Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
In Jordan I believe you taught that one of the adab of the prayer is that one should put ones feet and legs together upon going into ruku and keep it like that until one rises for the next rakat where one stands for the Fatiha with feet four fingers apart. Then when one goes into ruku one again puts one feet and legs together. Have I understood this correctly? If so why is it that I have not seen one Hanafi scholar or Imam or follower anywhere in the UK practise that? Could you provide the source for this ruling please?
What you mentioned is mentioned by Imam al-Haskafi in the Durr al-Mukhtar. Ibn Abidin did not say otherwise. There are several other Hanafi works that mention this. A Hanafi Alim in Damascus said that this seemed to be a “forgotten sunna.” However, since you mentioned that no one seems to do this, I decided a few months ago to look around in Hanafi texts. It turns out that this position seems to have been first mentioned by a couple of rather late texts. Some major Hanafi Imams followed them in this. However, Imam Abd al-Hayy al-Lakhnawi argues the weakness of this in his al-Si`aya. [Al-Si`aya is a wonderful text in 2 volumes in which he only reached half-way through the Book of Prayer. Sh. Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda and others said that had he lived to complete it, it would have been one of the very best texts, without question, in the Hanafi school.] Allama Rashid Ahmad Ludhyanawi does likewise, in some depth, in his Ahsan al-Fatawa, explaining that at best it could mean that one should straighten one’s feet when one bows, because one is now looking at them. And Allah knows best.
Q2. If one misses one’s Fajr, for example, completely unintentionally by sleeping through it (and this is not usual at all) is this considered a sin or a dispensation from Allah (like when one eats unintentionally during a fast)?
One of the things that lift full moral responsibility (taklif) is sleep, as mentioned in Hanafi texts of usul al-fiqh. As such, sleeping through a prayer time is no in itself sinful. Rather, what is sinful is that which led to one doing so. For example, if one slept too late, or did not turn on the alarm clock, etc
If this happens one out of the blue, it is, inshaAllah, excusable. However, the scholars say that an excuse that becomes a habit is no longer an excuse. In all cases, one should repent, seek forgiveness from Allah, makeup the prayer immediately, and pray 2rakatsof the repentance prayer (salat al-tawba). Usually, Allah causes one to miss a prayer because of some sin or disliked action. As such, one should look back and try to find out what was the underlying spiritual cause for such an action.
As an important aside: it is necessary (wajib) to wake someone who one knows will sleep through and miss praying on time. If on does not do so, it is sinful, unless one has come to know by trying before that the person simply does not care to pray on time. [Mentioned by Ibn Abidin in his Hashiya, and by his son Ala ‘ al-Din Abidin in his Hadiyya al-Ala’iyya.]
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani.