A Dictionary of Islam Being a cyclopedia of the...

ṢALĀTU ʾL-ISTIK͟HĀRAH (صلاة الاستخارة). Lit. “Prayer for conciliating favour.” Two rakʿahs recited for success in an undertaking. Jābir relates that Muḥammad taught him Istik͟hārah, and that after reciting two rakʿahs he should thus supplicate God: “O God, I seek Thy good help in Thy great wisdom. I pray for ability to act through Thy power. I ask this thing of thy goodness. Thou knowest, but I know not. Thou art powerful, but I am not. Thou art knower of secrets. O God, if Thou knowest that the matter which I am about to undertake is good for my religion, for my life, for my future, then make it easy, and prosper me in it. But if it is bad for my religion, my life, and my future, then put it away from me, and show me what is good.” (Mishkāt, book iv. 40.)

ṢALĀTU ʾL-K͟HAUF (صلاة الخوف). The “Prayers of Fear.” Two rakʿahs of prayers recited first by one regiment and then by another in time of war, when the usual prayers cannot be recited for fear of the enemy. These prayers are founded upon an injunction in the Qurʾān, Sūrah iv. 102: “And when ye go to war in the land, it shall be no sin for you to curtail your prayers, if ye fear that the enemy come upon you.” This was also the Talmudic law (Tr. Berachoth iv. 4): “He that goeth in a dangerous place may pray a short prayer.”

ṢALĀTU ʾL-MARĪẒ (صلاة المريض). “Prayer of the sick.” When a person is too sick to stand up in the usual prayers, he is allowed to recite them either in a reclining or sitting posture, provided he performs the usual ablutions. It is ruled that he shall in such a case make the prostrations, &c., mentally. (Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār, vol. i. p. 891.)

There is considerable controversy amongst the learned doctors as to whether it is farẓ, wājib, or sunnah, but it is generally held to be sunnah, i.e. founded on the example of the Prophet, but with no divine command. Amongst the Ḥanafī sect, it is also known as Qunūtu ʾl-Witr, but the Shāfiʿīs recite the Qunūt separately.

ṢALĀTU ʾR-RAG͟HĀʾIB (صلاة الرغائب). “A prayer for things desired.” Two rakʿah prayers recited by one who desires some object in this world. According to the orthodox, it is forbidden in Islām. (Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār, vol. i. p. 717.) It is recited by some persons in the first week of the month Rajab.

ṢALĀTU ʾS-SAFAR (صلاة السفر). “Prayers of travel.” A shortened recital of prayer allowed to travellers. It is founded on a tradition by Yaʿla ibn Umaiyah, who says, “I said to ʿUmar, ‘God hath said, “When ye go to war in the land, it shall be no sin for you to shorten your prayers if ye fear that the infidels may attack you”; but now verily we are safe in this journey, and yet we shorten our prayers.’ ʿUmar replied, ‘I also wondered at the thing that astonished you; but the Prophet said, God hath done you a kindness in curtailing your prayers, therefore accept it.’ Ibn ʿUmar says, ‘I travelled with the Prophet, and he did not say more than two rakʿahs of prayer, and Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and ʿUs̤mān did the same.’ Ibn ʿAbbās says, ‘The Prophet used to say on a journey the noon and afternoon prayer together, and the sunset and evening prayer together.’ ” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xlii.)

The established prayers for a traveller are, therefore, two rakʿahs instead of the four farẓ rakʿahs at the noon and afternoon and evening prayers, and the usual two farẓ at the morning and the usual three farẓ at the sunset prayers; all voluntary prayers being omitted. (Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār, vol. i. p. 821.)

Twenty rakʿah prayers recited after the night prayer during the month of Ramaẓān. They are often followed with recitations known as ẕikrs [ZIKR], and form an exciting service of devotion. The Imām recites the Tarāwīḥ prayers with a loud voice.

Abū Hurairah says: “The Prophet used to encourage people to say night prayers in Ramaẓān without ordering them positively, and would say, ‘He who stands up in prayer at night, for the purpose of obtaining reward, will have all his sins pardoned’; then the Prophet died, leaving the prayers of Ramaẓān in this way. It is said ʿUmar instituted the present custom of reciting the twenty rakʿahs.” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xxxviii.) [RAMAZAN.]

“Verily the Prophet said to my father, ‘O ʿAbbās! O my uncle! shall I not give to you, shall I not present unto you, shall I not inform you of a thing which covers acts of sin? When you perform it, God will forgive your sins, your former sins, and your latter sins, and those sins which you did unknowingly, and those which you did knowingly, your great sins, and your small sins, your disclosed sins and your concealed sins? It is this, namely, that you recite four rakʿahs of prayer, and in each rakʿah recite the Fātiḥatu ʾl-Kitāb (i.e. the Introductory chapter of the Qurʾān), and some other Sūrah of the Qurʾān; and when you have recited these portions of the Qurʾān in the position of Qiyām, then say, “Holiness to God!” (Subḥāna ʾllāhi), and “Praise be to God!” (Wa ʾl-Ḥamdu li-ʾllāhi), and “There is no deity but God!” (Wa lā Ilāha illā huwa), and “God is most great!” (Wa ʾllāhu Akbar), fifteen times. Then perform a rukūʿ and recite it ten times; then raise up your head and say it ten times, then make the sajdah and say it ten times; then raise your head and say it ten times; then make another sajdah, and say it ten times, then raise your head again and say it ten times; altogether seventy-five times in every rakʿah; and do this in each of the rakʿah. If you are able to say this form of prayer every day, then do so, but if not, do it once every Friday, and if not each week, then say it once a month, and if not once a month, then say it once a year, and if not once a year, then do it once in your lifetime.’ ” (Mishkāt, book iv. ch. xli.)

ṢĀLIḤ (صالح). A prophet mentioned in the Qurʾān (Sūrah vii. 71), who was sent to the tribes ʿĀd and S̤amūd. Al-Baiẓāwī says he was the son of ʿUbaid, the son of Asaf, the son of Māsih, the son of ʿUbaid, the son of Ḥāẕir, the son of S̤amūd. Bochart thinks he must be the Pileg of Genesis xi. 16. D’Herbelot makes him the Salah of Genesis xi. 13.

“And We sent unto the tribe of Thamood their brother Ṣáliḥ. He said, O my people, worship God. Ye have no other deity than Him. A miraculous proof of my veracity hath come unto you from your Lord, this she-camel of God being a sign unto you. [He had caused her, at their demand, to come forth from the heart of a rock.] Therefore let her feed in God’s earth, and do her no harm, lest a painful punishment seize you. And remember how He hath appointed you vicegerents in the earth after [the tribe of] ʾA′d, and given you a habitation in the earth: ye make yourselves, on its plains, pavilions wherein ye dwell in summer, and cut the mountains into houses wherein ye dwell in winter. Remember then the benefits of God, and do not evil in the earth, acting corruptly.—The chiefs who were elated with pride, among his people, said unto those who were esteemed weak, namely, to those who had believed among them, Do ye know that Ṣáliḥ hath been sent unto this? And they hamstrung the she-camel (Ḳudár [the son of Sálif] doing so by their order and slaying her with the sword); and they impiously transgressed the command of their Lord, and said, O Ṣáliḥ, bring upon us that punishment with which thou threatenest us for killing her, if thou be [one] of the apostles. And the violent convulsion (a great earthquake, and a cry from heaven) assailed them, and in the morning they were in their dwellings prostrate and dead.