SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- The term ‘salat’ in Quranic verses that are mentioning the times for prayer, refers to prayer. Quranic verses that state the times for prayer can be categorized into different categories in which we will list in the detailed answer.

Detailed Answer

Verses that speak of the times of daily wajib prayers, can be found in several surahs and can be categorized into different categories. In verse 238 of surah Baqarah,[1] all that is mentioned is the time for one of the prayers. The ‘middle’ prayer that this verse speaks of refers to the Dhuhr prayer.[2] Sometimes verses will point to the time of three of the daily prayers, like verse 114 of surah Hud which reads: “وَ أَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ طَرَفَیِ النَّهارِ وَ زُلَفاً مِنَ اللَّیْل”. In this verse, “طرفی النهار” is referring to salatul fajr and maghrib, “زُلَفاً مِنَ اللَّیْل” refers to salatul Isha.[3] And sometimes, all five prayers are mentioned in a general manner, such as verse 78 of surah Isra’ which says: “Maintain the prayer from the sun's decline till the darkness of the night, and [observe particularly] the dawn recital. Indeed the dawn recital is attended [by angels].”

Although the term ‘salat’ has also been used in the Quran to denote supplication,[4] but in the aforementioned verses, it has been used for prayer. Of course, prayer also encompasses supplication and praise.

[1] “حافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَواتِ وَ الصَّلاةِ الْوُسْطی”

[2] Makarem Shirazi, Naser, Tafsir Nemouneh, vol. 12, pg. 223.

[3] Ibid, pg. 223.

[4] For example, take the verse in which Allah (swt) says: “وَ صَلِّ عَلَیْهِمْ إِنَّ صَلاتَکَ سَکَنٌ لَهُمْ وَ اللَّهُ سَمیعٌ عَلیمٌ”. In this verse, the term ‘salat’ means supplication. Tawbah:103. See: Terihi, Fakhroddin, Majma’ul-Bahrain, vol. 1, pg. 266.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — The Roman Catholic archbishop-elect of San Francisco has apologized for his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving, behavior that he said brought "shame" and "disgrace" on himself and the church, though legal experts said was unlikely to derail his promotion.

The Rev. Salvatore Cordileone said in a statement issued Monday by his office that he was driving home from a dinner with friends in San Diego with his mother and a visiting priest friend early Saturday when he was pulled over at a DUI checkpoint near San Diego State University.

The statement said a sobriety test showed his blood-alcohol level to be above the legal limit, although Cordileone did not reveal by how much.

"I apologize for my error in judgment and feel shame for the disgrace I have brought upon the Church and myself," he said. "I pray that God, in His inscrutable wisdom, will bring some good out of this."

Cordileone, 56, currently serves as bishop of Oakland and is scheduled to be installed as San Francisco archbishop on Oct. 4, five days before his first court date.

Pope Benedict XVI selected him last month to replace Archbishop George Niederauer, who is retiring in October.

Cordileone was stopped around 12:30 a.m. on the outskirts of the campus, a residential area of modest houses, apartment buildings and restaurants where college students mix with the general population.

The archbishop-elect was booked into San Diego County jail two hours later then released at 11:59 a.m. Saturday on $2,500 bond, sheriff's records show. The San Diego city attorney's office, which prosecutes misdemeanor DUI offenses, said it had not received a report on the arrest.

Cordileone took a breath test that confirmed his blood alcohol content exceeded California's legal limit of 0.08 percent, said Officer Mark McCullough, who declined to say by how much.

"He was a driver that was obviously impaired but he was quite cordial and polite throughout," said McCullough, who was at the scene. "He was not a belligerent drunk at all ... There were no problems with him throughout the night.

Cordileone, one of 11 people arrested at the checkpoint that night, identified himself as a priest, said McCullough. An officer did an Internet search and learned he was archbishop-elect.

Canon law experts said a criminal charge would not automatically prompt a delay in Cordileone's installation as archbishop, which is scheduled to take place at St. Mary's Cathedral on Oct. 4, the feast day of San Francisco's patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi.

Because Catholic bishops are answerable only to the pope, any potential discipline would have to come from the Vatican, said Michael Ritty, a canon lawyer in private practice in upstate New York.

"If there was anything, it would be handled in Rome, most likely by the Congregation for Bishops. Depending on the question or type of criminal charge, it might go directly to the pope or as directly as you can get," Ritty said.

Cordileone is a native of San Diego, where he was ordained as a priest in 1982. He has been bishop of Oakland for a little more than three years, and before that, he served as an auxiliary bishop in San Diego.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, predicted that Cordileone's arrest, while embarrassing, would only draw a response from Rome if it appeared he had a serious substance abuse problem that prevented him from carrying out the archbishop duties.

"The bottom line is there is no real requirement that he resign," Reese said. "If he is an out-of-control alcoholic who can't function, that would be an issue, but obviously he has been the bishop of Oakland all these years and he seems to be able to function. Nobody knows if he has a drinking problem or was one fraction over the (blood alcohol) limit."

Noting that forgiveness is an integral part of the Catholic faith, Reese recalled the 1985 DUI arrest of the late Minneapolis-St. Paul Archbishop John Roach, who pleaded guilty and served two days in jail but remained popular in the post for another decade.

Cordileone will have to "explain this to people, and depending on what he does and how it's perceived, we'll see how it goes" he said. "It could make him more human."

While serving in San Diego four years ago, Cordileone was instrumental in devising an initiative to strip same-sex couples of the right to wed in California. He was part of a statewide network of clergy that promoted the measure, known as Proposition 8. Campaign finance records show he personally gave at least $6,000 to back the voter-approved ban.

Since last year, Cordileone has been chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

At a news conference last month, he said he thought the Roman Catholic Church had come a long way in addressing the issue of clergy sex abuse and reiterated his opposition to gay marriage.

"Marriage can only come about through the embrace of a man and a woman coming together," he said. "I don't see how that is discriminatory against anyone."

The archdiocese serves more than 400,000 Catholics in the city of San Francisco and Marin and San Mateo counties. In the post, Cordileone would oversee the bishops in Honolulu, Las Vegas, Oakland, Reno, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Santa Rosa and Stockton—www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - On Sunday night around midnight, in the small town of Woodburn, Ore., a 12-year-old boy ran down a street screaming for help. A man dressed only in his underwear pursued him. The boy saw a group of people standing in a driveway and screamed, "Help me, a guy is chasing me." The bystanders drove the boy to his sister's home, where he explained, "Father Angel touched me in my privates."

This sounds like a scene out of a film, but this is not fiction. This is information taken from the Woodburn police department's probable cause statement.

On Monday, Rev. Angel Armando Perez was arrested. He faces allegations of first-degree sexual abuse, furnishing alcohol to a minor, using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct, and driving under the influence.

Like me, Father Perez was ordained in 2002, when the Catholic hierarchy's cover-up of sexual abuse was on the front page of nearly every U.S. publication. We received the same seminary "formation," which is the word used to describe the intellectual, psychological and spiritual overhaul that men undergo as they are "formed" into healthy, celibate and obedient priests.

When we were ordained 10 years ago, new priests were under a great deal of pressure. The people in the pews needed hope that our generation would change the duplicitous and corrupt clerical culture that had been unmasked. We had been "formed" to say all the right things.

A 2002 interview of Father Perez in The Oregonian reveals what he was saying at the time:

The sex scandals trouble him, but Perez says he is confident bishops are dealing with the problems. His new duties come first... "There are rules. There are so many rules," he said... "They taught us at the seminary -- we are not supposed to touch. I don't have any problems with that. I know my boundaries."

Later in the interview, an account of Father Perez's Mass of Thanksgiving is provided. Family, friends and parishioners gathered to celebrate the new priest's first Mass in his local parish.

"I said to them, my faith is very strong," he recalls. "That even though we have these problems in the church right now, these sex scandals, I really believe the Holy Spirit sustains us. God is with us," he said, and stopped to look at his notes. Silence. In the pews, he heard one parishioner applaud. Then another, and another, until they all were clapping. For a moment, the anxiety that accompanies a new Catholic priest in 2002 went away.

I had a similar experience at my Mass of Thanksgiving in 2002. When communion concluded, I stood in the sanctuary of my college campus' Catholic Church. Adorned in a forest green chasuble, I thanked those who had influenced my vocation. In the pews, people from each scene and act of my life awaited my next line.

I strutted into the nave toward the tabernacle and the clear windows that opened to the brick buildings of the university. My vestments swung about like they might lift me into the air. I pointed at the pew in which I'd once sat. "This is where it started. This is where an angry, lost kid listened to a homily about a deaf-mute and was opened to God. This is where I heard my calling to be a priest."

I marched up into the sanctuary and gazed at the upturned faces. They were the real Church, full of longing, willingness and trust. They deserved something more than what scandalous priests and bishops had shat upon them. My voice thundered through the speakers: "No matter what you're hearing in the press -- there's a lot of misinformation out there. Go to the source. Call seminary faculties. Talk to seminarians. The good men are still in the seminaries. And we are radically committed -- radically meaning we're gonna give our all to our vows, to our promises, and we are going to be the best priests that we can be. And live the mystery that we celebrate, which is the Lord's cross. We will turn over our weaknesses to the Lord so that he can make them into strengths."

The crowd leapt to their feet. My bones reverberated with an electric buzz that could only be the Holy Spirit. The foundation of St. Stephen's had never rumbled with such hope.

Over my shoulder, the priest, who had sexually assaulted me in the confessional during college and exploited me for two years after, clapped away. During the Mass, he'd said the homily. I hadn't wanted him anywhere near the celebration, but his absence would have raised questions. An unwritten tradition held that the pastor of the parish "honor" his priestly protégé by preaching at the special Mass. My Franciscan counselor had encouraged me to let my perpetrator preach, as an exercise in forgiveness and letting go.

In 2002, I chose silence, obedience and forgiveness. I played into the cycle of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. So did Father Angel Perez.

On Sunday night, after failing to chase down his 12-year-old victim, Father Perez drove, while drunk, to the victim's home. He told the boys' parents, "I am just one who serves in the church, and I have sinned; don't stop believing in the church." The police report goes on to state that Father Perez refused to leave his victim's home until "the mother forgave him and 'gave him her blessing.'"

At my Mass of Thanksgiving, I provided my perpetrator that same blessing. Eighteen months later, I rescinded that forgiveness and told the truth about what had happened to me. Reflecting on the events surrounding Father Angel Perez's arrest, I fear that other frightened and "well-formed" victims of sexual abuse may have granted him that same "blessing."

By Tom Rastrelli