What Is the Appropriate Behavior When in the Presence of Hadith Being Recited?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
Is it wajib to listen when a Hadith is being recited in front of you?
If so, is it sinful if one doesn’t? Also, can you recite salat while it is being recited in front of you, or do some other task, or just not listen due to being preoccupied with something else?
Could you please provide a textual reference (I believe it is in al-Shifa, but I don’t know the proper fiqh regarding it)
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
One should behave in the presence of Prophetic narrations being recited in a manner commensurate to the respect and reverence that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) deserves.
Qadi Iyad (Allah have mercy on him) relates in his famous work – The Cure in Defining the Rights of the Chosen One (al-Shifa bi Ta‘rif Huquq al-Mustafa) – the following narration:
“Ibn Sirin would occasionally laugh, but when the narrations of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) would be read he would become silent in awe and reverence. Abdur Rahman Ibn Mahdi (Allah have mercy on him) would command everyone to be silent when he commenced reading the Prophetic narrations. He would say, ‘Do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet’ [Quran, 49:2]
Due to this, it has been interpreted that it is necessary to be silent when the Prophetic narrations are recited just as it is necessary to be silent when he speaks.” [Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa bi Ta‘rif Huquq al-Mustafa]
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom Seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.
He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.
In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
