and you cannot compensate for it in anyway. Its time has lapsed and you cannot recover it. The valid reasons are loss of consciousness, including sleep, and forgetfulness.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “Whoever sleeps through the time of his prayer, or forgets it, must offer it when he becomes aware of it; for this is its time.”
Note how the Prophet relates the offering of such missed prayer to a new time range. The missed prayer should be offered immediately, because its time has now started and it lapses soon. Thus, when one wakes up and realizes that he has missed his prayer, he should proceed immediately to have his ablutions and start his prayer. He should not allow anything to distract him from his prayer. To my mind, this view is more valid and carries more weight.
What to do about prayers missed over a long period of time? Well, the idea of one compensatory prayer with every new prayer may sound fine, but then it may well be insufficient. How about a person who starts praying at the age of 50, having missed 36 or 37 years of prayers. He may live another 37 years but he is very likely to die before he completes his prayers. What happens then? Scholars who advance this view say that God is certain to forgive him the remainder because he has proven his intention to offer his missed prayers. Well, since God forgives prayers missed for a year or two, He also forgives them when missed for 40 or 50 years, when the person concerned has made a firm resolve not to miss his prayers again.
This is the key issue. When one has missed his prayers for many years, he must firmly resolve to be more mindful of his prayers, offering them on time, and must declare his repentance. If his repentance is sincere, and he fulfills his new resolution to pray regularly, then God may very well forgive him all the prayers he had missed.
The Qur’an in English, Etc.
Q.1. I sometimes read the Qur’an in its English translation only, so as to understand what I am reading. Is this a permissible alternative to reading it in both Arabic and English?
Q.2. Could you please explain what is the prayer called Salat Al-Hajah. I am told that it is a prayer offered when one is praying for a particular purpose.
Sana Sak
A.1. Reading the Qur’an is a form of worship that earns reward from God. The Prophet (peace be upon him) has told us that God rewards us for reading every letter of the Qur’an by what is equivalent to the reward of ten good actions. This is true because the Qur’an is the word of God, embodying His message to mankind. Hence, recitation of the Qur’an must be coupled with understanding and reflection on its meaning. However, if one cannot understand the Qur’an, either because he is a non-Arabic speaker or he has not been educated, reading the Qur’an remains an act of worship that earns reward.
When you read a translation of the Qur’an, you are reading a text that attempts to render the meaning of God’s words. It is always the case that a translation of any text into a foreign language loses parts of its meaning. This is particularly true of the Qur’an that utilizes maximum brevity of style while it remains most precise and concise. We often find Qur’anic statements admitting more than one interpretation. Hence, its translation is often felt to be inadequate. It is no more than a human expression of one person’s understanding of God’s words. As such, it cannot replace the Qur’an in any way. Reading it, however, could be very helpful to non-Arabic speaking people. Therefore, it should always be read alongside the Qur’anic text itself.
A.2. Salat Al-Hajah is a prayer offered for the accomplishment of a particular purpose. It consists of a fresh ablution done carefully, followed by a calm prayer of two rak’ahs, then a sincere supplication that states what one wishes to be accomplished and requesting God’s help in its accomplishment. There is no particular form of prayer or supplication. It is left to the individual to express his need for God’s help in the way he likes.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “Whoever does his ablutions well and offers two rak’ahs attending to their fulfillment and then asks God anything, God will be sure to answer his prayer, either immediately or in God’s own good time.” Therefore, if you do this prayer, you must be certain that God will answer your prayer, but He may delay His response because He, in His infinite wisdom and perfect knowledge, knows that such delay will be better for you.