Salat During War

The Quran informs the believers that under unusual circumstances, particularly during times of war, they can modify how they perform their Salat. These commandments occur in the following verses: 2:239, 4:101, 4:102.

In order to understand 2:239, it helps to start from 2:238 in order to understand that the context is Salat. This verse informs the believers that during times of insecurity they can perform their Salat while walking or riding.

2:238 You shall consistently observe the Contact Prayers, especially the middle prayer, and devote yourselves totally to GOD.

(٢٣٨) حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰ وَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ قَانِتِينَ

2:239 Under unusual circumstances, you may pray while walking or riding. Once you are safe, you shall commemorate GOD as He taught you what you never knew.

(٢٣٩) فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ فَرِجَالًا أَوْ رُكْبَانًا فَإِذَا أَمِنْتُمْ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ كَمَا عَلَّمَكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ

Below is a word-by-word translation of the above two verses.

4:101 informs the believers that during times of war they are allowed to shorten their Salat.

4:101 When you travel, during war, you commit no error by shortening your Contact Prayers (Salat), if you fear that the disbelievers may attack you. Surely, the disbelievers are your ardent enemies.

وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلَاةِ إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنَّ الْكَافِرِينَ كَانُوا لَكُمْ عَدُوًّا مُبِينًا

4:102 provides the believers specific instructions on how they are to perform the Salat when they have to be on guard during war.

4:102 When you are with them, and lead the Contact Prayer (Salat) for them, let some of you stand guard; let them hold their weapons, and let them stand behind you as you prostrate. Then, let the other group that has not prayed take their turn praying with you, while the others stand guard and hold their weapons. Those who disbelieved wish to see you neglect your weapons and your equipment, in order to attack you once and for all. You commit no error, if you are hampered by rain or injury, by putting down your weapons, so long as you remain alert. GOD has prepared for the disbelievers a shameful retribution.

وَإِذَا كُنْتَ فِيهِمْ فَأَقَمْتَ لَهُمُ الصَّلَاةَ فَلْتَقُمْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْهُمْ مَعَكَ وَلْيَأْخُذُوا أَسْلِحَتَهُمْ فَإِذَا سَجَدُوا فَلْيَكُونُوا مِنْ وَرَائِكُمْ وَلْتَأْتِ طَائِفَةٌ أُخْرَىٰ لَمْ يُصَلُّوا فَلْيُصَلُّوا مَعَكَ وَلْيَأْخُذُوا حِذْرَهُمْ وَأَسْلِحَتَهُمْ وَدَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْ تَغْفُلُونَ عَنْ أَسْلِحَتِكُمْ وَأَمْتِعَتِكُمْ فَيَمِيلُونَ عَلَيْكُمْ مَيْلَةً وَاحِدَةً وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ كَانَ بِكُمْ أَذًى مِنْ مَطَرٍ أَوْ كُنْتُمْ مَرْضَىٰ أَنْ تَضَعُوا أَسْلِحَتَكُمْ وَخُذُوا حِذْرَكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَعَدَّ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُهِينًا

Before going through the word-by-word translation of the above verse, it is worth pointing out that many individuals who read the above verse often become confused about how this is to be understood and conducted. The reason for this confusion is that in English we do not typically utilize a distinction between the singular you and the plural you; e.g. you all. In the Arabic Quran, typically when the singular “you” is used it is in reference to the prophet, while the plural “you all”, is used is in reference to the people.

The Arabic clearly shows that the prophet when is leading the Contact Prayer (Salat) the whole time for both groups, while the believers, who are in two groups, take turns praying behind him rotating in after prostration. This way there is always a group that is standing guard and holding their weapons. For simplicity, I translated the verse specifying group #1 as the group that stood guard first, and group #2 as the group that stood guard second.

4:102 When you (prophet) are with them (the believers during battle) and you (prophet) lead the Contact Prayer (Salat) for them ( the believers during battle ), then let a group stand guard (group #1) with their weapons, over them (group #2) and you (prophet). Then when they (group #2) prostrated, then let them (group #2) go behind you [all] and let another group (group #1) come forward, who has not prayed and let them (group #1) pray along with you (prophet). And let them (group #1) take their precautions and their weapons.

Did The Messenger Prostrate

Some argue that according to 4:102, the messenger did not prostrate with the believers when they were performing their Salat. The supposed claim for this argument is that the verse only indicates that “they prostrated” and does not specifically mention the messenger prostrating, but this can easily be disproved.

Firstly, the absence of stating explicitly that the messenger prostrated does not mean that he did not prostrate with the group. At best this can only be insinuated but, as we will see below, it is clear that the messenger was part of the group that prostrated.

Secondly, the verse states that the messenger was the one who was leading the Salat for the believers, this would mean that he was performing all the actions of the Salat, while each of the two groups would join him before and after the prostration.

Before looking at the Arabic grammar it is worth pointing out the three forms that are used in the verse to address the various parties.

• the singular “you” is used when addressing only the prophet with the suffix تَ / ta or كَ / ka
• them/their is used when addressing each group or both groups with the suffix هُمُ
• the plural “you” is used when addressing the prophet and the group with the suffix كُمْ / kum

So let’s look at these uses in the context of the verse. We see in the below snippet, the singular “you” is used when addressing the messenger, and “them” is used for the rest of the believers.

In the next section, we see that the first group of believers are to stand guard over the other group as well as the prophet while they do their Salat.

Then the verse states that after “they prostrated”, that the other group comes forward to pray with the prophet. Here is where individuals claim that the “they” is only in reference to the group and not the prophet, but if we just look at the next couple of words we see that the prophet was included in this “they” because it uses the term “behind you [all] ” and not “behind [ them ]” which indicates that the prophet was among those prostrating.

If we look at the grammar we see that it uses the suffix “you all” كُمْ (the plural you) in the word وَرَائِ كُمْ / warāikum / “behind you [all]”. If the prostration did not include the messenger then it would have used the term وَرَاءَ هُمْ / warāihum / “behind them ” using the suffix هُمْ (hum / them), but since it uses the term وَرَائِ كُمْ / warāikum / “behind you [all] ” this indicates that the messenger was included with those who were prostrating.

Below is a color-coded translation to help clarify this point:

• Group #1 is the group that stood guard first
• Group #2 is the group that stood guard second