(This is not related to the Imams, but I couldn't find any better thread for it.)
I have seen Shaikh 'Abdul 'Azeez Aal-AshShaikh, Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia doing Sa'i in the basement on 11th of Zil Hijjiah, after Isha. But one thing that I noticed is, he was going from Safa to Marwa and then returning back on the same side, i.e. on the Safa-to-Marwa side. He did not return from the other side. You know why?
He had a lot of excorts. They could have easily turned around a pillar to walk from the other side, but they didn't.
Jazak Allah for sharing brother
They did not do that because the Asl in saee from safa to marwa is to go from safa to marwa n then come back to safa from marwa regardless of the sides, It does not realy matter , His saee is as Saheeh n right as the person who is returning from the other side , in this case it is actualy better to come back from the same side because its less effort and easier on the sheikh as he is old , Because its about going to marwa from safa and comming back.
Now why are there seperate ways to go and come back? It was dont by the saudi governmnet may Allah reward them to regulate the traffic , i mean to contrpol the flow and make it easy , to have order or otherwise it would be a night mare to do saee, As you might know hat the saee between safa and marwa not too long ago was actually a market , a souq/ bazaar , so imagine how peopple would go to marwa and come back , and do u really think that they used the right side of the souq to go and left to come back??
Now do u think that mother of ismael alihi salam went from the right side and came back from the left side?? No ! she went from safa to marwa and back.
So it is absolutely right to do what they did , it is more than right as it was the best thing to do, And may Alah reward the saudi govermnet for alll the works they have done with safa n marwa , from making this masaa to expansions n floors n levels , It is literally impossible to do saee on the ground floor now a days. So those going from safa to marwa from the proper route and those comming back from marwa to safa from the proper route and those in the middle with wheel chairs are all right , No problem what so ever.
But yes when a person is doing saee between safa and marwa for instance on the ground floor and it crowded , then it is not permissbible to come back from the same place as he will be opposing the flow of the pilgrims and making it difficlut on everyone who is goingto marwa from safa
But when a person is doing saee on the 3rd floor( the new one) and he is literally the ONLY one up there , there is no traffic what so ever and no crowd , Should he go from safa to marwa from one side and come back from teh other??? I say if he does its fine , but if he dosent and comes back from the same side it is JUST AS FINE ! it is actually better and easier for him and shorter in a way also , so there is InshahAllah notthing wrong.
Except when there is crowd and u want to come the opposite way of peoples flow then its an issue , u are hurting the pilgrims and that is not permissible.
In the sheikhs case , as u mentioned they were doing it in basement , and i suppose it must not be crowded , so it was not only right it was actuallt better to do the saee from the same way , easier for the sheikh and his escorts.
So bottom line , the saee from safa and marwa is 7 rounds between safa and marwa , and if there is no traffic u could do it from any side, will not make any difference at all , even if u are doing it in the middle which is the designated area for wheel chairs , its absolutely fine InshahAllah coz u are going from safa to marwa.
But what happens when we mention such a thing to an ordinary person , That the grand mufti was commingback from the same side? Yep people make issue out of it out of ignorance and slander the sheikh and the whole saudi doctrine , and go as far as saying he is a fool to he is a jaahil , to even kafir n munafiq, just like its famous in india and pakistan that who ever prays 8 rakats taraweeh is deviated, it is not backed with any sort of knowledge or even intelect or evidence, its just the hatered that has been entered in the hearts of the people by slandering and making issues out of thing which were actually alright and saheeh.
So Allahul Mustaan
And Allah knows best
Assalam O alikum
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:rollseyes