Iq'a' Between the Two Prostrations, and Spitting Toward the Qiblah Outside Prayerالإقعاء بين السجدتين، والتفل تجاه القبلة في غير الصلاة

Questioner: May Allah preserve you, O Shaykh. (audio unclear)

The brother asks two questions. The first question: what is the ruling on spitting toward the qiblah outside of prayer? The second question: the ruling on keeping the feet upright between the two prostrations.

As for keeping the feet upright between [the two prostrations] and sitting on the heels, this is an established sunnah from the Prophet ﷺ. The hadith is in the Sahih of Imam Muslim, from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas. The Prophet ﷺ used to do this, as Ibn 'Abbas said, "[It is] the sunnah of your Prophet," when he was challenged about it and they said, "We consider it harshness to the foot." He said, "May your mother be bereft of you! [It is] the sunnah of your Prophet Muhammad ﷺ" — in the Sahih of Imam Muslim. The meaning of this is that the Prophet ﷺ used to do it, or that the Prophet ﷺ used to approve of it and state it.

Some [people] (audio unclear) this iq'a', and imagine that this is the blameworthy iq'a' — and this is a mistake. The praiseworthy iq'a' is what is mentioned here: that you keep the feet upright and sit on them. The blameworthy iq'a' is that you keep the feet upright and sit, placing the buttocks between them — the blameworthy iq'a' is that you keep the feet upright and place [the buttocks] between them; this is the blameworthy iq'a'. As for the praiseworthy iq'a', which is the sunnah, and which Ibn 'Abbas said is sunnah, it is that you keep the feet upright, place them together, and then put the buttocks on top of the heels. This is done sometimes between the two prostrations.

As for the issue of spitting toward the qiblah, it came in [the collection of] Ibn Khuzaymah that the Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever spits toward the qiblah will come on the Day of Resurrection with his spittle between his eyes." The jurists differed over whether this is restricted to prayer, or whether it is general, in prayer and outside prayer, out of respect for the qiblah. The apparent meaning of the text is generality, and this is the view of the Commander of the Believers 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, and a group of the jurists held it.

Among what supports this is [a hadith] in Abu Dawud — but its chain has weakness — that a man spat toward the qiblah, and the Prophet ﷺ said, "This man is not to lead you in prayer." When the time of prayer came and he wanted to step forward, they prevented him from leading the prayer and informed him that he had been forbidden to lead them. When the prayer was finished, he went to the Prophet ﷺ, who said, "You [spat] toward the qiblah, and you have harmed Allah and His Messenger." But the chain of this hadith has weakness; Abu Dawud recorded it in his Sunan. Still, it supports the first view.

The second view is that this is restricted to prayer, because of other evidences, such as his statement ﷺ, "When one of you stands to pray, let him not spit to his right or in front of him, but to his left or beneath his foot." They said this is evidence that it is restricted to prayer. But one may respond to this: what is restricted to prayer is [spitting] to the right or in front. As for this, it is tied to the direction of the qiblah, out of veneration for the qiblah — it is a venerated direction — so there is no difference between prayer and outside prayer. For this reason, a person should avoid this, even if only out of caution and to exit the disagreement of the scholars, as [the poet] said:

"The more scrupulous is he who exits disagreement, even a weak one — so be clear on this."

النص العربي الأصلي