1. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims
  2. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

21 Questions

How should I pray if I don’t have my Turbah with me?
Zaid Alsalami

Bismihi ta'ala

You do not necessarily need to do sajdah on a 'turbah'. It can be anything natural, as long as it is non-edible, and is not worn. 

You can use a rock, marble, wood, or a leaf, etc. 

You can use paper, only if you are certain that it is natural as well.

And Allah knows best.
If someone at the age of three or four years threw a Sajdigah, made of Khak-e-Shifa, in a drain full of dirt and later realized, after becoming Baligh, then what will be the Kaffarah for this act?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

No Kaffara and no responsibility on a child in the age of three or four. Estighfaar is always good.

'Wassalam.
How can I justify to my Sunni brothers my use of a Sajdagah during prayers?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

We are following the Prophet Muhammad who never did Sajda on carpet and always performed Sajda on the earth or plants which are not for wearing nor for eating. All Muslim scholars have the Prophetic Hadeeth: جُعِلت لي الارض مسجدا وطَهورا "The earth was ordained for me as a place of prostration and a material of purification" Saheeh al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Salah, Hadeeth number 429.

The Prophet (SAWA) used to prostrate either on the earth or on piece of clay or mat called Khumrah ( Saheeh al-Bukhari , Kitab al-Salah, Hadeeth number 368) which is just like the Sajdagah which we, Shia Muslims use.

Those who do Sajda on the carpet are doing something which was never done by the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) according to their own books of Hadeeth. They should ask themselves; why?

Ibn Taymiyyah, the godfather of Wahhabism stated that prostrating on carpet is Bid'ah.(Majmoo' al-Fataawa,Ibn Taymiyyah, Volume 22).

Wassalam.
Why do the Shia use a piece of clay from Karbala to pray on when the Prophet Muhammad (s) never prayed on it himself?
Mahmood Abu Maryam

The Prophet (s) used to pray on earth and is also reported to have shown reverence towards the soil of Karbala in his lifetime with the foreknowledge of what would happen upon it.

So although it is not compulsory for the Shia to pray on a turba made from the soil of Karbala, it is considered meritorious to do so.

You can read more details with full references here:

https://www.al-islam.org/articles/laws-and-practices-why-do-shiah-prostrate-turbah