The Obligation of Salah (Prayer)

Bismillâh, wa-l-hamdulillâh, wa-s-salâtu wa-s-salâmu `alâ rasûlillâh

The Salâh (prayer) is the most important bodily deed in Islam. It is a pillar of Islâm. It is so important that instead of sending down Jibrîl to tell the Prophet (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam) of the obligation, Allâh took the Prophet up to Himself to inform him of the obligation.

During the Mi`râj, Allâh originally ordered 50 daily prayers, but after the Prophet Mûsâ (whom Rasûlullâh met in heaven) told Rasûlullâh (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam) to bargain with Allâh with the reason that Rasûlullâh's followers would not be able to handle it, it was reduced to 40. Mûsâ again told Rasûlullâh to go back and bargain. Rasûlullâh did so, and it was reduced to 30. This kept going on, from 30 to 20 to 10, then to 5. When Rasûlullâh returned to Mûsâ with the command of five daily prayers, Mûsâ still insisted that Rasûlullâh return to Allâh to bargain again. However, out of his shyness, Rasûlullâh refused this time. And so the number of prayers remained at five.

Unfortunately however, many Muslims today are too lazy to pray even five times a day! Some are so lazy, they don't pray at all!

If these people knew the rewards of Salâh, they would quit everything just to make sure that they would have enough time to pray.

Allâh says in the Qur'ân:

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَوَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ. أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْوَارِثُونَ.الَّذِينَ يَرِثُونَ الْفِرْدَوْسَ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
"And they who carefully maintain their prayers - They are those [who are] the inheritors. Who shall inherit the Firdaus (Paradise). They shall dwell therein forever." (TMQ al-Mu'minûn 23:9-11)

In Surah al-Mâ`ûn, Allâh condemns those who are careless with their prayers:

فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ. الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ. الَّذِينَ هُمْ يُرَاءُونَ
"So woe to those who pray [But] who are heedless of their prayer - Those who make show [of their deeds]" (TMQ al-Mâ`ûn 107:4-6)

Abu Hurayrah (radiyallâhu `anhu) narrated that Rasûlullâh (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam) said [to his companions], "Do you think if there was a river at the door of one of you and he bathed in it five times a day…[that] any dirt would remain upon him? They (those who were with him) said, "No dirt would remain upon him. He (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam) said, "That is how it is with the five daily prayers, through them Allâh washes away the sins." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Note that the sins washed away by the prayer are only the minor sins.

Salât is our chance to directly communicate with our Creator five times a day. So why do many Muslims still not grab this opportunity?

Indeed, the one who is careless in his prayer is careless in other matters of religion. Whereas the one who is strict with his prayers is strict with other matters of religion.

It is also known that the man who hears the mu'adhdhin call the Adhân must respond to the mu'adhdhin by attending the congregational prayer. And why shouldn't we? The mu'adhdhin is calling us to success; do we not want success? Also, we get 27 times more reward praying in congregation than praying alone.

We should also be keen in performing the Sunnah prayers as they will make up for the defeciencies in our obligatory prayer. This is important, considering that the prayer is the first thing we will be asked about on the Day of Judgement, as stated by the following hadîth:

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (radiyallâhu `anhu) said: I heard the Messenger of Allâh (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam) 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. If anything is lacking from his obligatory prayers, the Lord will say, ‘Look and see whether My slave did any voluntary prayers, and make up the shortfall in his obligatory prayers from that.’ Then all his deeds will be dealt with likewise.” (Narrated by al-Nasâ’i & al-Tirmidhi)

And Allâh Knows Best

The Basics of Islam

Bismillâh, wa-l-hamdulillâh, wa-s-salâtu wa-s-salâmu `alâ rasûlillâh

What is Islam?

Islam comes crom the Arabic word silm (not salâm, which means peace) which means sumbission.
Islam is to submit, accept and obey the teachings of Allâh which he revealed to His Messenger Muhammad (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam). A Muslim is one who submits to the true teachings of Allâh.

The Five Pillars of Islam

Islam is built upon five pillars:

1. Shahâdah (Testification). A Muslim must believe with the heart and declare with the tongue that there is no one deserving of worship except Allâh, and that Muhammad (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam) is His Final Messenger.
2. Salah (Prayer). A Muslim must pray five times a day: Fajr (dawn), Zuhr (early afternoon), `Asr (late afternoon), Maghrib (evening), and `Ishâ' (night)
3. Zakâh (Alms). A Muslims is required to pay 2.5% of his/her wealth per year.
4. Sawm (Fasting). A Muslim is required to fast the whole of the month of Ramadân.
5. Hajj (Pilgrimage). A Muslim is required to perform pilgrimage to Makkah at least once in his/her lifetime.

The Six Pillars of Îmân (Faith)

Îmân (faith) has six pillars:

1. Belief in Allâh. We must believe in Allâh's Oneness & Uniqueness, His Existence, His Lordship, His Divine & Sublime Names & Attributes, His Perfection and His Sole Right to be worshipped.

2. Belief in His Angels. We must believe that Allâh created angels, who are honoured servants made from light. They do not disobey Allâh; they only do what He commands them to do. Only Allâh knows how many angels there are, but to indicate their great number, there is a hadîth that states that every day 70,000 angels visit al-Bayt al-Ma'mûr and leave, never returning to it again, another group coming after them.

We must know ten individual angels:
1. Jibrîl. He is the chief on the angels and is responsible for conveying the wahy (revelation) from Allâh to His Prophets.
2. Mîkâl (or Mîkâ'îl). He is responsible for rain and vegetation.
3. Isrâfîl. He is responsible for blowing the Trumpet, first to destroy everything except what Allâh wills, then the second time to signify the period of resurrection and judgement.
4. Malak al-Mawt. He is the angel of death. Every human will have his soul taken out of his body by this angel when his time comes to die.
5. & 6. Munkar & Nakîr. They are responsible for questioning the dead in their graves.
7. Ridwân. He is the main gatekeeper of Paradise
8. Mâlik. He is the chief gatekeeper of Hell
9. & 10. The two angels who record one's good and bad deeds, described as Raqîb (observer) & `Atîd (ready to record). The Qur'ân also describes them as Kirâman Kâtibîn (noble & recording).

3. Belief in His Books. We must believe in the Divine Books that Allâh sent down to His
Messengers.

We must know four particular Books:
1. Tawrât (Torah), which was revealed to Prophet Mûsâ (`alayhi-s-salâm)
2. Zabûr (Psalms), which was revealed to Prophet Dâwûd (`alayhi-s-salâm)
3. Injîl (Gospel), which was revealed to Prophet `Îsâ (`alayhi-s-salâm)
4. Qur'ân, which was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam)

However, our belief in these Books does not mean we follow the teachings of these books. The only Divine Book we are allowed to follow is the Qur'ân.

We must also believe that ALL of the Books sent down before us do not exist in their true, original forms today; they have either been lost or corrupted by the people as time went by. Examples of corrupted books are the Tawrât and Injîl.

4. Belief in His Messengers. We must believe that Allâh sent Prophets and Messengers to to he people and jinn of nations before us to guide them to the path of the Truth, and that they have told the truth about everything they have conveyed from Allâh. We must also believe that Muhammad (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam) was His Final Messenger and was sent to the worlds.

We must know 25 particular Prophets, all of whom are mentioned in the Qur'ân: Âdam, Idrîs, Nûh, Hûd, Sâlih, Lût, Ibrahîm, Ismâ`îl, Ishâq, Ya`qûb, Yûsuf, Shu`ayb, Mûsâ, Hârûn, Dâwûd, Sulaymân, Ayyûb, Dhû l-Kifl, Yûnus, Ilyâs, al-Yasa`, Zakariyyâ, Yahyâ, `Îsâ and Muhammad (`alayhimu-s-salâtu wa-s-salâm).

5. Belief in the Last Day. We must believe in the Day of Resurrection, the Day of Judgement, the day in which, as described by the Prophet himself (sallallâhu `alayhi wa sallam), "The two feet of the son of Adam will not move from near his Lord on the Day of Judgement until he is asked about five (matters): (1) about his life - how he spent it; (2) about his youth - how he took care of it; (3) about his wealth - how he earned it; (4) and where he spent it (5) and about that which he acted upon from the knowledge he acquired." (Narrated by at-Tirmidhî and others)

On this Day, every single person will be brought back to life, judged, have his/her good and bad deeds weighed up against each other, walk on the sirât and enter either Paradise or Hellfire.

6. Belief in Predestination/Divine Decree/Divine Will. We must believe that Allâh decreed for everything to happen. Whatever Allâh decreed to happen occurs and whatever Allâh does not decree to happen does not occur. Nothing happens except that Allâh knows it was going to happen and knew about it eternally.
So the question might be asked: Do we have free will? Why will Allâh punish us because of something he decreed for us to do anyway?

The answer is that Allâh does not hold us responsible for creating the act, for Allâh is the Creator of all acts. Rather, he holds us responsible for choosing the act. One proof of this is that a person who cannot choose is not held responsible, such as someone asleep, insane, a child, forced, unremembering, or someone who makes an honest mistake. The legal responsibility of such people is lifted because they lack full voluntary choice.

Another proof is that Nimrûd sinned for choosing to burn Ibrâhîm (`alayhi-s-salâm) even though Ibrâhîm did not burn; and that Ibrâhîm (`alayhi-s-salâm) became the Close Friend of Allâh for choosing to sacrifice his son out of obedience to Allâh, even though his knife did not cut and his son was not sacrificed. All of this shows that the servant is held responsible for his choice.

Also, we do not have any access to Allâh's Decree. So when we choose to do acts, we do so on the basis of a desire within ourselves, not because we know Allah's Decree, and as a result we are held responsible for our choices even though they correspond with Allâh's Decree.

Wallâhu A`lam wa Ahkam

Brotherhood in Islam

Bismillâh, wal-hamdulillâh, was-salâtu was-salâmu `alâ rasûlillâh

When we talk about brotherhood in Islam, we must first know what the term brotherhood means.

According to the dictionary, brotherhood is a bond or link between a group of people based on a common interest, such as a game.

However, according to Islam, brotherhood is defined as a bond between a group of people according to Islam.

Allâh says in  Âyah 9 of Sûrah al-Hujurât that "The believers are nothing else than brothers."

Therefore, we should consider how close we are to others on the basis of Islam. We should not consider one person closer to us than another person because he likes soccer better, or because he likes playing World of Warcraft. They way we look at and judge another person should be based on Islam.

We should also not break the bonds of brotherhood abd frienship with our fellow Muslims. Indeed, brotherhood that comes as a result of Islam is closer, stronger and more worthy to be kept & strengthened that the brotherhood that comes out of a blood relationship, as demonstrated by the Sahâbah, may Allâh be pleased with them all.

And Allâh knows best.