Fardh [Obligation]: What is
obligatory and what is voluntary?

Q197 :In a previous article, you said that a
prayer is netplete if only the obligatory part has been
offered. In my part of the world, most people and many scholars
say that unless all Sunnah prayers are offered together with
the obligatory part, then that prayer is not netplete and a
Muslim has to be accountable for it. Could you please further
elaborate. I have noticed that some people in my home country
refrain from prayer because they find it too difficult. You
mentioned in one of your answers that if a person omits a
Sunnah, he will not be questioned about it by Allah. Can you
please explain this further. Is it not true to say that if you
offer a Sunnah, you are rewarded for it?

A197 : These are the only two of several
letters which I have received on this subject which I had
thought is basic knowledge for every Muslim. The fact is that
my answer to a reader’s question has provoked so many requests
for elaboration, netpels me to nete back on this issue in
greater detail. A fardh or obligation is something that Allah
has netmanded us to do, either in general or specific terms. He
could make the order in the Qur’an or He could give it to us
through the Prophet in an authentic Hadith. For example, the
obligation of prayer has been imposed by numerous Qur’anic
verses, which tell believers to “attend regularly to your
prayers”. The Prophet has made it clear that “Allah has made it
obligatory for you to offer five prayers every day and night.”
The two obligations run side by side, and it is not sufficient
for a Muslim to offer less than the five obligatory prayers
every day. Again, the obligation of zakah has been imposed in
the Qur’an, when Allah says on several occasions, “and pay out
your zakah”. It is the Prophet who has given us the details of
how much zakah we should pay on every type of property that we
have. In both instances, what the Prophet has told us benetes
part of the obligation, because he has only sought to explain
what the Qur’anic obligation entails. There are many other
examples of details of obligations being given by the Prophet.
What the Prophet defines as part of the obligation benetes also
obligatory. It is important to realize that Allah grants
maximum reward for the fulfillment of the obligation He has
made binding on His servants. In a Qudsi Hadith, the Prophet
mentions that Allah, the Al-mighty, says: “My servant does not

draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the
religious duties I have imposed on him.” This is due to the
fact that the fulfillment of an obligation Allah has made
binding denotes recognition of Allah’s authority and submission
to His orders and readiness to fulfill what He has required of
us. It is demonstration of total submission and obedience to
Allah. Hence, Allah rewards for it so generously. If one does
not attend to his religious obligations, one will definitely
have to account for his negligence. He will have to answer even
for a single obligatory prayer missed or a single riyal short
of zakah, or a single day of non-fasting in Ramadhan, etc. When
a human is being held to account for a missed duty, he is in a
serious position. Unless Allah forgives him that omission, then
he will have to be punished for it. Punishment in the hereafter
is too serious to be trifled with. The term “Sunnah” means,
from the linguistic point of view, a road or way. From the
religious point of view, it means following the Prophet’s
example, or his method or what he has indicated as renetmended.
For example, Allah has made it obligatory on all Muslims to
fast during the day throughout the month of Ramadhan. The
Prophet has renetmended us to add to this obligation taraweeh
prayer at night. If one acts on the Prophet’s renetmendation
and attends to taraweeh prayer as the Prophet has renetmended,
he stands to earn a much greater reward than a person who does
only the obligatory part of fasting. When you do your taraweeh
prayer, you also demonstrate your love of the Prophet and your
readiness to follow his example. This is a much clearer
demonstration of your love of the Prophet than celebrating his
birthday or chanting his praises in what is termed as “na’at”.
Now the Prophet has renetmended us, either by verbal statement
or by action to offer Sunnah or nafil, with each one of the
five obligatory prayers. Reports of how many rak’ahs he
renetmended with each obligatory prayer differ, with some
people suggesting that with Duhr alone, 10 rak’ahs of Sunnah or
nafil are to be offered. Some go to the extent of saying that
unless this total of 14 rak’ahs are offered every day at Dhuhr,
then Dhuhr prayer is innetplete. This betrays a gross
misunderstanding. The fact is that what is obligatory is known
as “fardh”, which is made up of 17 rak’ahs for all five
obligatory prayers, in this order: Two rak’ahs for Fajr, four
for Dhuhr, four for Asr, three for Maghrib and four for Isha.
A question may be asked here: If a Muslim offers only these 17
rak’ahs everyday, and does not offer any Sunnah throughout his
life, what does he miss? The answer is that he misses a great
deal of reward, because Allah gives generous reward for
supererogatory works. Let us quote here the same Qudsi Hadith
from which we have made the earlier quotation: “The Prophet is
quoted to have said: “Allah, the Almighty says: Whoever shows
enmity to a friend of Mine, I shall be at war with him. My
servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me
than the religious duties I have imposed upon him, and My
servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works
so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his ear with
which he hears, his eye with which he sees, his hand with which
he strikes, and his leg with which he walks. Were he to ask
something of Me, I would surely give it to him; and were he to
ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it.” (Related by
Al-Bukhari). What is meant by “supererogatory works” mentioned
in this Hadith is any voluntary action which is offered over
and above the religious duties Allah has imposed. This relates
particularly to prayers, since the Hadith uses in Arabic the
same word we use to refer to voluntary prayers. But will such
a Muslim who does not offer any voluntary prayer throughout his
life be question by Allah about that? To suggest that we will
be questioned for omitting any Sunnah is to make a very serious
statement, for which evidence is required. To state that is to

make a claim that Allah will question people about things that
He has not imposed on them. How can anyone suggest that? Why
would Allah question us about that, when He is the most fair of
all judges? If he has not made something obligatory, would he
ask about its omission? If the traffic law in your country
does not require you to stop at a “Give way” sign, when the
visibility is clear, would a policeman standing at that
junction be justified to book you for not stopping? Would you
not be able to stand in court and say that you could see very
clearly and there was no need for you to stop and you simply
negotiated the junction safely? Do you think that the policeman
who booked you would be reprimanded for so doing? If this is
true in human courts, would it not be true in Allah’s court
when Allah is the most fair of judges? If anyone says that
Allah will question us about what is renetmended or what is
Sunnah, then he is making a very wild statement for which he
can have no proof. If we say that Allah will not ask us about
the Sunnah, how can anyone say that our prayer is innetplete
unless we pray the Sunnah? How can anyone suggest that if you
do not pray 14 rak’ahs at Dhuhr time, your prayer is
innetplete? The fact is that Allah questions us only about
those matters that He has imposed on us as duties or those He
has forbidden us. If we netmit something that is forbidden, He
will question us about it. If something is neither of the first
sort nor of the second, why would He question us about it when
He has given us no instructions regarding it? The fact is that
if the whole Muslim nation in all periods of history did not
offer a single Sunnah, Allah will not question anyone of them
about it. Let me give you this example: Allah has imposed the
duty of offering the pilgrimage on every Muslim once in a
lifetime. The Prophet has renetmended us to offer a voluntary
pilgrimage once every five years. Suppose that a Muslim offer
his pilgrimage duty when he was 25 and did not go on pilgrimage
again until he died at the age of 80. Will Allah ask him on the
day of judgment: Why have you not made 10 extra pilgrimages? If
anyone says yes, then he does not know what he is talking
about. If we say that Allah will not ask him about those 10
pilgrimages because he had fulfilled his duty, then what
distinguishes prayers from pilgrimage or fasting or zakah? Let
me remind you here the Hadith reported by Talha ibn Obaidallah,
one of the best known netpanions of the Prophet: “A Bedouin
came to Allah’s messenger (peace be upon him) with a disheveled
hair and said: Messenger of Allah, tell me what has Allah
imposed on me as a duty of prayer? The Prophet answered: “The
five obligatory prayers, unless you wish to volunteer something
extra.” The man said: “Tell me what has Allah imposed on me as
a duty of fasting?” The Prophet answered: “The month of
Ramadhan, unless you wish to volunteer something extra.” The
man asked: “Tell me, what Allah has imposed on me as a duty of
zakah?” The Prophet answered him and related to him the duties
of Islam. The man then said: “By Him Who has honored you with
the message of the truth, I am not going to volunteer anything
more or less than what Allah has imposed on me as a duty.” The
Prophet then said: “The man will be prosperous, if he is true
to his word.” (Related by Al-Bukhari). In another version also
related by Al-Bukhari, the Prophet is quoted to have netmented:
“The man will be in heaven if he is true to his word.” I do not
think that there can be any clearer statement to show the
difference between what is obligatory and what is renetmended.
However, we must not underestimate the value of offering the
Sunnah prayer, or anything that the Prophet has renetmended to
us. Everything voluntary you offer will earn you a reward from
Allah. The more you offer, the greater your reward. Not only
so, but when you do these renetmended actions, you draw closer
to Allah. This is clearly indicated in the sacred Hadith quoted
above. Needless to say, when you are trying to persuade

someone to attend regularly to his prayers, you do not want to
make the task seem to be difficult for him. You do not tell him
that he has to offer 14 rak’ahs for Dhuhr and eight for Asr,
seven for Maghrib, etc. You tell him that he needs to offer
only 17 rak’ahs in five different settings. When he has
acquired the habit of offering prayers regularly, you speak to
him about adding the Sunnah. If you tell him at the beginning
that he has to offer at least 42 rak’ahs every day, he might
not respond. But when he realizes that the task is not that
[much] difficult, he may be much more forthneting.

Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )