Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Saudi Shura Council Receives Proposal to Reduce Time between Adhan, Iqamah | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Shura Council members in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 6, 2015. AP, Saudi Press Agency.


Riyadh – A Shura Council member presented a draft to the consultative body and recommended reducing the time between the call to prayer (Adhan) and the actual holding of the prayer (Iqamah) in malls.

Deputy Chairman of the Security Committee in the Saudi Shura Council Ata Al-Subaiti, who submitted the proposal, told Asharq Al-Awsat that his proposal requires the Ministry for Islamic Affairs, Endowment, Dawa and Guidance to change the time period between Adhan and Iqamah in mosques and places of worship located in malls to only five minutes instead of the current time.

Subaiti said that reducing time between Adhan and Iqamah has several considerations, including the fact that in Shariah law there is no specific time between them, but the initiative to pray at the beginning of its time is better, according to a fatwa issued by late Sheikh Mohammed ibn al-Uthaymeen.

Ibn al-Uthaymeen stressed in his fatwa that the specified time between Adhan and Iqamah differs among countries according to people’s interests, allowing workers in the malls to pray on time and take into consideration the interests of investors and shoppers.

The Shura Council member added that in Makkah there is no long time interval between Adhan and Iqamah, noting that shops tend to close for more than an hour and a half every day, disabling citizens’ interests and affecting the developing country.