Issue 727: Offering Ayat prayer is only obligatory for the residents of the town etc where the event takes place and it is not obligatory for the residents of other towns etc unless these towns are so close to the site where the event takes place that they are accounted to be in one site.

Issue 728: If in one Rak'at of Ayat prayer, a person recites the Al-Hamd and an entire chapter five times, and in the other Rak'at they recite one Al-Hamd and then break one chapter into five parts to recite in five stages, their prayer will be valid.

Issue 729: It is recommended to offer personal supplication (Qunut) before the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth bows; however, if only one Qunut is offered before the tenth bow, it will suffice.

Issue 730: Each of the bows in Ayat prayer is considered an elemental part and if the number of them is intentionally or unintentionally decreased or increased, the prayer will be void.

Issue 731: Ayat prayer can be offered in congregation and in this case, only the Imam must recite the Al-Hamd and the other chapter.

Q732: In the past, the causes of many of natural events were not discovered and known. Thus, when such events took place, people were frightened and used to attribute the events to superstitious causes. Based on this, can we assume that the obligation of Ayat prayer has been due to the people's lack of knowledge of the causes and thus being frightened by lunar or solar eclipse, so that following the order of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) to overcome their fear by remembering God, they were obliged to offer such prayer? If so, must this order not be canceled? Thus, is it possible to issue a Fatwa so as to cancel the obligation of Ayat prayer in this day and age?

A: Certainly, in the cases of lunar or solar eclipse, the issue of fear was not the main concern, and apparently the issue in focus, was their erroneous beliefs and mistaken worships against which a campaign was necessary so that guided worship of Allah instead of any other being could be achieved. Furthermore, the mysteries of the universe have not yet been discovered and solved by the human beings and even in our age despite the application of hundreds of thoughts, philosophies, and causes to the issuance of laws and rules, they cancel and annul their laws after a short while. Hence, how is it possible to find out all causes or reasons behind the divine laws considering that these laws may be interrelated with all rules of the universe? Besides, all what is said and heard about the causes and justifications of the laws extracted and derived from the Book, Tradition and reason is defective and imperfect, and is just one of the thousands of mysteries of creation. This imperfect knowledge derived from the Book and Tradition helps us learn about the issue of the time and place so that doubts would not surround our thoughts and beliefs, and is considered a legal proof which conforms to the creation, and wisdom and reason may justify some but not all parts of it, and wisdom would never believe that the Holy Prophet, His Pure Progeny and the Immaculate Imams may have made any mistakes regarding the fact that the proportion of our knowledge to our unknown aspects of the world is the same as the proportion of a drop of water to a vast ocean.

Q733: Is it obligatory to offer Ayat prayer for thunder and lightning? Is it allowable to offer Ayat prayer in congregation?

A: Thunder and lightning and any other sign among the terrestrial and celestial signs which frightens the mass of the people, obliges the Ayat prayer. Ayat prayer can be offered in congregation.