Forcing Someone to Pray

Question

Someone forcibly grabs a person by the hand and says: “The time of prayer has come, pray!” He replies: “I am a Muslim, I do pray, but at this moment I have extremely urgent work, because I am a servant (an employee); I will pray in another mosque.” As soon as he says this, they beat him; he too starts hitting the other in order to save himself, and in the end a fight breaks out between them; and even after this fight he did not pray.

Answer

Commanding what is right (al-amr bi-l-ma‘ruf) and conveying (tabligh) the rulings of the Shari‘a — prayer and the like — is a very good thing; however, as far as possible, tabligh should be done with gentleness and compassion (shafaqa).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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