Question:
What are the evidences I should provide to someone who tells me that I cannot direct my feet at the Qiblah (prayer direction) when I lie down in the mosque?
Answer:
Bismillâhi wassalâtu wassalâmu ala rasoolillâhi amma ba’ad
Firstly, you ought to know that the one who said that to you, should himself provide you the evidence for the prohibition he is laying down upon you.
Secondly, you also ought to know the general evidences which you can present to anyone who lays this prohibition on you keeping in mind that there is no clear prohibition of such an act in any of the legislated texts. If it was a forbidden act or an act that is disliked it would have been clearly stated in the Qur’ân or in the Sunnah of our Prophetﷺ. There are two evidences which we can relate to this matter:
a) The Ahadīth of Abu Hurayrah and others in the Sahihain, regarding the Ahlus Suffah (People of the seat). These were some homeless Companions of the Prophetﷺ, who numbered more than 70 men who used to live in the Masjidun Nabawiyy for a long time. Is it not possible that they could have slept with feet facing the Qiblah at least once throughout their stay in the Masjid? We have not come across any Hadīth which states the Prophetﷺ forbade any of them, or anyone else, from lying down with feet facing the Qiblah.
b) Also the best evidence is the Hadith of Abdullâh ibnu Zayd رضي الله عنه:
This Hadīth came in general and did not come with any prohibition of directing your foot at the Qiblah. If it was indeed a forbidden act, the Prophetﷺ would have warned us or prohibited the Companions from doing this and we would have received it in a clear Hadīth.
Hence, some of the Ulamâ’ said when commenting on this above Hadīth that it is Sunnah to lie down in the Masjid and that if facing the Qiblah was illegal, the Prophetﷺ would have made an explicit prohibition of it or the Companions who narrated the Hadīth would have said “…..but he prohibited us from directing our feet at the Qiblah”. However, this was not the case as observed in the Hadīth above and hence, the Ulamâ’ did not declare directing the foot at the Qiblah when lying down as illegal.
Answered by Ahmad Banajah
Edited by Abu Abdillaah Muhammad Rifkhan