As-Salaam alaikum, Your concerns about masjid etiquette are very valid. The general Islamic principle is that worship shouldn't disturb others' worship. While salawat and dhikr are beautiful acts, they need to be done considerately. The Qur'an guides us: "Remember your Lord within yourself in humility and in fear, without being apparent in speech" (7:205). This suggests quiet dhikr is often preferable, especially in shared spaces. A balanced approach might be: Keep collective salawat/dhikr at appropriate times Be mindful of those still praying Follow local masjid guidelines Consider dedicated spaces/times for group activities Perhaps consulting your local imam would help find the best solution that respects both tradition and community needs. Have you discussed this with your masjid committee?
barakAllahu feek for your reply. I do find that a lot of sunnah acts are lost. e.g, no tahiyatul masjid anymore. not even sunnah ghayr muakkada prayers are prayed, but we have to do salat o salam with emphasis and loud zikr sessions. also loooongg tilawah of qur'an to an audience, with them saying "subhanAllahhhhhh!" afterwards. Naat conferences... list goes on. it's nice that more learned folk are distancing themselves from this. salat o salam is perhaps even best just left to occasions, milaad etc.
just on the topic of permissibility itself, that debate is as old as tasawwuf itself - there are genuine mutasawwifeen (ulama of past, not current) who say loud zikr is not allowed regardless of time and place, and yet there are others who say loud zikr is the way to go. of course those who believe in loud zikr to be permissible will have no choice but to also consider other things like time and place, and etiquette - which you have asked here some amount of swaying is a reactionary body reflex when you read or chant. you will see people doing it while reading Quran too, and kids in madrasa too swaying while reading/memorizing Quran. but faking wajd or 'haal' is haram and a utterly detestable act according to authentic Sufis who safeguard the rules of the Shari3ah. yes this is a desi thing*. we are stubborn and over-actors by nature when it comes to our desi temperaments (religious or non-religious). of course, Ala Hazrat said reading salat-o-salam is praiseworthy. so we will ignore all context and etiquette and just act like we're in bhendi bazar or liaquatabad! we will gladly and adamantly ignore actual SUNNAH etiquette of not farting or belching in front of people. see this hadith - https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2478 - and think about it the next time dinner/langar/niyaz is served at any desi religious event, feel free to even observe some ulama and mawlanas after they've had their biryanis! (btw, what's the situation with boycotting coke/pepsi in the UK langar's?) (interestingly the wahabi darus salam source cites it as da3eef, while albani himself "ruled" it sahih) we will adamantly not do or push our women to do Shar3i hijab/purdah, the list goes on - but we will do our standard set of desi (real or perceived) religious activities, rain or shine. that's all. we don't like to be criticized or told something we do might be disturbing to others or doesn't make sense in some contexts or times or places, and even take serious offense to it! we will justify it, convince ourselves, and continue with it. i'm reminded of an anecdote- a person's funeral somewhere in the west. the deceased was a desi Sunni, the people accompanying the funeral all desi Sunnis, the mosque organizing the prayers and burial also Sunni Arabs, the Arab brother from the mosque, in charge of burials, even did talqeen at the grave (something wahabis say is bid3ah/based on weak hadith). so we bury the marhoom, do dua, and leave. i'm at the gate of the graveyard getting ready to pull the car out and two Islami bhai's are missing. so i'm perplexed and can't find them nearby (lot of trees in that graveyard), so go back to the gravesite to check, and Subhan Allah these two Islami bhai's were standing by the grave reciting Kaabe ke Badrud Duja. now that's great to love your fellow Sunni brother and to recite this naat at his grave. just note that after we did our "standard" burial, dua etc., on the instructions of the caretaker of the graveyard (nonMuslim, council employee) as he advised the Arab brother, the representative from the mosque, we were leaving. but our desi folks won't have it sir. as the crowd was dispersing and on its way out (including the family members of the deceased which included an aalim), these two Islami bhai's quietly snuck back to the gravesite to recite Kaabe ke Badrud Duja at the grave. it's as much fard-e-kifaya as the namaz-e-janaza itself, right?! aren't we mureeds of Ala Hazrat? is this how we will safeguard his maslak - by walking out of the graveyard without reciting Kaabe ke Badrud Duja? who cares if the gate was closed and they might be locked in if no one noticed they're missing, or if the nonMuslim caretaker takes up the Arab brother on it embarrassing him, and so on. who even cares for Ala Hazrat's numerous other fatawa that Eesale Thawab can be done from anywhere! *nonMuslim desis are the same with their desi temperaments and embarrass themselves and others, in other contexts. devbandi tableeghis are equally 'cringe'. i'm not commenting on religious practice or lack of it per se, just making the larger point that we have far more 'cringe' folk amongst us than other peoples.
as salaamu alaykum all, I was wondering if anyone can share any resources on the etiquettes of salat o salam done after jumuah as well as loud zikr, things like this? I feel like salat o salam in many many masajid across the UK can disturb the masjid goers who come late or are still praying their sunnah prayers, or perhaps have moved onto their own silent zikr / reading of the qur'an. I have seen many sunni masajid just forgo it entirely due to this as well. I also have seen a video of people reciting salat o salam in the courtyard of the masjid of our Nabi salAllahu alayhi w sallam, is this not disturbing and against etiquette? and in regards to loud zikr, in some naqshbandi gatherings (Sufi Arshad saab, Pir Noor ul Arfeen saab), the zikr can go from quiet, to very very loud. I found this disturbing and against the etiquette of zikr in the first place. There were also some people going into wajd, which I could not help but think they were just swaying very aggressively just for show. If anyone has any resources on maybe UK Ulama or past Ulama who have advised against all this, please share. jazakAllahu khayr
