٣٤. عَنْ أَبِي الدَّرْدَاءِ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: أَوْصَانِي خَلِيلِي صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَنْ:
«لَا تُشْرِكْ بِاللّٰهِ شَيْئاً وَإِنْ قُطِّعْتَ وَحُرِّقْتَ. وَلَا تَتْرُكْ صَلَاةً مَكْتُوبَةً مُتَعَمِّداً فَمَنْ تَرَكَهَا مُتَعَمِّداً فَقَدْ بَرِئَتْ مِنْهُ الذِّمَّةُ».
34. Abu Darda (r.a.) reported: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) whom I love more than my soul advised me:
“Even if you are torn apart or even burned, never associate anything as a partner to Allah! And never miss your obligatory (Fard) prayers intentionally! Whoever knowingly misses an obligatory prayer becomes distanced from the protection and trust of Allah.” (Ibn Majah, Fitan, 23)
Explanations:
Ritual prayer is the most prominent principle of Islam. It is a distinguishing sign which separates believers from nonbelievers. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to prayer and be full of determination to continue performing it. For this reason, one of the last wills of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was insistence on prayer.
One of the reports manifesting that the Prophet (pbuh) emphasized prayer in his last wills is as follows:
Anas (r.a.) reported:
We were with the Messenger of Allah in his death bed. He told us three times:
“Fear from Allah about the matter of prayer!” and continued his words:
“Fear from Allah about being unjust to your workers, and fear from Allah about the two weak groups: They are widowed women and children. Fear from Allah about the matter of prayer!”
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) started to repeat “prayer, prayer…” Even when his blessed tongue couldn’t say any longer, he continued to whisper it until his soul ascended to his Divine Companion. (Baihaqi, Shuab, VII, 477)
These reports clearly display the significance of prayer which is the foundation and clearest manifestation of being a servant of Allah. In the following verses of the Qur’an emphasizing the importance of prayer Allah the Almighty says:
“And be steadfast in prayer; practice regular charity; and bow down your heads with those who bow down (in worship).” (Al-Baqarah; 2:43)
“Enjoin prayer on thy people, and be constant therein…” (Al-Taha; 20:132)
“But those will prosper who purify themselves, and glorify the name of their Guardian-Lord, and (lift their hearts) in prayer.” (Al-A’la; 87:14-15)
Our Almighty Lord wants prayer to be performed with great attention and to be practiced continuously without showing any signs of abatement.[1] He warns with a painful torment His servants who are neglectful of their prayers:
“So woe to the worshippers who are neglectful of their prayers…” (Al-Ma’un; 107:4-5)
“Except the Companions of the Right Hand. (They will be) in Gardens (of Delight): they will question each other, and (ask) of the Sinners: “What led you into Hell Fire?” They will say: “We were not of those who prayed; “Nor were we of those who fed the indigent; “But we used to talk vanities with vain talkers; “And we used to deny the Day of Judgment, “Until there came to us (the Hour) that is certain.” (Al-Muddassir; 74:39-47)
The first sin confessed by those who fell into hell was abandoning their prayers. Then, other sins follow. This is an important point to pay attention to.
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said the following in order to draw attention to the importance of prayer:
“Your best deed is your prayer…” (Muwatta, Taharah, 6)
“Prayer is the key to the Paradise, and cleanliness is the key to prayer.” (Ahmad, III, 340)
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said the following to the leader of Saqif Clan who were arguing that practicing prayer would be hard for them:
“There is no good in religion without bowing (prayer).” (Abu Dawud, Haraj, 25-26/3026)
According to what the Prophet (pbuh) informed us:
“The first deed that a person will be asked in the Day of Judgment will be his prayers. If a person had performed the prayers as Allah commanded, he will find salvation. If a person had missed or not performed them with awe, he will lose and be disappointed. If the obligatory prayers are not complete, our Almighty Lord will order:
“Look if My servant has any supererogatory (nafilah) prayers?” The supererogatory prayers will complete the missing obligatory prayers. Then, the person will be questioned for his other deeds.” (Tirmidhi, Salah, 188/413; Nasai, Salah, 9/462)
The significance and place of prayer (salah) among other acts of worships is so lofty that it is not allowed to be missed even under extraordinary conditions such as illness or travel, but some compromises are made to ease its performance under such conditions.
In our second hadith, we are informed that those who miss an obligatory prayer without a valid excuse will lose the protection of Allah. Just like they face some dangers in this world, such people will also be condemned to a harsh punishment in the hereafter. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) explains their bitter end in the Hereafter as:
“Last night two angels came to me (in a dream) and woke me up and said to me, “Proceed!” I set out with them. We came across a man lying down. Another man was standing over his head, holding a big rock. He was throwing the rock at the man’s head, smashing it. The rock rolled away and the thrower followed it and took it back. By the time he reached the man, his head returned to the normal state. The thrower then did the same as he had done before.
I said to my two companions:
“Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah)! Who are these two persons?
They said “We will inform you” and continued:
“As for the first man you came upon whose head was being injured with the rock, he is the symbol of the one who studies the Qur’an and then neither recites it nor acts on its orders, and sleeps, neglecting the enjoined prayers…” (Bukhari, Ta’bir, 48; Jana’iz, 93)
The Prophet (pbuh) saw the harsh punishment that is going to be given to those who dawdle in reciting and practicing the Qur’an, and miss the Dawn and Night Prayer times by falling asleep, and he warned us because of his mercy for his people. Undoubtedly, the prophets’ dreams are true and a fact. For this reason, everything they told based on their dreams should be believed as they are.
If the state of those who linger in performance of prayer, one should imagine the state of those who do not perform prayer at all!
It is understood from this hadith that those who abandon the most honorable worship will be punished from their head, which is the most honorable body part.
Due to these kinds of warnings in the verses of the Qur’an and in the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh), his companions paid a lot of attention to their prayers. For example, Umar (r.a.) wrote to his governors as:
“For me your prayers are the most important of your deeds. Whoever performs it well paying attention to its acts and times, he would protect his religion. Whoever neglects his prayers neglects the rest of the commands of the religion more.” (Muwatta, Wuqutu’s-Salah, 6)
Miswar b. Mahrama (r.a.) narrated:
“I went to Umar b. Khattab (when he was stabbed). Covered with a blanket he was unconsciously lying down.
I asked those who were beside him:
“How is his condition?”
“As you see…” they said. And I said:
“Call him to prayer! Nothing else than prayer scares and wakes him up!”
Upon that, they said:
“O the Ruler of Believers, it is the time of prayer!”
At once, Umar (r.a.) said:
“Yes, I swear to Allah, those who abandon prayer do not get any share from Islam” and he stood up and performed his prayer in spite of his bleeding wound.” (Haythami, I, 295. Also see Muwatta, Taharah, 51; Ibn Sa’d, III, 35)
These examples show how important a place prayer occupies in practicing the religion.
Attaching importance to prayer is parallel to realizing the essence of the religion. When there is a decrease in the religious consciousness, it would immediately have negative effects on our attention and accuracy that we pay to our prayers.