The Importance of Salah

[Ilikemyscarf]

For forty years, the Adhan was never called but Sa`id bin al-Musayyab radhiallahu `anhu was in the mosque before it was called. [Tabaqat al Hanabilah 1/141, Hilyat al Awliya 2/163, Sifat as Safwah 2/80]

`Umar became unconscious after he was stabbed, and according to Al Miswar bin Makhramah, it was said: "Nothing would wake him up except the call to prayer, if he is still alive." They said to him, "The prayer has finished, O Chief of the Faithful!" He woke up and said, "The prayer, by Allah! Verily, there is no share in Islam for whoever abandons the prayer." He performed the prayer while his wound was bleeding. [Sifat as Safwah 2/131, As Siyar 5/220]

After ar-Rabi` bin Khaytham became partially paralyzed, he used to go to the mosque helped by two men. He was told: "O Abu Yazid! You have been given permission to pray at home." He said, "You have said the truth, but I heard the caller herald, 'Hayya `ala al-Falah (Come to success)', and I thought that whoever hears this call should answer it even by crawling." [Hilyat al Awliya 2/113]

Adi bin Hatim, radhiallahu `anhu, said: "Every time the prayer timefalls, it falls while I am eager for it and ready to perform it (i.e.having wudu)." [Az Zuhd by Ahmad, p. 249]

Abu Bakr bin Abdullah al Muzani said: "Who is like you, O son of Adam? Whenever you wish, you use water to make Ablution, go to the place for worship and thus enter the presence of your Lord (i.e. start praying) without a translator/barrier or a barrier between you and Him!" [Al Bidayah wa an Nihayah 9/256]

Abu Rajaa al `Ataridi, "Nothing that I leave behind grieves me, except that I used to bow down on my face five times a day before my Lord, the Exalted and Most Honored." [Hilyat al Awliya 2/306]

Abu Al Aliyah said, "I would travel for days to meet a man and the first thing I would notice about him is his prayer. If he would establish the prayer perfectly and on time, I would stay with him and hear the knowledge he had. If I found him to be careless concerning the prayer, I would leave him and say to myself that for things other than the prayer, he would be even more careless."

When Ali bin Al Husain used to perform Wudu, his color would change. His family asked him why this happened to him every time he performed Ablution, he sid, "Do you know before Whom I am about to stand (in prayer)?"

Yazid bin Abdullah was asked, "Should we make a roof for our mosque?" He said, "Purify your hearts and your mosque will be sufficient for you." [Hilyat al Awliya 2/312]

Adi bin Hatim, radhiallahu `anhu said, "Ever since I became Muslim, I always made sure to have Wudu when the Adhan is called." [As Siyar 3/160]

Ubayd bin Ja`far said, "I never saw my uncle Bishr bin Masnur miss the first takbir, and whenever any person stood up in our mosque to ask people for help, my uncle gave him something." [Sifat as Safwah 3/376]

Ibn Sama`ah said, "For forty years, I only missed Takbir Tahrimah (initial takbeer) when my mother died." [As Siyar 10/646]

"If you know of a man's disinterest in Takbir Tahrimah, then wash your hands of him."[As Siyar 5/65, Sifat as Safwah 3/88]

Sufyan bin `Uyaynah, "Honoring the prayer includes coming before the Iqamah is recited." [Sifat as Safwah 2/235]
Maymun bin Mahran came to the mosque late and when he was told that the people had already finished the prayer, he said, "We all belong to Allah and to Him shall be our return! I prefer the congregational prayer to being the governor of Iraq." [Mukashafat al Qulub p 364]

Yunus bin Abdullah said, "What is the matter with me? When I lose a chicken I feel concerned, but when I miss the prayer in congregation, it does not grieve me." [Hilyat al Awliya, 3/19]

`Umar said, while standing on the podium, "A man might have white hair in Islam (i.e. reaches in old age while Muslim), yet has not completed even one prayer for Allah, the Exalted!" He was asked, "Why is that?" He said, "He does not perfect the prayer's required Khushu`, solemness and attending to Allah with his heart." [Al-Ihya 10/202]

Hammad bin Salamah said, "I have never stood up for prayer without imagining that Jahannam is before my eyes." [Tadhkirat al Huffadh 1/219]#

Mu`adh bin Jabal advised his son, "My son! Pray the prayer of he who is just about to leave and imagine that you might not be able to pray ever again. Know that the believer dies between two good deeds, one that he performed and one that he intended to perform later on."[Sifat as Safwah 1/496]

Bakr al Muzani said, "If you want your prayer to be of benefit to you, say to yourself, 'I might not have a chance to perform another prayer.'[Jami` al `Ulum wal Hikam, p 466.]

Shubrumah said, "We accompanied Karz al Harithi on a journey. Whenever he wanted to set camp in an area, he used to scan it with his eyes and when he found a good piece of land that he liked, he would go to it and pray there until it was time to leave." [Sifat as Safwah 3/120]

Al Qasim bin Muhammad said, "Whenever I went out in the morning, I used to visit `Aishah radhiallahu `anha (his aunt and the wife of the Prophet, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) and greet her. One day I found her performing Ad Duha prayer, reciting this Ayah repeatedly, crying and invoking Allah: 'So Allah has been gracious to us, and has saved us from the torment of the Fire.' (52:27) I stood there until I felt bored, so I left and went to the market to do something and said to myself that when I finish what I have to do, I will go back (to`Aishah radhiallahu `anha). When I finished and went back to her, I found her still standing in prayer, reciting the same Ayah, crying and invoking Allah.'" [Al Ihya 4/436]

Maymun bin Hayyan said, "I never saw Muslim bin Yasar turning his head while praying, whether the prayer was short or long. Once, a part of the mosque came down and the noise caused fear to the people who were in the market, while he was in the mosque, did not fear nor even turn his head and kept praying." [Az Zuhd by Imam Ahmad p 359]

"I accompanied `Ata bin Rabah for eighteen yers. When he became old and weak, he used to stand in prayer and read close to two hundred Ayat from Surat al Baqarah while standing in such firmness that no part of him would move." [As Siyar 5/87, Sifat as Safwah 2/213]

Abu Bakr bin Aiyash said, "If you saw Habib bin Abu Thabit while in Sujud, you would think that he had died because of his long prostration." [As Siyar 5/291]

Ali bin Al Fudayl said, "I saw ath-Thawri went into Sujud while praying, and I performed Tawaf around the House seven times before he raised his head from Sujud." [As Siyar 7/277]

Uthman bin Abi Dahrash said, "I never performed a prayer without invoking Allah afterwards to forgive me for falling into shortcomings in the way I performed it." [Tarikhu Baghdad 13/207]
It was reported that 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr was praying one day and a snake fell from the ceiling and landed on the stomach of his son, Hashim; the women screamed and the members of the household were alarmed and they joined in an attempt to kill the snake, which they succeeded in doing so and the boy was saved. All of this took place while ibn az-Zubayr was in prayer and he did not look nor was he aware of what was happening until he made the taslim.
[al-Bidayah wan Nihayah]

Yahya said: "ibn az-Zubayr would prostrate until sparrows alighted on his back and they would think that it was nothing but a stone wall."
[Sifat as-Safwah]

It is reported on the authority of thumamah bin 'Abdullah bin Anas that he said "Anas would pray and he would remain standing for a long time until the skin on his feet split." [Sifat as-Safwah]

[Shivermetimbers]

It really saddens me to see a lot of us spending hours on end on Islamica arguing and discussing topics, (the majority of) which do not contribute to our spiritual growth or betterment as muslims and humans. In fact they generally have an adverse impact on our imaan and good deeds.

We possess a profound understanding about the aqeedas of various figures in Islamic history, the position of the different schools of thought on matters which will never affect our lives, the superiority of the arab lineage and so on. We possess all this knowledge, yet on a daily basis we neglect the most important aspect of our deen: Salah. We all agree it's a fundamental aspect of our religion and it is the FIRST thing we will be questioned about on the day of judgement. We complain that the strength of the muslim ummah has deteriorated, sectarian conflict is rampant amongst us and we are vulnerable to ideological attacks from the kuffar. We mourn the lack of our political power. We eulogize the times when our mathematical and scientific genius had no parallel and we wonder "Why not now?"

Allah (swt) says in the Quran:

Ah, woe unto worshippers who are heedless of their Salaat (Sūrah Ma’un, 3)

Do we really expect Allah to grant success to a nation which dares to defy this verse and many more which promise dire consequences for it's neglect? Every single day. Five times a day. May Allah save us from his wrath.


So why do we it? We enjoin cordial relations with non-muslims, but we don't enjoin cordial relations with Allah. In fact a lot of ulema are of the opinion that intentional neglect of prayer results in no relation with Allah. May Allah save us all from such a horrible fate. I'd like this thread to be a place where we enjoin the performance of salaah by posting relevant quranic verses, ahaadeeth and other material which encourages us to perfrom it as it is it's right to be performed, and admonish and reprimand us for neglecting it.


I'll start:

On the authority of Hadrat Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that Allah's Messenger (may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him) said:

The first of his actions for which a servant of Allah (The Glorified and the Exalted) will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers. If they are in order, then he will have prospered and succeeded; and if they are wanting, then he will have failed and lost. If there is something defective in his obligatory prayers, the Lord (The Glorified and the Exalted) will say: See if My servant has any optional prayers with which may be completed that which was defective in his obligatory prayers. Then the rest of his actions will be judged in like fashion. (Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, an-Nasai, Ibn Majah and Ahmad). (Hadith Qudsi)

[pathani]

salaams,

jazakaAllah sis. one of the very few beneficial threads. mashaAllah

Narrated Abu Huraira (RAA)"I heard Rasulullah (SAW) saying, 'If there was a river at the door of anyone of you and he took a bath in it five times a day would you notice any dirt on him?' They said, 'Not a trace of dirt would be left.' The Prophet added, 'That is the example of the five prayers with which Allah blots out (annuls) evil deeds."(Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Hadith # 506)

[sixpakistan]

Excellent thread and reminder, Jazak Allah Khair. May Allah SWT make us all steadfast upon our salah, ameen.

[Nabisco007]

salah= Words cannot describe the inner peace one gets from praying. I'm really dependent on Allah in general though. My prayer is another way of just letting out what's in my heart and seeking guidance.

[Shivermetimbers]

"Verily between man and between polytheism and unbelief is the negligence of prayer." [Sahih Muslim : Book 1 Kitab Ul-Iman, Number 146]

[rawrr]

sixpakistan said

May Allah SWT make us all steadfast upon our salah,

Shivermetimbers said

May Allah save us from his wrath.

Thumma ameen.

[Shivermetimbers]

Conversing with Allah.



On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said:

"A prayer performed by someone who has not recited the Essence of the Qur’an (Surat al-Fatihah) during it is deficient (and he repeated the word three times), incomplete."
Someone said to Abu Hurayrah: [Even though] we are behind the imam? ( i.e. standing behind the imam listening to him reciting al-Fatihah)

He said: Recite it to yourself, for I have heard the Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be up on him) say:

Allah (mighty and sublime be He), had said: ‘I have divided prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for.

When the servant says:

‘Al-hamdu lillahi rabbi l-alamin’ (Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds), Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says: ‘My servant has praised Me.

And when he says:

‘Ar-rahmani r-rahim’ (The Merciful, the Compassionate), Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says: ‘My servant has extolled Me,’

And when he says:

‘Maliki yawmi d-din’ (Master of the Day of Judgement), Allah says: ‘My servant has glorified Me’ - and on one occasion He said: ‘My servant has submitted to My power.’

And when he says:

‘Iyyaka na budu wa iyyaka nasta in’ (It is You we worship and it is You we ask for help), He says: ‘This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for.’

And when he says:

‘Ihdina s-sirata l- mustaqim, siratal ladhina an amta alayhim ghayril-maghdubi alayhim wa la d-dallin’ (Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favors, not of those against whom You are angry, nor of those who are astray), He says: ‘This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for.’"


It was related by Muslim (also by Malik, at-Tirmidhi, Abu-Dawud, an-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah).

[YOUSUFofSD]

Great thead mashallah.

Ameen.

[rahma]

Shivermetimbers said

‘Ihdina s-sirata l- mustaqim, siratal ladhina an amta alayhim ghayril-maghdubi alayhim wa la d-dallin’ (It is You we worship and it is You we ask for help), He says: ‘This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for.’"

Just FYI, the translation here should read "Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom you have bestowed favours, not those against whom You are angry, nor of those who are astray."

[ShotgunMessiah]

Ilikemyscarf said

`Umar became unconscious after he was stabbed, and according to Al Miswar bin Makhramah, it was said: "Nothing would wake him up except the call to prayer, if he is still alive." They said to him, "The prayer has finished, O Chief of the Faithful!" He woke up and said, "The prayer, by Allah! Verily, there is no share in Islam for whoever abandons the prayer." He performed the prayer while his wound was bleeding. [Sifat as Safwah 2/131, As Siyar 5/220]

One question.

If his wound was bleeding, wouldn't that invalidate the prayer?

[Shivermetimbers]

rahma said

Just FYI, the translation here should read "Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom you have bestowed favours, not those against whom You are angry, nor of those who are astray."

oops, my bad. thanks for catching that. i was copying and pasting and i didn't correctly copy for the verse so the translation for the last verse was pasted. and i didn't re-check.

ShotgunMessiah said

One question.

If his wound was bleeding, wouldn't that invalidate the prayer?

according to hanafi fiqh when you're constantly bleeding and there is fear of missing salah this blood wont invalidate your prayer. if you continue to bleed for the next few prayer times, then for each prayer the wudu has to be done again.