Question:
”
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
May Allah bless you and your family with the best of health and imaan.
I wanted to ask about the ruling regarding using cellphone Qur’an apps during Qiyaam Al-layl in the dark. Is this permissible if I turn my phone on airplane mode and I can not receive any calls, messages or notifications?”
Reply:
عليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته
May Allah also bless you and your family with the best of health and imaan.
Reciting the Qur’an from the Mushaf in Qiyaam ul-Layl is permitted for the one leading others or praying alone. The proof for that is the following narration:
وَكَانَتْ عَائِشَةُ يَؤُمُّهَا عَبْدُهَا ذَكْوَانُ مِنَ الْمُصْحَفِ
“Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) used to be led in prayer by her servant Dhakwaan from the Mushaf (i.e. he read from the Mushaf])” [Reported by al-Bukhari Mu’allaq form before Hadith (no. 692) and others. Graded Saheeh by Shaikh Saleem al-Hilali in his checking of Kitaab al-Masaahif of Ibn Abi Dawood (no. 766)]
This permission also extends to the one who stands behind the Imam to correct him as it is reported that,
كان أنس يصلي وغلامه يمسك المصحف خلفه فإذا تعايا في آية فتح عليه
Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) used to pray and his servant used to hold the Mushaf behind him. If he got stuck in a verse, he used to correct him” [Reported in Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah (no. 7292) with a Saheeh chain]
With that being said, is it allowed for a person praying the night prayer to pray using the mushaf on one’s cellphone? The scholars say it is permissible and takes the same ruling as reading from the actual mushaf. However, reading from the actual mushaf is preferred.
Shaikh Muhammad Ba Jamaal (may Allah preserve him), one of the Mashaaikh of Yemen, was asked,
Question:
“What is the ruling on an Imam reciting from a cellphone in the night prayer?”
Answer:
“Its ruling is like its ruling outside of Salah. If a person read from the mushaf outside of Salah and another person reads from a cellphone outside of the Salah, what is the ruling? The ruling is the same [i.e. both are permissible]. Likewise the ruling inside the prayer is the same. No doubt reading from the mushaf is more deserving because the one who reads from the mushaf is clearly in an act of worship unlike the one who is reading from the cellphone . . . ”
End of translated portion.
The Shaikh then goes on to mention how reading from the cellphone may lead someone to get distracted through others contacting them and the presence of the internet, etc. Such distractions are not befitting considering the one who is praying is already preoccupied by their prayer as it comes in the Hadith:
إِنَّ فِي الصَّلاَةِ شُغْلاً
In the prayer one is occupied [al-Bukhari (no. 1216)]
You mention that you plan to turn the phone on airplane mode thus limiting the distractions, which is good. However, it is still better to use the mushaf instead of the cellphone following in the example of our Salaf. Nonetheless, if someone prayed the night prayer using the mushaf on their cellphone, then there is no harm in shaah Allah.
And Allah Knows Best
Faisal bin Abdul Qaadir bin Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan
