Reasons for which it is permissible to break namâz
What are the reasons for which it is permissible to break any namâz?
ANSWER
They are as follows:
1- In order to kill a snake,
2- In order to catch an escaping animal,
3- In order to rescue a flock from wolves,
4- In order to take food that is boiling over away from the fire,
5- In order to protect your or someone else’s property from destruction,
6- In order to urinate or to break wind,
7- When there is no fear that the namâz time may expire or that
you may be late for the jamâ’at, in order to rid yourself of something
that mullifies namâz according to another madhhab, e.g. to clean the
najâsat that is less than one dirham or to make an ablution when you
remember that you have touched a woman who is a nâmahram [not one of the
eighteen women whom Islam has prescribed as a man’s close relatives],
you can break your namâz.
There are two reasons that make it fard (necessary) to break any namâz
1- Namâz must be broken in order to save a person who screams for
help, to save a blind person who is about to fall down into a well, to
save a person who is about to burn or drown, or to put out a fire.
2- When your mother, father, grandmother or grandfather calls
you, it is not wâjib but permissible for you to break a fard namâz ; yet
you must not break it if it is not necessary. But supererogatory namâz
[even the sunnats] must be broken. If they call for help, it is
necessary to break the fard namâz, too. If they call you knowing that
you are performing namâz, you may not break even the supererogatory
namâz. But if they call you and do not know that you are performing
namâz, you have to break it.
Question: Scorpions intrude into our house from the garden. When I
perform namâz, they sometimes get too close to my prayer mat. In this
case, is it permissible to break my namâz in order to kill them?
ANSWER
It is permissible to break the namâz in the event of an imminent danger. It is stated in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(Kill a snake or scorpion even when you are in namâz.) [Nasâî]
It does not nullify namâz, nor is it makrûh, to kill a snake or scorpion that is approaching you and may sting you.
Question: When performing namâz, if a disbeliever comes and says, “Teach me Islam. I want to become a Muslim,” is it permissible to break the namâz and teach him Islam?
ANSWER
Yes. Later you perform that namâz again. (Fatawâ-i Hindiyya)