In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Ask any unbiased non Muslim, they know what the essential or common trait of Muslims is. They will say that Muslims "pray to Allah 5 times a day." Do all Muslims pray 5 times a day?
If you have a hard time keeping up with the 5 daily prayers, it means you have a serious problem. Your priority is wrong. You don't have the right attitude towards prayer. You need to change.
Prayer is the ascent of a believer. It is something big--bigger than any PhD projects, in fact bigger than all the projects of the world. When prayer time comes, you pray, whether you are at home or elsewhere. Everything else can wait.
Allah says,
إِنَّنِي أَنَا اللَّـهُ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدْنِي وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي ﴿١
Verily, I am God. There is no god but I: So serve Me (only), and establish regular prayer for celebrating My praise. [Qur'an Taha 20:14]
حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰ وَقُومُوا لِلَّـهِ قَانِتِينَ ﴿٢٣٨
Guard strictly your (habit of) prayers, especially the middle prayer; and stand before Allah in a devout (frame of mind). [Qur'an al-Baqarah 2:238]
وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَارْكَعُوا مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ ﴿٤٣
And establish prayer and give zakah and bow with those who bow [in worship and obedience]. (43) [Qur'an Al-Baqarah 2:43]
Imam Al-Junaid said, "Ultimately life is praying 5 prayers and waiting to die."
There is no act more powerful than praying the 5 prayers--Dhuhr (afternoon), 'Asr (mid-afternoon), Maghrib (sunset), 'Isha (night) and Fajr (dawn). They take the weight of fifty prayers. It is a very potent concentrated medicine to pray five times daily. Prayer is our support and strength, and joy for those people who Allah blessed them in their prayers.
The Prophet ﷺ said: "The coolness of my eyes is in the prayer." Prayer is an absolute tranquility and peacefulness. The call to prayer is a comfort to People of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said: "O Bilal, comfort us with it." Meaning give the call to prayer.
Praying five times a day is our personal school as long as we keep it for the rest of our lives. We will learn knowledge that we cannot learn from books.
Imagine someone who prays five times a day no matter where they are, no matter what conditions they are in, the prayer will teach him things that books cannot teach. Praying in parking lots, sidewalks, roadside, airports, malls and many other awkward places, would teach him who is more important and whose eyes he care about more. Books cannot teach him that.
Imagine praying five times a day in places where there are the seasons. It can be quite challenging when Fajr is 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and 'Isha is very late at night. Some of us are experiencing it now and will continue into the fasting month of Ramadhan. It requires planning and readjusting your sleep and work schedule in order to pray at their prescribed times. This teaches you an important virtue in our daily lives--flexibility. Books cannot teach you this.
Someone who prays five times a day faithfully under whatever circumstances is not a normal person with Allah. He is a very special person.
إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّـهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ ﴿٥٥Prayer is the greatest opportunity to draw near to our Lord in this life. As soon as the prayer time enters we should be longing to stand before our Lord. The more longing we have to stand before our Lord, it would directly translate into the next world into our degree of closeness to Him. When the prayer is intact and in shape then everything else will be intact and in shape as well.
Your (real) friends are (no less than) Allah, His Messenger, and the (fellowship of) believers,- those who establish regular prayers and regular charity, and they bow down humbly (in worship). [Qur'an Al-Ma'ida 5:55]
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ﴿٢٧٧
Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds and establish prayer and give zakah will have their reward with their Lord, and there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. (277) [Qur'an al-Baqarah 2:277]
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَتْلُونَ كِتَابَ اللَّـهِ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنفَقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً يَرْجُونَ تِجَارَةً لَّن تَبُورَ ﴿٢٩
Those who rehearse the Book of Allah, establish regular Prayer, and spend (in Charity) out of what We have provided for them, secretly and openly, hope for a commerce that will never fail. For He will pay them their wages, nay, He will give them (even) more out of His Bounty: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Ready to appreciate (service). [Qur'an Fatir 35:29-30]
There is no better way to expose ourselves to the Mercy and sweet breezes of Mercy of Allah than through the prayer and in particular praying as our Prophet ﷺ prayed, inwardly and outwardly. Our lives change at least 5 times a day, with our 5 daily prayers, and it is an amazing change.
The mother of the believers, Aisha, my Allah be pleased with her, was from the greatest of those who had the opportunity to see the Prophet ﷺ prayed. She prayed as she saw him prayed. When asked what was the most amazing thing that she saw about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ she started to weep and say, “What was not amazing of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, his entire affair was amazing. But when everyone went to sleep at night, and everyone went to lay with their beloved, the Prophet ﷺ used to stand before his Lord at night - this was the most amazing affair about him, the way he used to stand in the night before his Lord in prayer.”
If you want to wake up for Tahajjud and Fajr, you can wake up. You do whatever it takes to wake up, just as you did to make sure you didn't miss your early morning flight to your vacation or business destination. Like if you missed your flight, you might be able to catch another flight, but it is not the same. You have missed the fun or business deals which you could have enjoyed had you not missed your flight and arrived at your destination on time. You cannot make up the lost opportunity ever.
Every traveller when they come home they have a gift for the loved ones. When the Prophet ﷺ returned from Isra’ wal Miraj (the night journey and ascension to heaven), the the gift that he brought back to the Ummah was the 5 daily prayer. We should see the prayer as a deep and an intimate gift from our Lord, to whom we shall return and to whom is our final destination.
كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ ﴿٥٧
Every soul will taste death. Then to Us will you be returned. (57) [Qur'an Al-Ankabut 29:57]
وَإِلَى اللَّـهِ الْمَصِيرُ ﴿١٨ ...
... And to Allah is the [final] destination. (18) [Qur'an Fatir 35:18]
The Prophet ﷺ, stated,
The first thing one will be asked on the Day of Judgment is prayer.[Sunan Abu Dawud, al Nasa’i, Al-Hakim]
What are you going to say to your Lord about what you have done with His gift when you meet Him?
May Allah grant us steadfastness and righteousness. Ameen.
Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
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