This is a continuation from the previous article…
4. Make your homes a Qiblah
What is meant is taking the home as a place of worship.
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning),
| “And We inspired Moosa and his brother (saying): ‘Take dwellings for your people in Egypt, and make your dwellings as places for your worship, and perform al-salaah, and give glad tidings to the believers.’” [Yoonus 10:87] |
Ibn ‘Abbaas said, “They were commanded to take their dwellings as places of prayer [lit. mosques].” Ibn Katheer said, “This – and Allah knows best – was because of the intensity of the tribulation that they were facing from Pharaoh and his people. They were commanded to pray much, as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): ‘O you who believe! Seek help with patience and prayer…’ [al-Baqarah 2:153], and as it was reported in the hadeeth that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when he was distressed by something, would pray.”
This explains the importance of worshipping at home, especially at times when the Muslims are in a position of weakness, as happens in some places where the Muslims cannot pray openly in front of the kuffaar. In this context we may think of the mihraab of Maryam, which was her place of worship, as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning),
| “… Every time Zakariya entered the mihraab to visit her, he found her supplied with sustenance…” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:37] |
The Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them) used to be keen to pray at home – apart from the fard or obligatory prayers (which they prayed in congregation in the mosque) – and there is a moving story concerning this. Mahmood ibn al-Rabee’ al-Ansaari reported that ‘Utbaan ibn Maalik – who was one of the Companions of the Messenger ﷺ and was one of the Ansaar who had been present at Badr – came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said,
| I am losing my sight, and I lead my people in prayer. When it rains, the valley between me and them gets flooded and I cannot get to their mosque to lead them in prayer. O Messenger of Allah, I would like you to come to come and pray in my house so that I can take it as a place for prayer.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I will do that, in sha Allah.” ‘Utbaan said: “The next day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Abu Bakr came in the morning. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked for permission to enter, and I gave him permission. He did not sit down until he entered the house, then he said, ‘Where would you like me to pray in your house?’ I showed him a corner of the house, then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up, said Takbeer, and we stood in a row behind him, and he prayed two rak’ahs and gave the salaam at the end of the prayer. [Reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, 1/519] |
