What Is Dhuhr Al-Akhir Prayer? Is It Necessary To Perform It?
What is dhuhr al-akhir prayer? Is it necessary to perform it?
Dhuhr al-akhir means the last dhuhr prayer. Some Islamic scholars suggested to establish that day’s dhuhr prayer as a cautionary act based on the opinion that establishing Friday prayer in more than one place in the same city may not be valid . This prayer is called as dhuhr al-akhir, it is established in four rakats and is not included in Friday prayer. There is no prayer established and named like this among the narratives of the period of the Prophet (saw) and the early periods of Islamic history.
Dhuhr al-akhir is a prayer that has been brought to the agenda because it is impossible to establish Friday prayer in a single mosque in a city like it was in the period of Prophet Muhammad (saw), due to expansion of Islamic geography and increase in the population of the cities, which brings together the obligation to establish Friday prayer in more than one mosque. It is based on the assumption that the prayer established first will be valid among the Friday prayers that are established in separate mosques in a region and that the ones established in other mosques might be invalid. Some scholars consider it permissible to establish a four-rakat prayer by making intention for dhuhr al-akhir, that is to say, “the last dhuhr prayer which could not be established whose time is reached” by meaning the Friday time, in order to eliminate this doubtful situation (Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, III, 16-18; Qarafi, az-Zahira, II, 354-355; Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni, III, 212; Shirbini, Mughni al-muhtaj, I, 420-422).
But there is no ground of such an assumption. Although establishing Friday prayers in one mosque is suitable to the very meaning of it, it is not possible to practise it today when there are great cities with millions of residents. Indeed, according to the opinion which constitutes the basis for the fatwa in Hanafi school, more than one Friday prayer may be established in a city (Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, III, 15-16). When imam Shafi’i went to Baghdad and saw that Friday prayer was being established in more than one place, he did not oppose it either (Nawawi, al-Majmu, IV, 585; Shirbini, Mughni al-muhtaj, I, 420-422). Therefore, the Friday prayers established in each mosque are valid separately; there is no difference between them in this regard, and those who establish Friday prayer do not need to establish dhuhr al-akhir.
However, it is permissible for those who are willing to establish this prayer knowing that it is not included in Friday prayer.
Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWA
