starting in prayer depends upon verbal Takbeer not on physical actions

Question

Assalam-o-Alaikum respectable Mufti sahib!

I have two important questions from you:

q-1)
yesterday on 12 february, 2010, during ISHA prayer in Masjid me and my friend were standing behind and ARABIC IMAM. we observed that the IMAM said TAKBEER first and after a little while he raised his hands upto his ears. But almost everybody, including me and my friend, we raised our hands soon after the TAKBEER. so our observation is that we had started our prayer before the IMAM. in this case what will be the status of our namaz?

q-2)
after the prayer, a person stood up and asked for some help because he needed some money for his medical treatment. my friend told me that if anyone ask for help in masjid from GHAIR-ULLAH, helping him is a great sin. please tell me whether my friend was right or wrong?

all the best,

wassalam

Answer

Wa alaikumussalam

1. Your prayer is valid since starting in prayer depends upon verbal Takbeer not on physical actions and ur Imam did it before u people.
2. of course begging in a Masjid  and helping him at that time are sin. but this is normally done due to ignorance and unawareness of religion. so my advice is that if u feel the person is really needy and not a professional beggar , take him outside ,make clarification of issue and help him.

Collective prayer after Namaz

Question

Assalam u alaikum.
How are you Hazrat?
There is a problem Hazrat.
After every namaz a collective prayer(Ijtamai dua) is made in our masajid. Some people say that this is a new invention in Islam and cannot be proved from hadith.
They show the book of fatawa of Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Baz Rahmatullah(Saudi Arabia) in which he has said that Collective prayer after Namaz alongwith hands (hath utha ker) is bidat. And now:
Is this "Bidat"?
Can we do it?
Is this proved from Hadith?
I will be very greatfull to you.

Answer

wa alaikumussalam
I m fine Alhamdulillah
First consider two rules:
Rule no 1: Raising hands is a sunnah in prayer for all times. except special occasions like entering Masjid or having meal etc.
Rule no 2: Its a time of special acceptance as mentioned in Hadith.
Since Collective prayer with raising hands is on a special occasion i.e after Farz Namaz, so its better not to offer it due to Rule no 1. but individual prayer should not be left due to rule no 2.
Remember, it may be called as a biddat only if it is offered assuming it a sunnah.however if collective prayer is sometimes offered sometimes left, it doesnt matter.