If a person does not read the fard of isha with Jama'at and then reads the witr with Jama'at, will it cause the witr in Jama'at to be totally void or will it be done but Makrooh?
1. If a person does not read the Fard of Esha with Jama’at and then reads the Witr with Jama’at, will it cause the Witr in Jama’at to be totally void or will it be done but Makrooh and if it is Makrooh, then is it Tanzeehi or Tahreemi?
2. After reading Esha with Jama’at, now can one read the Jama’at of Esha behind any Imam or only behind a specific Imam, even if the said Imam is not the one who performed the Esha and Taraweeh Jama’ats? And what happens if that Imam did not read the Fard and Taraweeh with Jama’at. Is it permissible to read behind such persons or not?
3. For the reason of reading Witr with Jama’at, how necessary is it to read the Taraweeh in Jama’at or is there no issue in this?
4. Compared to ancient times, today we travel with much faster speeds on our journeys. In this case, do we rely on the distance of the journey or other manners of working out distance? Please explain a simple and common theory that will help the knowledgeable and the general public as well in knowing which journey requires you to make Qasr (half the fard Namaaz) and which journey does not require you to do so? Does this differ when travelling on a faster journey or like when travelling on a slower journey by ship and will this be based on distance or the amount of days?
The Answer:
1. There is no doubt that the witr is valid, but it will be regarded as Makrooh (defective) as per Imam Shaami: امالو صلاھا جماعةمع غیر ثم صلےالوترمعه لا کراھة
There is also nothing showing evidence that it should be regarded as Makrooh Tahreemi, thus it will be regarded as Tanzeehi.
2. If one has performed the Jama’at of Fard, then it is he, who should lead the witr. It is however permissible for that person to be Imam, who read either Fard or Fard and Taraweeh with Jama’at.
Even if it is an Imam that was not part of the particular Jama’at, he may lead the witr. For such a person to lead the witr, who did not read the Esha of Jama’at at all, is Makrooh for in reality for Jama’at of witr, it is necessary to have been in Fard of Esha. فمالمنفردفی الفرض ینفردفی الوتر کما بینافی فتاوننا
3. There is no objection, except in that Musjid, where the Jama’at of Taraweeh has not be fulfilled as yet, for then it will be Makrooh to make witr jama’at there as according to consensus, the Jama’at of witr follows the jama’aat of taraweeh.
4. Qasr (shortening of Namaaz on journey) is based on the rule of three manzils (stations or portions) and here one Manzil is 19 and 1/5 miles, thus making the duration of a journey 57 3/5 miles which to the closest number, is rounded to 57 ½ miles. A mile refers to the common known distance of a mile which is 1760 yards. When travelling by sea, all depends on the winds, if one is travelling on a ship depending on wind to sail and as for the issue of steam ships, then nothing much can be said about that, just as it is with the train. I have always some how travelled on a steamer, whereas on this trip, from Jeddah, I travelled with a sail ship and it took three days to reach the destination and on land it is six manzils distance. Based on that one journey, I cannot make an assumption of the miles, whereas the people have said that the wind was less, if not, you would reach in one day. (In other words the duration is based on a journey of 57 ½ miles).