After faith, the most important and essential act of worship for a Muslim is prayer. In various places in the Quran, prayer is mentioned after faith. At the very beginning of Surah Baqarah it is stated (Tarjma) 'This is the Book; There is no doubt about it. Guide for the Muttakis. Those who believe in the unseen, perform prayer and spend out of what We have given them.'(Surah Baqarah: 2-3)
The hadith comes in the Sharif-'The five foundations of Islam: 1. Bearing witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah. 2. Praying. 3. Paying Zakat. 4. Hajj 5. Fasting Ramadan.'(Sahih Bukhari 1/6)
When someone embraced Islam at the hands of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he used to make him commit to the first prayer.
Prophets before the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also ordered prayer after tawheed. It is stated - 'They were commanded to worship Allah with sincerity and to establish prayer...' (Surah Bayynah 5)
Virtues of prayer
One of the innumerable virtues of prayer is that prayer protects people from injustice and sin. It has been said - "Surely prayer prevents indecency and evil deeds." (Surah Ankabut: 45)
Here the question is, does not prayer protect us from sin? The answer is in the said verse. It has been said that, "Surely the Zikr (Remembrance) of Allah is the greatest". In this part, Allah Ta'ala has told the real secret of saving from sin. In other words, remembrance of Allah is a deterrent from obscene and bad deeds. The more Allah is remembered in his prayer, the more he will be saved from sin. If we think about our prayers, we will be able to understand the true nature of our prayers. Due to negligence, we are in such a situation that many times at the end of the prayer, I cannot even remember that I have read any surah. And even if we read the prayer carefully, do we notice that I had a conversation with my Lord? If we think about them, we will understand how much we are entitled to this benefit.
There are many hadiths related to the merits of prayer in different books. A few hadiths are mentioned here.
Hazrat Abu Huraira RA. Said, I heard the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, say, "Can you say if there is a river in front of one of your doors and he bathes five times in that river, will there be any dirt on his body?" The Companions replied, there will be no dirt on his body. The Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, said, "The same is true of the five daily prayers." Allah, the Exalted, washes away the sins through it.' (Sahih Bukhari 1/76)
Hazrat Uthman RA. He said, I heard the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, say, "When the time for prayer comes, a Muslim who performs ablution well and prays well with joy, all his previous sins will be forgiven except for the sins of the Prophet." And this goes on forever. (Sahih Muslim 1/121)
In other words, sins are forgiven in every prayer.
Hazrat Abu Huraira RA. Narrated by, the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, said, "Five times of prayer and for the period between one Friday and another as expiation for sins, as long as no serious sins are committed." (Sahih Muslim 1/122)
Hazrat Abu Zar RA. Narrated from: The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, went out once in winter. At that time the leaves were falling. He took two branches from a tree and shook them and dropped leaves and said, Abu Zar! I said, Labbaik O Messenger of Allah. He said, "Verily, when a Muslim prays for the pleasure of Allah, his sins fall away like the leaves falling from this tree." (Musnad Ahmad 5/179)
Love for prayer
The significance of prayer is very deep. In addition to performing the prayers according to the Masa'il, sincerity and happiness of the heart and love for the prayer are essential for the completeness of the prayer. Through this full-fledged prayer, the creation's closest relationship with the Creator is created. Prayer is the greatest means of gaining closeness and love of Allah and communication and conversation with lovers.
Allah Ta'ala has instructed - (Tarjama) 'Pray in remembrance of Me.' (Surah Taha: 14)
Qudsi in a hadith suggests that the nearness and love of Allah Ta'ala is best achieved through prayer, especially Nafal prayer. That's why it is important to create love and affection for Namaz in the heart along with performing Namaz correctly. Because of the love for prayer, when the true servants of Allah stand in prayer, all the restlessness and troubles of their hearts are removed. The heart and mind are calm and peaceful. Sukoon and Sakina felt it. On the other hand, if there is any delay or difficulty in performing the prayer, they become restless and upset.
If we look at the Holy Seerat of the beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, we see that he said - the coolness of my eyes in prayer.
In another hadith Hazrat Belal ordered RA, 'O Belal! Establish prayer and give us peace.'(Sunan Abu Dawud 2/681)
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would stand for the Nafal prayer, he would recite a long and long qirat. Sometimes he recited Surah Baqarah in the first Rak'ah, Surah Al Imran in the second Rak'ah, Surah Nisa' in the third Rak'ah and Surah Ma'ida in the fourth Rak'ah. He used to recite with Tarteel. When the verse of mercy came, he would stop and pray for mercy, and when he reached the verse of punishment and punishment, he would seek refuge from punishment. Standing like this for a long time, his feet would swell, but he was so engrossed in prayer that he did not notice it.
Similarly, if there was a disturbance in his prayers, he would become restless.
When the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, went to Taif with no response from the people of Makkah, they were more merciless than the people of Makkah and more cruel than the Quraysh. When the Prophet was returning with a broken heart, they killed the miscreants and miscreants. They stoned the Prophet's body and made it bloody. Even at that moment, the Prophet of Mercy did not make any baddua for them; Instead, he apologized and said, they did not recognize me, did not understand my call. Their future generations will respond to my call and accept my invitation. But in the Battle of Khandak, when his Asr prayer was performed, the infidels did not allow him to perform the prayer on time, then a hard bad dua came out of his tongue Mubarak. He said, 'May Allah fill their houses and graves with fire.' The sun went down but they did not allow us to offer Salatul Usta (Asr prayer). (Sahih Bukhari 1/410; Sunan Tirmidhi 2/127)
Companions also had endless love with prayer.
Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Zubair RA said about standing in prayer of Hazrat Abu Bakr RA. Narrated that when he stood in prayer, he would be so silent and still, as if a log had been driven into the ground.
When Hazrat Umar RA was wounded by the infamous Abu Lulu with a dagger, he was repeatedly fainting. In this situation, when someone reminded him about the prayer, he immediately prayed and said, "If I am unable to pray, what is the use of living?"
A battle incident. Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam assigned two Companions to guard at night. One of them was Muhajir the other Ansari. Both of them decided that one of us would keep watch till two o'clock in the night and the other would rest. Then the second man stands guard and the first man rests. According to this decision, in the early part of the night, the Companions of the Ansari started keeping watch and the Companions of the Muhajir went to bed. Ansari Sahabi thought to pray instead of just sitting. After starting the prayer, an infidel came from the enemy camp and saw him standing and shot an arrow. He remained steadfast. The enemy thought that the arrow might not have hit properly. So he shot the arrow again. Meanwhile, the companion stood still. On the other hand, the enemy started shooting arrows one after another. And it continued to pierce the companion. The Sahabi slowly bowed and finished the prayer as usual and woke up the Muhajir's companion. Muhajir's companion was shocked to see the blood flowing from his body and after hearing the incident, he said, "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" Ansari replied, I was reciting Surah Kahf, I did not want to go into Ruku without finishing it. But later I feared that I might become a martyr in any situation due to the way the arrows were piercing my body. And if I am martyred before I wake you up, then the purpose for which the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, told me to keep watch will fail. So I quickly finished the prayer. If it were not for this fear, I would not have gone into Ruku without finishing the Surah. Although my life-lamp should not be extinguished?
Dear reader! Many such incidents related to the prayers of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his beloved Companions are recorded in pages and pages of books. Similarly, there are many similar incidents about our Salaf and Akabir. I mention a small incident.
Once an old man asked those present, will there be prayer in heaven? He was told that Paradise is the place of reward. There is no need to pray there. Hearing this, the old man started crying and said, how can I stay there?
The Prophet said, "I have coldness in my eyes during prayer."
The Companions of the Prophet considered life without prayer to be meaningless. Because of a slight inattention in the prayer, they used to give away lakhs of rupees in charity. But alas! We are so wretched that, far from attaining the coolness of the eyes, we are incapable of realizing its meaning as they attained tranquility. What if at least a little warmth is created in the heart by reading and remembering their blessed events?
Finally, from the above discussion, no one should fall into the wrong impression that if we cannot pray in that way, then we will not pray. Nor will it be fully realized. This idea is not correct; Rather, the intention of the prayer, takbeer, kerat, ruku, prostration, and all the obligatory, wajib and sunnahs of the prayer will be valid if performed according to the Masayil. Apart from this, if you pay attention to when any Rokan is being performed and what is being recited during Namaz, Khushu-Khuzu will be performed. Also, if someone finds it difficult to pray throughout his life and he continues to pray with Jihad against the nafs, then he will receive an additional reward and reward for this difficulty. So there is no reason to worry. Yes, this effort must be continued so that my namaz is always beautiful.
May Allah Ta'ala grant us tawfiq to pray in the way He is most pleased and pleased with. amen #