What is your opinion about Praying while holding Qur’an; or praying behind someone holding and reading from Qur’an?
Bismillahi Ta’ala
Walaikum Assalam Warahmatullah
According to hanafiya it is not permissible to perform salah while holding the Qur’an and reading from it. This is because of two reasons:
a. amal katheer (excessive action in holding and flipping pages) and
b. taking assistance from outside salah
If it were to be said to place the qur’an in front and read from it, as is practice in some parts of the world where they place a huge qur’an in front and read from it, then still it would not resolve the second reasoning.
A hanafi praying behind a shafi’i reading from his mushaf
Hanafi Usool for the validity of salah of a muqtadi (follower) is that the salah of imam must be correct according to the muqtadi’s madhab.
So in this case, even though the shafi’s Imam’s amal (action) may not be considered aml katheer according to shafi, or it may not be categorized as taking assistance; according to the hanafi muqtadi, his iqtidaa will still not be correct.
There is one more scenario however,
A hanafi muqtadi in a congregation where a shafi’i Imam is leading the salah and has a shafi’i muqtadi holding the Qur’an behind him and give correction when needed
Although it may be a far fetched situation, but in a multi-madhab communities it is quite possible.
In this scenario, hanafi muqtadi assesses his iqtidaa behind the imam according to his own usools. So since the Imam is not making any amal-katheer, nor is he reading from mushaf, the Imam’s Salah is valid (according to hanafi muqtadi), and the hanafi muqtadi’s iqtida’ is also valid.
If the Imam makes mistake or gets corrected by the shafi’i standing with qur’an behind him, then In Imam’s madhab it is acceptable for him to take such luqma and continue salah. In doing so, even according to hanafiya the taking of luqma was correct since the other shafi muqtadi is still in salah according to their madhab. Imam has taken assistance from another from within the salah; and no aml katheer, so his (hanafi’s) iqtida’ is correct.
Some mashayekh have give fatwa of this surat to be permissible for the validity of the congregation and iqtida’, however not to make this as a heelah.
Wallahu A’lam
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Faisal al-Mahmudi