ATTACHING NOSE TO THE PLACE OF PROSTRATION

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SYĀFI‘Ī AND ḤANBALĪ SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

Abstract

The government has implemented health protocols to limit the spread of Covid-19, including wearing masks. However, problems arise when wearing a mask while praying. According to the Ḥanbalī school of thought, this prayer is invalid. On the other hand, according to the ulemas of the al-Syafi'ī school, prayers are still valid even if a mask is covered the nose. The author is interested in examining the opinions and methods of these two schools with a comparative legal approach. The authors found that most ulemas of Ḥanbalī schools stated that the nose is a part of the body that must be attached to the place of prostration in prayer. The ulemas of the al-Syafi'i school state that only the forehead must touch the place of prostration, while the nose is only a suggestion. The ulemas of both schools use linguistic (lughawiyyah) and causation (ta‘līl) methods, but the results are different. It happens because of differences in the editorial hadith used as a source of law. The author concludes that the ulemas of these two schools have such tendencies about different editors' hadiths choosing.