Saturday, 18 April 2026 (1 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1447 AH)
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Erecting and spreading (an-naṣb wa-l-farsh) in prayer

Fatwa No: 16301
Date: 2025/11/26
Views: 8

Question: Erecting the right foot and spreading the left is obligatory in the school; is it likewise obligatory in supererogatory prayers? If so, can an obligatory element be part of a nafl?

Answer (and Allah grants success):
Supererogatory prayers are built upon ease and facilitation; hence they are valid on a mount, valid sitting without excuse, and for the traveler without facing the qiblah.
What I think they intend by “obligatory” here is not “what earns reward if done and incurs punishment if left,” but rather that it is required for validity: if omitted, the prayer is invalid—but if a nafl prayer is invalidated, making it up is not required.
There is another view: once a morally responsible person enters a supererogatory prayer, it becomes obligatory for him to proceed in it, per His saying: “And do not invalidate your deeds.” [Muḥammad:33]. Accordingly, he must perform erecting and spreading and anything else without which the prayer is not valid. Thus the nafl becomes obligatory by entering it, similar to the supererogatory ḥajj.
Source : Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.1