A friend who mostly works outdoors! he is a medical delegate. he mostly visit hospitals. once when i asked whether he prays 5 times
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa
Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
I knew
a friend who mostly works outdoors! he is a medical delegate. he mostly visit
hospitals. once when i asked whether he prays 5 times, he said he doesent have
the place to pray and he only goes for friday prayers (jumma). please advice me
on how to tell him the importance of prayers? and he is more outgoing and
socialising too , he is 25 years surely he should understand this.
awaiting a reply
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Answer:
Importance of prayer
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah
Hajj verses 66-67:
66 It is He Who gave you life will cause you to die and will again give
you life: truly man is a most ungrateful creature!
67 To every People have We appointed rites and ceremonies which they must follow; let them not then dispute with thee on the
matter, but do thou invite (them) to thy Lord: for thou art assuredly on the
Allah Subhanah declares in His Glorious Quran that to
every people He has appointed religious rites and ceremonies; and to the Ummah
of Prophet Mohamed (saws) one of the rites of worship is the obligatory act of
prayer at the five appointed times of the day as practiced and taught to the
believers by the Messenger of Allah (saws).
Worship of our Lord Creator is very vast in its
implications. Worship means to revere,
serve and obey Allah in our whole lives.
Being born as Allah’s Servants, we cannot give up serving and obeying
Him at any time or under any circumstances.
Just as we cannot say that we are slaves of Allah for a particular time
only, we cannot say that we will spend only a certain amount of time in
worshipping Him, and be free to spend the rest of our time as we please! He created us for His worship, and made it
our incumbent duty and responsibility that our whole lives be dedicated to His
worship.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 51 Surah
Dhariyaat verse 56:
56 I have only created Jinn and men that
they may worship Me.
It is precisely for this reason that worship does not
require giving up the day-to-day world, and sitting in a corner chanting
Allah’s Name! Worship means that
whatever we do in the world should be in accordance with Allah’s Guidance. Whether we sleep or are awake, eat or drink,
work or relax…. Whatever activity we do, we would be in the state of His
worship if these are done in obedience to Him.
When we are home with our wives and children, brothers and
sisters, friends and relatives…we must behave with them in accordance with the
guidance of Allah and His Messenger (saws).
When we go out to study or work, we must keep in view at all times
Allah’s commandments about what behavior and dealings is lawful and
unlawful. When in the dark of the night,
when we feel that we can commit a sin which nobody in the world can see, that
is the time to remember that our Lord is watching over everything and that it
is He rather than our fellow human beings who deserve to be feared.
Abandoning the world and sitting in a secluded cave or
corner counting rosary beads is, therefore, not considered worship in
Islam. Worship is to be engaged in
everyday affairs and yet follow the way of our Lord. In this transient life, where opportunities
are abound for disobeying Allah and where temptations are all around us, we
must unfailingly remember Allah and remain steadfast in following His Laws and
His Commandments; for that is what is considered true worship in the sight of
the Lord.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 62 Surah
Jumuah verse 10:
10 And when the Prayer is finished then may ye disperse through the
land and seek of the Bounty of Allah: and celebrate the Praises of Allah often
(and without stint): that ye may prosper.
Only if we keep this comprehensive concept and meaning of
‘ibaadah’ or worship of our Lord, can we understand how the act of conical
prayers helps us to realize the qualities which are necessary to live our lives
in the constant state of ‘ibaadah’, and what blessings it confers upon us.
There are five major reasons or significance of the
appointed conical prayers:
- It
is an act which exhorts constant Remembrance of Allah Subhanah
- It
exhorts a sense of absolute obedience and duty towards our Lord.
- It
develops God-consciousness and piety
- It
develops our knowledge of His Laws and Commandments when we recite the
Holy Quran in prayer
- The
congregational prayers generates and consolidates the social cohesiveness of
the Believing Ummah.
Significance 1: It is an act which exhorts constant
Remembrance of Allah Subhanah
To cultivate and constantly keep alive the awareness that
we are Allah’s slaves is not an easy task, because the Shaytaan is constantly
trying to take us away from Allah’s Remembrance and make us busy in pursuing
the temptations of this world. Prayer is
the act that will allow us to mitigate these temptations of Shaytaan and
constantly link us back to our Lord.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah
Baqarah verses 45-46:
45 Nay! Seek (Allah's) help with
patient perseverance and Prayer: it is indeed hard, except to those who bring a
lowly spirit.
46 Who bear in mind the certainty that they are to meet their Lord and
that they are to return to Him.
When we get up in the morning, the Fajr prayer reminds us
first thing in the morning that we are slaves to our Lord. When we are busy in our work and searching
for livelihood in the day, the Dhuhr and Asr prayers create our link back to
our Lord. When we return home at sunset,
the Magrib prayers remind us of our duty to our Lord, and when we are about to
go to sleep, the Isha prayers do the same.
Thus it is the act of prayer that, regardless of what we do all day and
all night, reminds us and links us back to our Lord and Creator five times a
day, every day of our lives.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 20 Surah
Taha verse 14:
14 "Verily I am Allah: there is no god but I: so worship thou Me
(only) and establish regular prayer for My Remembrance.”
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 29 Surah
Ankabut verse 45:
45 Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee and establish
Regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and
Remembrance of Allah is the Greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And
Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do.
Significance 2: It exhorts a sense of absolute obedience
and duty towards our Lord.
Those who have served in the army or police know how they
were made to understand the significance of obedience and duty. A bugle is blown several times during the day
and night, and parades are held at extremely short notice. The purpose of this exercise is to train the
soldiers to respond and carry out orders in absolute obedience. This routine also distinguishes the obedient
from the disobedient. Neither can the
soldier say that he is unwilling to attend the assembly and parade, nor can a
soldier say that he has developed his own routine to exercise, nor is the soldier
allowed to challenge his commanding officers regarding the benefit of
assembling everybody everyday at odd hours, if he truly wants to remain in the
army! A soldier who does not attend the
daily assembly and parade, cannot be expected to be available when attacked by
enemy forces! The ones who, without an
absolutely valid reason regularly miss the assembly, will soon be thrown out of
the army or police force! This assembly
and parade of the soldiers at the blowing of the bugle in the army is to determine
one thing and one thing only: the sense of absolute obedience and duty of the
soldiers towards the call of their commanding officer!
Similarly, the Prayers summon the believers five times a
day to assemble in the House of Allah.
On hearing the call to prayer, it is the duty of each and every one of
Allah’s true soldiers to drop whatever they might be doing, and immediately
assemble to offer their prayers as an absolute act of obedience, and prove with
their actions that they are ever ready to respond to the call of their Lord
whenever they are called.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah
Taubah verse 111:
111 Allah hath purchased of the believers their lives and their property; for theirs (in return) is the Garden (of
As believers who have submitted their will to the Will of
their Lord Creator, they have made a solemn covenant with their Lord that they
have willingly sold their lives and their property in return for the Gardens of
Paradise. The believer who hears the
call of prayer and does not respond to the assembly to pray is either unaware
of his solemn covenant with his Lord, or is too lazy to willingly respond to
the call of his Lord, or maybe even in complete denial of the covenant he has
made! How can one who cannot even
assemble when called, be expected to fulfill his covenant made and willingly
sacrifice his life and his property in the Cause of Allah Subhanah when the
need arises? Just as the soldier in the
army who does not respond to the assembly and parade when the bugle is blown
proves he is unfit to remain in the army, the believer who does not respond to
the call of his Lord to assemble five times a day to fulfill his part of the
bargain, proves by his actions that he is unfit to remain in the Army or Party
of Allah Subhanah! That is precisely why
the Messenger of Allah (saws) declared that the difference between belief and
disbelief is the act of prayer!
Jabir reports that the Prophet (saws) said,
"Between a person and disbelief is the discarding of prayer."
Related by Ahmad, Muslim, Abu Dawud,
at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.
Buraidah reported that the Prophet (saws)
said, "The pact between us and them is prayer. Whoever abandons it is a disbeliever."
Related by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi,
anNasa'i and Ibn Majah.
Significance 3: It develops God-consciousness and piety
Five times a day, every day of his adult life, the
believer is reminded about his covenant he made with his Creator. From the time he gets up to the time he goes
back to bed, regardless of what pre-occupations or temptations of the world he
might be pursuing, he is reminded by prayer to remember his Lord and the
believer thus renews his covenant made with Him with every prayer. The believer is always aware of his prayer
times, and knows deep in his heart that the first thing that will be asked of
him on the Day of Judgment in the Presence of his Majestic Lord is his
constancy of prayer; thus he constantly fears that Day of Accounting at least
five times a day, every single day of his life!
The prescribed five obligatory prayers act like a battery charger for a
believer, who charges his battery five times a day to remain fully conscious
and charged regarding his mission of life, and the covenant he has made with
his Majestic and Supreme Lord.
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 103:
Indeed, the salaat is a prescribed duty that should
be performed at the appointed times by the believers.
Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 863 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah
He heard that the Prophet of Allah (saws)
said: ‘The first thing about which the people will be called to account out of their
actions on the Day of Judgment is Prayer. Our Lord, the Exalted, will
say to the Angels - though He knows better: “Look into the prayer of My servant
and see whether he has offered it perfectly or imperfectly.” If it is perfect, that will be recorded as
perfect. If it is defective, He will say: “See if there are some optional
(Sunnah or Nafl) prayers offered by My servant.” If there are optional prayer to his credit,
He will say: “Compensate the obligatory prayer by the optional prayer for My
servant.” Then all the actions will be considered similarly.’
Significance 4: It develops our knowledge of His Laws and
Commandments when we recite the Holy Quran in prayer
To worship Allah, we must know what His Laws and
Commandments are, without which we obviously cannot follow or obey them. Prayer is that instrument through which this
Divine knowledge is fostered. The parts
of the Quran that are recited in each Prayer are intended to teach us the Laws
and Commandments of our Lord. It is no
ones fault but ours if we do not take the trouble to find out the meanings and
understand what we are reciting in prayer; and it would be absolutely no use
complaining that we do not understand, if we have not even bothered to
try!
Significance 5: The congregational prayers generates and
consolidates the social cohesiveness of the Believing Ummah.
Those who are faithful to their Lord and those who reject
Him are always arrayed against each other, and the struggle between ‘surrender’
and ‘rebellion’, ‘obedience’ and ‘disobedience’ is a never-ending test of
life. The rebels break the Laws of Allah
and eforce in their place the Laws of Shaytaan.
Individually, it is almost impossible to resist this process, and it is
therefore absolutely necessary for the true soldiers of Allah to join forces
with the believers, just as the rebellious have joined forces with each
other. The congregational prayer five
times a day, the Jumuah prayer once a week, the two Eid prayers, and the
assembly at Hajj once in a lifetime are all central to this establishment of
the Party of Allah, united for one reason and one reason only; the worship of
their Lord and Creator. The
establishment of the congregation of believers makes a strong wall and creates
in each and every one the singleness of purpose, cohesiveness and real unity
amongst the believing Ummah; which are necessary to make the believers helpers
of one another in the Cause of Allah Subhanah.
Abu ad-Darda' reports that the Messenger of
Allah (saws) said: "If there are three men in a village or desert and
salah is not established among them, then the Shaytaan takes mastery over them.
So be with the congregation since the
wolf devours the remote (stray) sheep."
Related by Abu Dawud.
Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 184 Narrated by Mu'adh ibn Jabal
Allah's Messenger (saws said: ‘Verily the Shaytaan
is the wolf (enemy) of a man just as the wolf is (the enemy) of a flock! He seizes the solitary sheep going astray from
the flock or going aside from the flock. So avoid the branching paths; it is essential
for you to remain along with the Ummah.’
If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and
commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws),
one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if
one believes, obeys and follows any other guidance, other than that of Allah
and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of being led astray.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister