HOW IMPORTANT IS THE SALAAH IN ISLAM
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Alhamdulillah,
Though I have written on this matter in the past and have done countless khutub on this very subject, as well as many lectures over the last 15 years, the questions still arise and it is encumbent upon those that know to answer them, to try and clear misconceptions and doubts, in sha Allah.
The prayer is the pillar of Islam upon which the other pillars rest, after the Kalimat-ul-Shahada, all the other pillars are either directly connected to the prayer or have the prayer as part of them. Like Fasting the month of Ramadhan, fasting the month without praying in it makes the fast invalid by the majority of the scholars, going to Hajj without praying the prayers associated with the rites makes the Hajj invalid, the one who pays zakaat but does not pray is like the one that throws money in to the ocean expecting it to come back in to his bank account. The Shahada, the testification of Islam becomes apparent once the actions of the person become apparent i.e the prayer must be established.
Actions are part of Emaan and the one that does not believe that, or the one that seperates actions from faith, has Irja in their belief system..
The prayer is so crucial to a persons success and the punishment for leaving it will lead to a persons destruction, and Allah’s Help is sought. Read more about the punishment for not praying here: PUNISHMENT FOR NOT PRAYING.
To Proceed:
The importance of the prayer in Islam cannot be understated. It is the first pillar of Islam that the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned after mentioning the testimony of faith, by which one becomes a Muslim. It was made obligatory upon all the prophets and for all peoples. Allah has declared its obligatory status under majestic circumstances. For example, when Allah spoke directly to Moses, He said,
“And I have chosen you, so listen to that which is inspired to you. Verily, I am Allah! There is none worthy of worship but I, so worship Me and offer prayer perfectly for My remembrance.”
[Taha 13-14]
Similarly, the prayers were made obligatory upon the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) during his isra wal-miraj. Furthermore, when Allah praises the believers, such as in the beginning of surah al-Muminoon, one of the first descriptions He states is their adherence to the prayers.
Once a man asked the Prohpet (peace be upon him) about the most virtuous deed. The Prophet (peace be upon him) stated that the most virtuous deed is the prayer. The man asked again and again. The first three times, the Prophet (peace be upon him) again answered, “The prayer,” then on the fourth occasion he stated, “Jihad in the way of Allah.” [This is form a hadith recorded by Ahmad and ibn Hibban. According to al-Albani, the hadith is hasan. Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Sahih al-Targheeb wa al-Tarheeb (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islami, 1982), vol. 1, p. 150]
The importance of prayer is demonstrated in the many of the Prophet’s statement. For example, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
“The first matter that the slave will be brought to account for on the Day of Judgment is the prayer. If it is sound, then the rest of his deeds will be sound. And if it is bad, then the rest of his deeds will be bad.” [Recorded by al-Tabarani. According to al-Albani, it is sahih. Al-Albani, Sahih al-Jami, vol.1, p. 503.
The importance of the prayers lies in the fact that no matter what actions one performs in his life, the msot important aspect is one’s relationship to Allah, that is, one’s faith (imaan), God-consciousness (taqwa), sincerity (ikhlas) and worship of Allah (`ibaadah). This relationship with Allah is both demonstrated and put into practice, as well as improved and increased, by the prayer. Therefore, if the prayers are sound and proper, the rest of the deeds will be sound and proper; and if the prayers are not sound and proper, then the rest of the deeds will not be sound and proper, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself stated.
In reality, the prayer is performed properly – with true remembrance of Allah and turning to Him for forgiveness – it will have a lasting effect on the person. After he finishes the prayer, his heart will be filled with the remembrance of Allah. He will be fearful as well as hopeful of Allah. After that experience, he will not want to move from that lofty position to one wherein he disobeys Allah. Allah has mentioned this aspect of the prayer when He has said,
“Verily, the prayer keeps one from the great sins and evil deeds”
(al-Ankaboot 45).
Nadwi has described this effect in the following eloquent way,
Its aim is to generate within the subliminal self of man such spiritual power, light of faith and awareness of God as can enable him to strive successfully against all kinds of evils and temptations and remain steadfast at times of trial and adversity and protect himself against the weakness of the flesh and the mischief of immoderate appetites. [Nadwi, p. 24]
The overall affect that the properly performed prayers should have upon humans is described in other verses in the Quran:
“Verily, man was created impatient, irritable when evil touches him and niggardly when good touches him. Except for those devoted to prayer those who remain constant in their prayers…”
(al-Maarij 19-23).
As for the Hereafter, Allah’s forgiveness and pleasure is closely related to the prayers. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said,
“Allah has obligated five prayers. Whoever excellently performs their ablutions, prays them in their proper times, completes their bows, prostrations and khushu` [Khushu` in the prayer is where the person’s heart is attuned to the prayer. This feeling in the heart is then reflected on the body. The person remains still and calm. His gaze is also lowered. Even his voice is affected by this feeling in the heart. For more details on this concept (as well as the difference between it and khudhu`), see Muhammad al-Shaayi, al-Furooq al-Laughawiyyah wa Atharahaa fi Tafseer al-Quran al-Kareem (Riyadh: Maktabah al-Ubaikaan, 1993), pp. 249-254.] has a promise from Allah that He will forgive him. And whoever does not do that has no promise from Allah. He may either forgive him or punish him.” [Recorded by Malik, Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’I and others. According to al-Albani, it is sahih. Al-Albani, Sahih al-Jami, vol. 1, p. 616.] ]
The prayers are a type of purification for a human being. He turns and meets with his Lord five times a day. As alluded to above, this repeated standing in front of Allah should keep the person from performing sins during the day. Furthermore, it should also be a time of remorse and repentance, such that he earnestly asks Allah for forgiveness for those sins that he committed. In addition, the prayer in itself is a good deed that wipes away some of the evil deeds that he performed. These points can be noted in the following hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him):
“If a person had a stream outside his door and he bathed in it five times a day, do you think he would have any filth left on him?” The people said, “No filth would remain on him whatsoever.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, “That is like the five daily prayers: Allah wipes away the sins by them.” (Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.)
In another hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
“The five daily prayers and the Friday Prayer until the Friday prayer are expiation for what is between them.” (Recorded by Muslim.)
CAN WE DELAY THE PRAYER TIMES
Missing the time for prayer means leaving the prayer until the time is over and one has not prayed. This is a major sin, unless that is for a legitimate excuse such as sleeping or forgetting.
It says in al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah, 10/8: The fuqaha’ are agreed that it is forbidden to delay prayer until the time for prayer is over, without a legitimate excuse.
Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the person who deliberately delays the prayer until after the time for it is over, or who sets his alarm clock late so that he will not get up on time, he is deliberately not praying, and he has committed a great evil according to all the scholars, but is this kufr [disbelief] or not?
Here there is a difference of opinion among the scholars:
If he does not deny that prayer is obligatory, then the majority of scholars say that he is not committing major kufr in this case.
Some of the scholars were of the view that this is major kufr which puts him beyond the pale of Islam, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Between a man and shirk [associating others with Allaah] and kufr there stands his giving up prayer.” Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Saheeh, 82.
And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The covenant that stands between us and them is prayer; whoever gives up prayer is a kaafir [disbeliever].” Narrated by Imam Ahmad and the four authors of al-Sunan with a saheeh isnaad [sound chain of narrators]. And there is other evidence to support this.
It was also narrated from the Sahaabah [companions of the Prophet – may Allaah be pleased with them all].
The great Tabi’i ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Shaqeeq al-‘Aqeeli said: “The Companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not think that omitting anything constituted kufr apart from prayer.”
With regard to delaying prayer, this may refer to two things:
1 – Delaying prayer until the time for that prayer is over. We have explained the ruling on this above.
2 – Delaying the prayer until the end of the time for that prayer.
See al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah, 10/6
It is permissible to offer a prayer at the end of its time, because of the hadeeth narrated by Muslim (614) from Abu Moosa al-Ash’ari, that someone came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and asked him about the times of prayer… and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) explained to him the beginning and end of the time for each prayer, and said,
“The time is between these two.”
But if delaying the prayer means that one will miss out on praying in congregation and will pray it alone at the end of its time, then it is haraam because it means not praying in congregation, so long as one does not have an excuse for not praying in congregation.
It is better to do the prayer at the beginning of its time, except for ‘Isha’ prayer and Zuhr prayer when it is very hot; in these cases it is better to do them at the end of their allotted times.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
It is better to do the prayer at the time required in sharee’ah. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, answering the one who asked him which deed is most beloved to Allaah, “Prayer done on time.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 527; Muslim, 85. He did not say, prayer at the beginning of its time. That is because the prayers include some which it is Sunnah to pray sooner and some which it is Sunnah to pray later. It is Sunnah to pray ‘Isha’ later, after one-third of the night has passed. Hence if a woman is at home and asks which is better for me, to pray ‘Isha’ when I hear the adhaan or to delay it until one-third of the night has passed? We say, it is better to delay it until one-third of the night has passed, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) delayed one night until they said, “O Messenger of Allaah, the women and children have fallen asleep,” so he went out and led them in prayer, and said, “This would be its time, were that not too difficult for my ummah.” So if a woman is in her house, it is better for her to delay it.
Similarly, if it so happens that some men are travelling, and they ask whether they should pray ‘Isha’ sooner or later, we would tell them that it is better for them to delay it.
Similarly if a group goes out for a trip and the time for ‘Isha’ comes, is it better for them to pray ‘Isha’ sooner or later? We say that it is better for them to delay it if that will not cause them any hardship.
In the case of the other prayers it is better to pray them sooner unless there is a reason for doing otherwise. So Fajr should be prayed sooner, Zuhr should be prayed sooner, ‘Asr should be prayed sooner and Maghrib should be prayed sooner, unless there is a reason for doing otherwise.
Such reasons include the following:
If it is intensely hot, then it is better to delay Zuhr prayer until it cools down a little, i.e., until it is nearly time for ‘Asr, because it cools down a little when it is nearly time for ‘Asr. When it is intensely hot, it is better to pray when it is cooler, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“When it is intensely hot, then wait until it cools down before you pray, for intense heat is from the breeze of Hell.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 537; Muslim, 615.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was on a journey and Bilaal stood up to give the call to prayer, and he said, “Wait until it gets cooler.” Then [Bilaal] stood up to give the call to prayer, and [the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)] said, “Wait until it gets cooler.” Then [Bilaal] stood up to give the call to prayer, and [the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)] gave him permission to do so. Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 629; Muslim, 616.
Another reason is if it will be possible to pray in congregation at the end of the time but not at the beginning, in which case delay is preferable. For example, if a man is outside the city when the time for prayer comes, and he knows that he will reach the city and catch up with the congregation at the end of the time for prayer, is it better for him to pray when the time for prayer comes, or to delay the prayer until he reaches the congregation?
We say that it is better for him to delay the prayer until he catches up with the congregation; we say that it is even obligatory for him to delay in this case, so that he can catch up with the congregation.
Fataawa Arkaan al-Islam, p. 287.
HOW DO WE CALCULATE THE TIME FOR PRAYER
Allaah has enjoined upon His slaves five prayers throughout the day and night at specific times decreed by the wisdom of Allaah so that the slave may be in contact with his Lord in these prayers throughout all of these times. They are for the heart like water for a tree, given to it time after time, not all in one go and then it stops, which would happen if they all had to be done at once. Blessed be Allaah, the Wisest of judges.
The times of the prayers were mentioned by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the hadeeth:
“The time for Dhuhr is from when the sun has passed its zenith and a man’s shadow is equal in length to his height, until the time for ‘Asr comes. The time for ‘Asr lasts until the sun turns yellow. The time for Maghrib lasts until the twilight has faded. The time for ‘Isha’ lasts until midnight. The time for Subh (Fajr) prayer lasts from the beginning of the pre-dawn so long as the sun has not yet started to rise. When the sun starts to rise then stop praying, for it rises between the two horns of the Shaytaan.” (Narrated by Muslim, 612).
This hadeeth explains the timings of the five daily prayers. As for defining them by the clock, that varies from one city or country to another. We will define each in more detail as follows:
1 – The time of Dhuhr
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The time for Duhr is from when the sun has passed its zenith and a man’s shadow is equal in length to his height, until the time for ‘Asr comes.”
So the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) defined the start and the end of the time for Dhuhr:
The start of the time for Dhuhr is when the sun has passed its zenith i.e., has passed the highest part of the sky and started to descend towards the west.
Practical way of knowing when the zenith has been passed (and the time for Dhuhr has begun):
Put a stick or pole in an open place. When the sun rises in the east, the shadow of this stick will fall towards the west. The higher the sun rises, the shorter the shadow will become. So long as it keeps growing shorter, the sun has not yet reached its zenith. The shadow will keep on growing shorter until it reaches a certain point, then it will start to increase, falling towards the east. When it increases by even a small amount, then the sun has passed its zenith. At that point the time for Duhr has begun.
Knowing the time of the zenith by the clock: divide the time between sunrise and sunset in half, and that is the time of the zenith. If we assume that the sun rises at 6 a.m. and sets at 6 p.m., then the zenith is at 12 noon. If it rises at 7 a.m. and sets at 7 p.m., then the zenith is at 1 p.m., and so on.
See al-Sharh al-Mumti’, 2/96
The end of the time for Dhuhr is when the shadow of everything is equal in length to the object itself, plus the length of the shadow of the object at the time of the zenith.
Practical way of knowing when the time for Dhuhr has ended: go back to the stick or pole which we described above. Let us assume that its length is one meter. We will notice that before the sun reached its zenith, the shadow decreased gradually until it reached a certain point (make a mark at this point), then it started to increase, at which point the time for Zuhr began. The shadow will continue to increase, falling towards the east until the length of the shadow is equal to the length of the object itself, i.e., it will be one meter long, starting from the point marked at the zenith). As for the shadow before the mark, that is not counted, and it is called fay’ al-zawaal (the shadow of the zenith). At this point the time for Dhuhr ends and the time for ‘Asr begins straight away.
2 – The time of ‘Asr
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The time for ‘Asr lasts until the sun turns yellow.”
We know that the time for ‘Asr begins when the time for Dhuhr ends, i.e., when the length of an object’s shadow becomes equal to the length of the object itself. There are two times for the end of ‘Asr.
(1) The preferred time: this lasts from the beginning of the time for ‘Asr until the sun begins to turn yellow, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The time for ‘Asr lasts until the sun turns yellow.”
Defining this time by the clock varies according to the season.
(2) The time of necessity. This lasts from the time the sun turns yellow until sunset, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Whoever catches up with one rak’ah of ‘Asr before the sun sets has caught up with ‘Asr.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 579; Muslim, 608)
Necessity here refers to when a person is distracted from praying ‘Asr by some essential and unavoidable work, such as dressing wounds, and he is able to pray before the sun turns yellow but it is difficult, then he prays just before sunset. In this case he has prayed on time and has not sinned, because this is the time of necessity. If a person is forced to delay the prayer, there is no sin so long as he prays before the sun sets.
3 – The time of Maghrib
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The time for Maghrib lasts until the twilight has faded.”
i.e., the time for Maghrib starts immediately after the time for ‘Asr ends, which is when the sun sets, until the twilight or red afterglow has faded. When the red afterglow has disappeared from the sky, the time for Maghrib ends and the time for ‘Isha’ begins. Defining this time by the clock varies according to the season. When you see that the red afterglow has disappeared from the horizon, this is a sign that the time for Maghrib has ended.
4 – The time of ‘Isha
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The time for ‘Isha’ lasts until midnight.”
So the time for ‘Isha’ begins immediately after the time for Maghrib ends (i.e., when the red afterglow disappears from the sky) until midnight.
Question: how do we calculate when midnight is?
Answer: if you want to calculate when midnight is, then calculate the time between sunset and sunrise then divide it in half; that halfway point is the end of the time for praying ‘Isha’ (and that is midnight).
So if the sun sets at 5 p.m., and Fajr begins at 5 a.m., then midnight is 11 p.m. If the sun sets at 5 p.m. and Fajr begins at 6 p.m., then midnight is 11.30 p.m., and so on.
5 – The time of Fajr
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“The time for Subh (Fajr) prayer lasts from the beginning of the pre-dawn so long as the sun has not yet started to rise. When the sun starts to rise then stop praying, for it rises between the two horns of the Shaytaan.”
The time for Fajr begins with the onset of the “second dawn” (al-fajr al-thaani) and ends when the sun starts to rise. The “second dawn” is the brightness that appears along the horizon in the east and extends north to south. The “first dawn” (al-fajr al-awwal) occurs approximately one hour before this, and there are differences between the two:
(1) In the “first dawn” the brightness extends from east to west, and in the “second dawn” it extends from north to south.
(2) The “first dawn” is followed by darkness, i.e., the brightness lasts for a short period then it becomes dark. The “second dawn” is not followed by darkness, rather the light increases.
(3) The “second dawn” is connected to the horizon, with no darkness between it and the horizon, whereas the “first dawn” is separated from the horizon with darkness between it and the horizon.
See al-Sharh al-Mumti’, 2/107.
WHAT ABOUT USING PRAYER BEADS
Some scholars say that it is permissible to use the masbahah (prayer beads), but they say that it is preferable to do tasbeeh (count praises) on one’s fingers; others say that it is bid’ah (reprehensible innovation).
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in al-Fatawa (22/187): “Some of them might show off by putting their prayer-mats over their shoulders and carrying their masbahahs in their hands, making them symbols of religion and prayer. It is known from the mutawatir reports (reports in such large numbers that they couldn’t be forged) that neither the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) nor his Companions used these as symbols. They used to recite tasbeeh and count on their fingers, as the hadeeth says: “Count on your fingers, for they will be asked, and will be made to speak.” Some of them may count their tasbeeh with pebbles or date stones. Some people say that doing tasbeeh with the masbahah is makrooh (disliked), and some allow it, but no one says that tasbeeh with the masbahah is better than tasbeeh with the fingers.”
Ibn Taymiyyah then speaks on the issue of showing off with the masbahah, saying that it is showing off with regard to something that is not prescribed by Islam, which is worse than showing off with regard to something that is prescribed.
Al-Shaykh Muhammad Nasir al-Deen al-Albani said in Al-Silsilat al-Da’eefah (1/110), where he quotes the (weak) hadeeth:
“What a good reminder is the subhah [masbahah],”
“In my view, the meaning of this hadeeth is invalid for a number of reasons:
Firstly, the subhah [masbahah] is bid’ah and was not known at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). It happened after that, so how could he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have encouraged his Sahabah to do something that was unknown to them? The evidence for what I have said is the report narrated by Ibn Waddah in Al-Bid’ wa’l-Nahy ‘anha from al-Salt ibn Bahram, who said: ‘Ibn Mas’ood passed by a woman who had a [masbahah] with which she was making tasbeeh, and he broke it and threw it aside, then he passed by a man who was making tasbeeh with pebbles, and he kicked him then said, “You think you are better than the Sahabah, but you are following unjustified bid’ah! You think you have more knowledge than the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)!”’ Its isnad (chain of transmission) is saheeh (authentic) to al-Salt, who is one of the trustworthy (thiqah) followers of the Tabi’een (Successors).
Secondly, it goes against the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, ‘I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) counting the tasbeeh on his right hand.’”
He also said (1/117): “If there is only one bad thing about the masbahah, which is that it takes the place of the Sunnah of counting on the fingers, even though all are agreed that counting on the fingers is preferable, then that is bad enough. How rarely I see people counting their tasbeeh on their fingers!
We ask Allah to allow us all to pray on time, with humility and in the footsteps of our beloved Messenger, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his blessed family and his great companions.
والله تعالى أعلم
وصلى اللهم وسلم وبارك على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه والتابعين
أخوك أبو ناص
Zinaid Abu Naser 