Intimate conversation

BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Assalaamu alaykum

I pray that you are well.

Whatever Allah commands us to do--whether He tells us to do something or not to do something--it is not for Him. He doesn't need us and He doesn't need our worship. He is free of need. We are not even a dot even as a group that we should think if we don't worship Him that He would mind. We are the ones who is in dire need of Him. We want Him to love us.

When He asks us to pray 5 times a day, it is totally for our benefit. If you think you don't need Him, that you have your parents taking care of things for you, you have a nice husband who pampers you, a loving wife who give you warmth at night, your children who will take care of you when you are old, you have your boss giving you your paycheck and put food on your table, you have lots of great friends who lend their ears for you, wait when He takes your parents away or your husband away or your wife away, or your children away, or your boss fired you or He take your friends away--death, divorce, and other forms of separation, perhaps as a test for you, perhaps as your punishment. Allah knows best. What will happen to you? Where will you go then? If Allah have mercy on you, you will realize that you have misdirected your focus all along and Allah wants you to come back on course, that He alone do you worship and He alone do you seek help, and your mother, your father, your children, your husband, your wife, your boss, your friends and so on are merely means for you to worship Him and come close to Him.

So, before they are taken away, be close to the One and only One. So when the day comes, when Allah take them away from you, you are prepared. You know you have someone who will always be with you and someone you can turn to, and the loss won't be too upside down for you. Do not allow yourself to be distracted by the means so that you cannot be close to Him, cannot worship Him properly, cannot pray on time and for some who don't even pray, may Allah guide them.

I want to mention a little bit about prayer. No one is excused from prayer. Even in battles, the Muslims prayed at its time, which shows us how important this obligation is. What excuse do those who are sitting in the comfort of their homes or those who are busy seeking the pleasures of this world have for not praying on time? All other forms of obligatory worship have conditions in which one don't have to do it--e.g. if one doesn't have the resource, one is not obligated to perform hajj. if one is ill, one doesn't have to fast that day, if one doesn't have money, one doesn't pay zakat. Prayer is the most important pillar of your faith. If this pillar is shaky or weak and not tended to it will eventually gone, it is a like a main pillar of the house if it is weak--the house will quickly collapse. So don't let this happen. Be grateful that you still have Iman and nurture it with more presence of heart during prayer and with more prayers (including the emphasized sunna prayers and night prayers.)

If you pray out of feeling of neediness, fear, awe, hope, gratitude, love of the Lord, then you will find solace and comfort. There was a story of a companion who carried on with his prayer despite enemy arrows were being shot at him one after another! Another, had his leg amputated without anesthesia while he was in sujud. There are many examples of our pious predecessors and perhaps you know many many people still alive who find prayer the coolness of their eyes. You should have this desire to be like them. At the minimum, rush to prayer when the time comes or sit and wait anxiously to pray before the time even entered. Humble yourself to your Lord, take your time in every movement (don't be a woodpecker) and show your neediness. Prayer is where you are the closest to your Lord.

When you recite the Al-Fatiha at least 17 times a day during 5 obligatory prayers, you are having an intimate conversation with the Lord of the Worlds, the All Merciful, All Compassionate, All Generous. Why wouldn't you rush and leave everything and focus on Him alone?

Allah the Exalted says: I have divided the prayer into two halves between Me and My servant, and My servant will receive what he asks. When the servant says: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the universe, Allah the Most High says: My servant has praised Me. And when he (the servant) says: The Most Compassionate, the Merciful, Allah the Most High says: My servant has extolled Me. And when he (the worshiper) says: You alone do we worship and your help alone we seek, He (Allah) says: This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks for. Then, when he (the worshiper) says: Guide us to the straight path, the path of those to whom Thou hast been Gracious not of those who have incurred Thy displeasure, nor of those who have gone astray, He (Allah) says: This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks. (related by Muslim)

May Allah make us understand our responsibilities and fulfill them with excellence. Ameen. Please remember me in your night prayers.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalaam