سورة النساء

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Intoxication is of four kinds: the intoxication of drink, the intoxication of wealth, the intoxication of sleep, and the intoxication of rule.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Zayd al-Shahham says: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the verse: لاَ تَقْرَبُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَأَنتُمْ سُکَارَی [do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated]. He said: "What is meant is the intoxication of sleep."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Do not stand for prayer sluggish, drowsy or listless, for that is from hypocrisy. Allah has forbidden the believers from standing for prayer while they are intoxicated — and what is meant by intoxication is sleep.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Halabi says: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the verse: یَا أَیُّهَا الَّذِینَ آمَنُواْ لاَ تَقْرَبُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَأَنتُمْ سُکَارَی حَتَّیَ تَعلَمُواْ مَا تَقُولُونَ [O you who believe! do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated until you know what you say]. He said: لاَ تَقْرَبُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَ أَنتُمْ سُکَارَی [do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated] — that is, the intoxication of sleep. He is saying: do not be so drowsy that in your ruku, sujud and takbir you do not understand what you are saying. What the verse means is not what most people claim — that a believer would be intoxicated with wine — because a believer neither drinks wine nor becomes intoxicated.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): When one of you feels sleepy and is dozing while praying, let him break off the prayer, for perhaps he may ask in his prayer for something to his own detriment without realising it, [and do this] حَتَّی تَعْلَمُوا ما تَقُولُونَ [until you know what you say] — that is, until you can distinguish what words you are uttering.

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn al-Fudayl narrates from Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) that regarding the verse: لاَ تَقْرَبُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَأَنتُمْ سُکَارَی [do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated] he said: "This verse relates to the time before wine was forbidden."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Whoever spends the night into dawn in a state of drunkenness meets the Angel of Death while drunk, enters the grave while drunk, and stands before Allah on the Day of Resurrection while drunk. Allah says to him, "What is the matter with you [and what state is this you are in]?" He says, "I am drunk." Then Allah says to him, "I command you to take him to the region of the drunkards." So he is taken to a mountain in the middle of Hell in which there is a spring from which pus and blood flow, and there is no food or drink there except from it. And Allah said: لا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلاةَ وَ أَنْتُمْ سُکاری [Do not go near prayer while you are intoxicated].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): وَ لاجُنُباً إِلَّا عابِرِی سَبِیلٍ [Nor when you are in a state of major ritual impurity, except while passing through] — that is, while you are in a state of janabah, do not go near the places where prayer is performed, which are the mosques, unless you are passing through that place.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Zurarah and Muhammad ibn Muslim said: We asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him), "Can a menstruating woman and a man in a state of janabah enter the mosque or not?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said, "The two of them cannot enter the mosque unless they are passing through the place, for Allah said: وَ لا جُنُباً إِلَّا عابِرِی سَبِیلٍ حَتَّی تَغْتَسِلُوا [Nor when you are in a state of major ritual impurity, except while passing through, until you have washed yourselves]. Likewise the two of them may take something from the mosque, but they may not place anything in the mosque." Zurarah says: I asked the Imam (peace be upon him), "How is it that they cannot place anything in the mosque but they can take from it?" He said, "Because they cannot take anything from the mosque unless they enter it [and their entering is not permissible], but they can place what is in their hand elsewhere [without entering it]." I asked, "Can they recite verses of the Qur'an?" He said, "Yes, as much as they wish, except for the verses of prostration, and they can remember Allah in every state and utter the remembrance of Allah."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said, "You must prevent your Jews, your Christians, your suckling children, your madmen, and those transformed into the shape of monkeys and pigs from entering your mosques, even while [they are] in bowing and prostration, or else Allah will transform you into monkeys and pigs." And the Imam (peace be upon him) said concerning the verse وَ لا جُنُباً إِلَّا عابِرِی سَبِیلٍ [Nor when you are in a state of major ritual impurity, except while passing through]: "What is meant is a person in a state of janabah who passes through the mosque but does not sit in it."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Jamil said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about a person in a state of janabah sitting in mosques. He said, "He must not sit, but he may pass through them, with the exception of Masjid al-Haram and the Mosque of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): If a man is sleeping in Masjid al-Haram or the Mosque of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and has a nocturnal emission and becomes junub, he must perform tayammum and not pass through the mosque without tayammum. But there is no problem in passing through the other mosques, and he must not sit in the mosques.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abu Maryam said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about a man: "He performs wudu, then calls his slave-girl to take his hand and accompany him to the mosque; some elders among us claim that this act is mulamasa (touching); what do you say?" The Imam said: "By Allah, no, there is no problem in this act, and perhaps I myself have done it too, and what is meant by أَوْ لاَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاء [or you have touched the women] is intercourse without penetration."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): أَوْ لامَسْتُمُ النِّساءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا ماءً فَتَیَمَّمُوا [or you have touched women and you cannot find water, then perform tayammum] — this refers specifically to sexual intercourse with women.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Halabi said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the verse: أَوْ لامَسْتُمُ النِّساءَ [or you have touched women] [about what is meant by touching women]. He said: "What is meant is sexual intercourse, but since Allah is greatly concealing, He did not express this act in the way that you name it."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Ammar ibn Yasir came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Tonight I became junub and I had no water with me." The Prophet said: "What did you do?" He said: "I took off my clothes and rolled on the earth." He said: "That is what a donkey does. Whereas Allah has said: فَتَیَمَّمُواْ صَعیدًا طَیِّبًا [so perform tayammum with clean earth]" — [then] he struck his hands on the ground and wiped them upon one another, then he passed his two hands over his forehead, and then wiped both palms, passing each one over the other.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Ayyub narrates: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "Tayammum with earth for the one who does not find water is like the one who has performed wudu with the water of a pool. Has Allah not said: فَتَیَمَّمُوا صَعِیدًا طَیِّبًا [then betake yourselves to pure earth]?" I said: "What if he obtains water at the end of the time [of prayer]?" He said: "His prayer has passed [i.e. is valid]." I said to him: "Can he pray another prayer with that tayammum?" He said: "If he sees water and is able to obtain it, his tayammum is invalidated."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Zurara said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about tayammum; he struck his two hands upon the earth, then raised them and shook them off, and after that, with his hands, he wiped his forehead and the palms of his hands one time.

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Husayn ibn Abi Talha said: I asked Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) about the verse: أَوْ لاَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاء فَلَمْ تَجِدُواْ مَاء فَتَیَمَّمُواْ صَعِیدًا طَیِّبًا [or you have touched women and you do not find water, then betake yourselves to pure earth]: "What is its limit? Does 'if you do not find water' mean by purchase or by other than purchase? If water enough for wudu is found, at what price should he buy it — a thousand, a hundred thousand, how much?" He said: "According to his means and ability."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): صَعِیدًا is an elevated place, and طَیِّبًا is a place from which water flows down.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Allah has made obligatory [wudu in this manner]: that the face and the arms from the elbows to the fingertips be washed, and that the head and the two feet be wiped. But when the condition of travel [in which water is not available], or illness, or necessity arises, Allah has lifted the ruling of washing (wudu) from him and (made the ruling of tayammum obligatory), and in place of washing has made wiping obligatory. Then He said: وَ إِنْ کُنْتُمْ مَرْضی أَوْ عَلی سَفَرٍ أَوْ جاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْکُمْ مِنَ الْغائِطِ أَوْ لامَسْتُمُ النِّساءَ إِلَی وَ أَیْدِیکُمْ مِنْهُ [And if you are sick, or on a journey, or one of you comes from the privy, or you have touched women… up to: and your hands from it].

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Safwan said: I asked Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) about a man: "He needed to perform wudu for prayer, but could not find water. He found the amount of water for his wudu at the price of one hundred or one thousand dirhams. Should he buy the water and perform wudu with it, or should he perform tayammum?" The Imam said: "No, rather he must buy it. A similar matter happened to me as well; I bought water and performed wudu, but usually a large amount of money is not paid for it."