Dr. Saud Saleh Responds to Elham Shaheen’s Statement on Prayer

Dr. Saud Saleh, a professor of comparative jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, recently responded to a statement made by artist Elham Shaheen regarding prayer and work.

In an interview on a television program, Dr. Saud Saleh expressed his surprise at Elham Shaheen’s statement, saying, “I am surprised by this statement that when a person undertakes to obey God and pray, because there is no guarantee of how long a person will live, we all know that life span is in the hands of God, but this is mockery and considered a form of mockery.”

Dr. Saud Saleh continued, “I say to the writer of this saying, how old are you now and you are still so far removed from the etiquette that our Lord explained, meaning, and you have no right to belittle anyone who meets your legitimate needs. Obeying Allah and the Messenger will enter him into Paradise, and on the contrary, there are those who disobey Allah and His Messenger, and our Lord said, ‘And these are the limits of Allah, and whoever transgresses the limits of Allah is unjust to himself.'”

Regarding Elham Shaheen’s clarification that the doctor does not leave his work during prayers, Dr. Saud Saleh said, “Is it normal for me that the doctor who is operating stands and the director who directs and distributes the characters?”

An old video of artist Elham Shaheen has been circulating on social networking sites, sparking great controversy after he appears in it saying, “I worked with a director who was very ordinary and normal and suddenly he became religious in a weird way, like during every prayer while on camera, he lets go of the controls and the actors get down, and all the staff have to get down behind him, and an imam stands and leads every prayer with them.”

Elham Shaheen added in the video, “Finish the scene and pray in your room, but we have never seen such a change in society… We are not against them performing religious rituals as they want, but in a way that does not conflict with work, i.e., don’t stop work because it’s time for prayer.”