firstly, no-one considers it obligatory. this is a lie upon ahlu's sunnah from the detractors. the certain time you talk of, that certain time is when salat o salam is sent upon the prophet by reciting couplets or poetry. obviously, this is the time us sunnis stand. i personally would not like to stay sitting; i feel i have to stand up and then recite. if this recital was done at the start or middle of the gathering, then i feel i would have to stand at this time.* obviously, we will only stand at certain times and not throughout the gathering. this is logical. so the certain time is when the salat o salam begins; whatever time in the gathering this happens [normally at the end due to convenience]. like imam subki and other learned 'ulama stood at the certain time after recitation of imam sarsari's poetry. interestingly, the poem asked [spontaneous?] people to stand. what other problems do you have with the barelwi qiyam? ----- it's funny people** don't have a problem about standing for the kuffar but have problems when we stand for the prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam. they will let a kafira with a sari sit on the stage while their leaders sit on the floor but will cringe at standing for our master 'alaihis salatu wassalam. ----- it is for me. when the recital starts, i spontaneously want to stand. do not tell me what i believe or feel. i will decide that for myself. sometimes i feel people who make assumptions about sunni practices know the states of our hearts. 'ilm al-ghayb at it's best. instead of beating around the bush like taqi usmani did in his mawlid fatwa which shaykh haddad refuted, people should just come out and say they are against the qiyam, period. i say this because sometimes people mistake their enquiries as being sincere. ----- * me wanting to have to stand does not mean i consider it farD either. it is a rewardable act but if it is left, there is no sin. what i mean by have to is that i would feel more comfortable standing and sending salutations. it was not farD upon 'abdullah ibn zubayr to drink the blessed blood of rasulAllah sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam but he felt he had to as this was more respectful in his eyes. ** i don't necessarily mean taz
actually it has become a tradition in all milad gatherings whether indian or arab that salat wa salam is recited at the end, hence that is the time people stand up. i guess there always be a certain time for ALL people to stand up together for salat wa salam, otherwise it will be messed up gathering and if i am not wrong this has been the practice of all indian and arab ulama of the past and present.
I am not sure what the shaykh is referring to here, maybe I need a clarification of his point but I have attended a few Hadra and the participants stood up and formed the halaqa, there was nothing spontaneous about the standing up. In what I saw there was nobody from the people participating in the hadra who was sitting when the Hadra began. There could be sponteinity in the subsequent states that people attain in a Hadra but not about the actual standing up, similar to the states that people attain while reciting salam and salawat. In fact the standing up in chishti sama mehfils can be called spontaneous, I wouldn't, from my limited experience call the qiyam of the Hadra I saw spontaneous.
One of the problems i have with the barelwi qiyam in milad an nabi is that they all feel they have to do it at a certain time. It is not something that overwhelms them and they spontaneously just stand up, but it is a *fixed* matter Let me quote from shaykh Haddad > It is another issue that the overwhelming majority of traditional Scholars > and Sufis disagreed with Ibn-Hajar's stance on the *Mawlid* and the *Qiyâm *and > considered it among his* *'*zallât*' Such as? The Scholars concurred with al-Haytami's two points in his fatwa on the Mawlid: that it is a praiseworthy innovation but that it should be devoid of haram. The latter does not even need to be said. As for the Qiyam, there is no question that it is also a bid`a; however, the Ulema added that it was a bid`a hasana, as mentioned verbatim in fatwa after fatwa adduced by Imam Ahmad Rida in Iqamat al-Qiyama. Nevertheless, I believe Imam al-Haytami had three very pertinent reservations about the Qiyam which we may be missing: 1. Is it a Sunna? (his words in the Fatawa Hadithiyya follow up the terms of the previous question: "hal yusannu lana... an naquma aw la?") The answer is no without doubt. It is at the most a "mustahsan" act as stated in the Iqama, a term used for good innovations. 2. Like the Hadrah, it should never be led by the `Awamm. 3. Like the Hadrah, it should be spontaneous, not controlled. I heard the latter two rules from the Ulema of the Shadhilis in Damascus more than once. Was-Salam, GF Haddad"
