Importance of Salat “Prayer”

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ خَاتَمِ النَّبِيِّينَ وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ الأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ.

All Praise is due to Allah, we praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Allah, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, peace and blessings on him, is His servant, and His messenger.

Dear Brothers and Sisters …

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Salat (prayers) is a weighty matter with Allah Almighty. Therefore, He obligated it and made it a pillar of the religion. And of the pillars of Islam, it was mandated in the highest heavens. And it is the connection between Him the Most Perfect and His servants. And it is soothing for the believers. And the comfort of the eyes of those who believe with certainty and are humbly submissive to Allah.

When we look at the religious texts we find that the one who neglects the prayer loses what it includes of purification, walking to it, waiting for it either before, during or after, and what is linked and related to it of remembrance and voluntary prayer.

And along these lines is what was narrated by Ibn Masood (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: He who likes to meet Allah tomorrow as Muslim, he should persevere in observing these prayers, when a call is announced for them, for Allah has laid down for your Prophet the paths of right guidance, and these (prayers) are among the paths of right guidance. If you were to pray in your houses as this man why stays away (from the mosque) prays in his house, you would abandon the practice of your Prophet, and if you were to abandon the practice of your Prophet, you would go astray. No man purifies himself, doing it well, then makes for one of those mosques without Allah recording a blessing for him for every step he takes raising him a degree for it, and effacing a sin from him for it. I have seen the time when no one stayed away from it, except a hypocrite, who was well known for his hypocrisy, whereas a man would be brought swaying (due to weakness) between two men till he was set up in a row. Sahih Muslim 654b

https://sunnah.com/muslim:654b

The Messenger of Allah said: “Performing ablution properly is half of faith, saying Al-Hamdu Lillah fills the Scale (of good deeds), saying Subhan-Allah and Allahu Akbar fills the heavens and the earth, prayer is light, Zakat is proof, patience is brightness, and the Qur’an is proof for you or against you. Every person goes out in the morning to sell his soul, so he either frees it or destroys it. [Sunan Ibn Majah 280].

https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:280

For certainly the one who does not pray will not perform the ritual purification and will not perform the wudu properly. Thus, he will lose out and miss half the Iman (faith).

Where is the rest of Faith ?

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: O people, Allah is Good and He therefore, accepts only that which is good. And Allah commanded the believers as He commanded the Messengers by saying: “O Messengers, eat of the good things, and do good deeds; verily I am aware of what you do” (xxiii. 51). And He said: “O those who believe, eat of the good things that We gave you” (ii. 172). He then made a mention of a person who travels widely, his hair disheveled and covered with dust. He lifts his hand towards the sky (and thus makes the supplication): “O Lord, O Lord,” whereas his diet is unlawful, his drink is unlawful, and his clothes are unlawful, and his nourishment is unlawful. How can then his supplication be accepted? Sahih Muslim 1015.

https://sunnah.com/muslim:1015

And from the greatness of prayer is that it will be the first matter that a person will be held to account for. And it is a sign of the acceptance of the deeds or otherwise. As the Prophet ﷺ said:

The first thing for which a person will be brought to account on the Day of Resurrection will be his Salah. If it is sound, then the rest of his deeds will be sound.  And if it is corrupt, then the rest of his deeds will be corrupt.  [atTabarani 1859]

So prayer is like a scale for the remaining deeds. And how will the rest of the deeds be for the one who does not pray? How will his state be during the accounting when the prayer is the first matter looked at? If he neglected and left the prayers, how will his accounting be? Do people visualize standing before the Hands of Allah Almighty during the accounting when the people will be in a state as Allah Almighty described:

The prayer is the best of deeds. And this is not said out of opinion. For the Prophet ﷺ said:  No deed of the son of Adam is better than the Salat (prayer).

[Albani 5645, Sahih Al Jami’] 

So the one who does not pray has lost the best of deeds. And the Prophet ﷺ was asked about which deed is the most beloved to Allah and he said: The Prayer at its prescribed time [alBukhari 527, Muslim 85]

If prayer is the best deeds. And it is the most important matter after tawhid.  So how can a person busy himself with other than it whether it is business, trade, job, occupation, or family, wife and kids and so forth?

The one who neglects prayer misses out on what is related and linked to it. So his losses are severe and compounded. He goes from loss to loss. And deficiency to deficiency. And faltering to faltering. Does the one who does not pray, praise, glorify and exalt Allah Almighty after prayer? Certainly not. Never. If he abandons the prayer, he will abandon the remembrances. And he will lose the ritual purification and the voluntary prayers.

If someone says “I realize the losses of neglecting prayer, leaving it and being complacent in performing it, but how do I return? The answer is simple. If a person is righteous in what they have left in their life, good will be recorded for them in what has passed and what remains. All they have to do is hasten to repent to Allah and turn to Him. And this is a glad tiding from your Lord:

Oh, Allah make us among those who safeguard our prayers and perform them in accordance to the teachings of Your beloved Prophet ﷺ and make us among those who enjoin good and forbid evil. Indeed, You are all Hearing, Answering.

اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِنا فِيمَنْ هَدَيْتَ وَعَافِنا فِيمَنْ عَافَيْتَ وَتَوَلَّنا فِيمَنْ تَوَلَّيْتَ وَبَارِكْ لنا فِيمَا أَعْطَيْتَ وَقِنا شَرَّ مَا قَضَيْتَ إِنَّكَ تَقْضِي وَلاَ يُقْضَى عَلَيْكَ وَإِنَّهُ لاَ يَذِلُّ مَنْ وَالَيْتَ تَبَارَكْتَ رَبَّنَا وَتَعَالَيْتَ

I conclude with this and send prayers of blessings and peace upon your Prophet as your Lord commanded:

Al Ahzaab (33) 56: Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [ Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [ Allah to grant him] peace.

Allahumma Sallai Al’a Muahmmad’n wa’aila Muhammad

BY IMAM MAHBOOB RASOOL