Question: The adhan is called out from a central mosque.
Besides, people start to place TV screens on the walls of some mosques so that
followers can see imams. Is it not
bid'at? ANSWER Similar implementation has been initiated
in India, too. It leaves us with an impression that there is preparation for
elimination of imams of small mosques in order for people to follow the
imams in central mosques, as we see in India.
We have
heard that in India the Wahhabis performed salat without an
imam in some mosques. We have learnt that these mosques were connected
to the central mosque and the jama’at followed the imam by
hearing his voice through loudspeakers. The fact that those salats
performed by following the voice emitted from a loudspeaker or the image of the
imam on television are not valid, is written in the the magazine
Al-Mu’allim, dated Rabi’ul-awwal, 1406 [December, 1985], and published by
the Indian Muslim scholars in Kerala. It is written in the book
Suyufullah-il-Ajilla that it is not permissible to join a
jama’at conducted through a loudspeaker by the imam.
(Se'adet-i Ebediyye)
When Habib-ur-Rahman, the dean of Jamia-i
Habibiyya in Pakistan, went on a pilgrimage in 1981, he saw that the Wahhabi
imam was leading salat by employing the use of a loudspeaker,
and therefore, he performed salats separately. As a result, he was
handcuffed and imprisoned. Then he was denied the right to perform hajj
and was sent to his country. (İslam Ahlakı)
Question: Is it
permissible to say "Amin" to the du'a of a person relayed on a
TV screen as it is not his actual voice? ANSWER Yes, one can say
"Amin" to it. The loudspeaker acts as proxy for the speaker, and it
transmits the speaker's voice to us. It is like a deputy. There is nothing wrong
with arranging for a deputy to do a task. Just as one is allowed to send one's
regards or to make du'a through someone else, so one is allowed to send
one's regards or to make du'a through devices having loudspeakers. We
can return the regards sent by these means or say "Amin" to the
du'a made by these means. The case is different as for
salat. You cannot arrange for someone else to perform salat
for you. The sound emitted from a loudspeaker is not the actual voice of the
speaker. It is only likeness. That is, it is the voice of the deputy. It
converts into some other sound. It is not permissible to follow this
reconstructed voice in salat. Moreover, it is bid'at. It is
permissible to make someone do something by proxy in all activities, such as
preaching, teaching, except recitation of adhan and the Qur'an or
performing salat.
Question: As musical instruments and
any type of instrument that emits sound are called mizmar in the book
Se'adet-i Ebediyye, are televisions and loudspeakers considered
mizmar, too? ANSWER Yes, they are considered
mizmar, too. It is written in the same book:
Any instrument that
is used to produce sound is called mizmar. A drum, a tambourine, a
woodwind instrument such as a reed flute, a violin, a lute, a loudspeaker, a
tape recorder, and a television set are a mizmar each. (Se'adet-i
Ebediyye)
Mizmar refers to any type of musical
instrument and a whistle. The loudspeaker is a mizmar, too. (İslam
Ahlakı)
Instruments that produce sounds for pleasure, such as
drums, tambourines, cymbals, reeds, flutes, loudspeakers, are all musical
instruments. A musical instrument does not produce sound by itself. They have to
be used so as to produce sound, i.e., with the drum you have to strike the
tightly stretched skin with a stick, with the reed you have to blow, and with
the loudspeaker you have to articulate sounds. The sound that comes out from
them is their own production. (Se'adet-i Ebediyye)
It is
haram to recite the Qur'an al-karim and to perform other duties [such
as adhan, iqamat, and imamhood] by employing the use
of musical instruments. It is not permissible for a fasiq (a person who
sins openly) to call out the adhan even in a pure and respectable
manner. Similarly, as the loudspeaker is used to spread sinful songs and women
voices, it is not permissible to call out the adhan by using it, even
if the voice were not converted into some other sound, because the act of
worship cannot be changed. (İslam Ahlakı)
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