Class01-Salah -A Gift for the Ummah
Class 1
‘Salah -A Gift for the Ummah’
The Prayer (Salah): is the second pillar from the pillars of Islaam and the most important pillar of Islaam after the Shahaadah (testimony) of Faith. Salah is a link between the servant and his Lord.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Indeed, when one of you prays, he speaks privately with his Lord.” [Reported by Al-Bukhaari]
And Allah says in the qudsee hadeeth: “I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant into two parts, and My servant will have what he asks for…” (Muslim).
Salah is a garden of ‘ibaadaat (acts of worship), in which every splendid type of worship is found. There is the takbeer, by which the prayer is initiated, the standing in which the person praying recites the words of Allah, the bowing in which he extols his Lord, the rising from the bowing position, which is filled with the praising of Allah, the prostration in which he glorifies Allah by His highness and in which he implores him through supplication, the sitting in which there is the tashahhud and (more) supplication and the closing with tasleem.
The prayer is one of the most beautiful acts of worship. When one does his tasleem to end the prayer, there is a certain sense of serenity. Ibn Al-Jawzi said about the prayer:
“We are in a garden, where our food is khushoo’ (devotion), and our drink is the tears that flow.”
Salah is a means of support and assistance in times of distress and grief. And it prevents one from evil and shameful deeds. Allah says: “Seek assistance in patience and prayer.” And He says: “Recite what has been revealed to you from the Book and establish the prayer. Verily, the prayer prevents one from evil and shameful deeds.”
Salah purifies the soul, refines the character, and inculcates in man the excellent virtues of truthfulness, honesty and modesty. It keeps one who performs it from falsehood and from all forbidden actions as is categorically confirmed by the following verse of the Qur’an: “Verily, prayer refrains from indecency and evil” (Qur’an 29:45).
Salah was given as a gift
It was after the Year of Grief – when the Prophet ﷺ lost his beloved wife Khadeeja R.A. and his uncle who supported him almost all his life. The Prophet ﷺ visited Taif to call their people to Islam and hoping to find some solace, but there he received greater rejection and even more pain. It was after this when Prophet was taken to the night of Isra wal Mi’raaj.
Salah was enjoined on the night of the Mi’raaj [Prophet’s ascent to heaven] as a gift to him in which he can find solace. Unlike all the other deeds, something unique to Salah is that it was not brought down to earth by an angel, rather Allah wanted to bless His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ by taking him up to heaven and addressing him directly concerning the obligation of prayer.
Fifty prayers (per day) were enjoined at first, then the number was reduced to five, but the reward of fifty remains. This is indicative of Allah’s love of prayer and its great status.
First deed to be asked by Allah in the Hereafter and the Last deed to be asked by the Prophet in this World.
Almost all of us know that Salah is the first deed we will be asked about on the day of Judgement, it was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Prophet ﷺ say: “The first deed for which a person will be brought to account on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayer. If it is good then he will have prospered and succeeded, but if it is bad then he will be doomed and have lost. …..” (al-Nasaa’I & al-Tirmidhi. Classed as saheeh by Albaani). But we are still heedless about this.
In the Prophet’s last days in this world, he was very sick and he would faint and every time he would gain consciousness he would ask “Have the people prayed”. Also Abu Dawood (5156) and Ibn Maajah (2698) narrated that ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The last words that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke were, “The prayer, the prayer! ……” So Salah was amongst the last words/advices the Prophet ﷺ said in this world.
Also, if one reads the incident of the death of Omar R.A., SubhaanAllah we see something similar. Omar R.A. was attacked and wounded so bad that his internal parts were visible, in one narration it says he fainted and when he got back into consciousness, he asked did the people Pray and in another narration, it says he didn’t faint but was lying on the side and had asked the people to finish Salah as the sunrise was coming. Subhanallah, priorities!
He was so badly wounded that when he was given something to drink it would come out of the wound of his belly, and at this stage he asked his son to bring water so he can make wudoo and complete the prayer he had started, SubhaanAllah! That is the importance of prayer, he prayed on his death bed, he learnt the importance of Salah from his beloved companion and our beloved Rasool Allah ﷺ.
May Allah give us all the Hidayah to make Salah as the most important deed in our lives. May Allah make our Salah good enough so that we are successful on the Day of Judgement.
Warning against abandoning salah
Allah (S.W.T.) says “Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up As-Salât (the prayers) [i.e., made their Salât (prayers) to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times, etc.] and have followed lusts. So they will be thrown in Hell. Except those who repent and believe (in the Oneness of Allâh and His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ, and work righteousness. Such will enter Paradise and they will not be wronged in aught.” (Sura Maryam, ayat 59-60)
Here we see what the place for those is who have abandoned the prayer but Allah (swt) is the most merciful and gives us chances to repent and be saved.
Allah (swt) says in Sura Al-Mâ’ûn “So woe unto those performers of Salât (prayers) (hypocrites), Who delay their Salât (prayer) from their stated fixed times, Those who do good deeds only to be seen (of men),” (Sura Al-Mâ’ûn, ayat 4 – 6)
This ayah shows us that we have to pray our Salah on its fixed timings and not delay them without a valid reason (i.e., traveling, jihad etc..) and how much we need to have sincerity in your prayer and do it only for Allah (swt).
Allah (swt) further warns us in the Quran “O you who believe! Let not your properties or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allâh. And whosoever does that, then they are the losers.” (Sura Al-Munaafiqoon, ayah #9)
The commentators of the Qur’aan say: “The ‘remembrance of Allah’ mentioned in these Aayaat means the five daily prayers. If anyone is so busy in buying and selling, or with his daily work of earning a livelihood, or with his children, that he cannot perform prayers on time, he will be among the losers.”
Informing us about the inhabitants of Hell, Allah (SWT) says “(The people in Hell will be asked) What has caused you to enter Hell? They will say: “We were not of those who used to offer their Salât (prayers). Nor did we feed the poor. And we used to talk falsehood (all that which Allah hated) with vain-talkers. And we used to belie the Day of Recompense. Until there came to us that which is certain (i.e., death). So no Intercession of intercessors will benefit them”. (Sura Al-Muddaththir, ayah 42-48)
Rasulullah ﷺ said “The covenant between us and them is prayer, so if anyone abandons it he has become a disbeliever.” (Ahmad, Tirmidhee and Nasaa’ee to be authentic)
In another Hadith, Rasulullah ﷺ said “What lies between a man and disbelief is the abandonment of prayer.” (Agreed upon by Muslim, Abu Dawood and Nasaa’ee as sahih authentic)
May Allah make us amongst those who establish prayer and do so on time.
Now Ask yourself why do you Pray?
Is it just because I must? Is it just to get this daily duty out of the way and over with? Or maybe it is because everyone just does it, so I do it too?
It’s time to make a change. We need to start praying out of sincere Love. Pray out of longing to be with the one you love. Pray for the peace and comfort that comes from being with the one you love.
There are 3 reasons which make you love someone:
- Either because that someone is beautiful!
- Or because that someone always deals kindly with you.
- Or because that someone has done many favours for you.
Think of Allah now. He is all of the above and more, isn’t He? Doesn’t He then deserve to be the worthiest of our love over everything and anyone else? To truly love Allah is to truly taste the greatest love in existence! It is to truly taste the beauty of faith.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “There are seven whom Allah will shade with His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His: (amongst them he said) … a man whose heart is attached to the mosque.” (Agreed upon, narrated by al-Bukhaari, no. 620; Muslim, no. 1712; and others).
This means that a person longs to go back to the masjid, and what for? To get back in Prayer, to be in front of Allah, to converse with the Lord to ask His forgiveness and His blessings, that is to Pray because you Love to!
InShaAllah in the course we will try to learn about each position motion of Salah highlighting with the emotions and thoughts we should carry.
May Allah make us amongst those who Pray because they love to, make us feel the sweetness of prayer and give us a place under His Shade on the day of Judgement.
In the upcoming classes we will learn
- Levels of Salah
- Preparing for Prayer
- Motions & Emotions in Salah
- After Prayer
- Forgotten Sunnahs of Salah
- Ways Shaitaan tries to steal from our Salah
- Rewards of Salah
- Stories and quotes of Sahaba and other Righteous from early generations about Salah.
Tips for the test
- Do not have to memorize the Ayahs or Hadeeths word for word, get a good understanding of the message in it.