The Qur’an and our Prophet’s teachings provide a detailed account of acts of worship. Our Prophet (saas) outlines the five obligatory acts of worship:
The religion of Islam is based on five fundamental principles. Attesting that there exists no god but Allah, that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger, praying, fasting and pilgrimage. (Sahih Bukhari and Muslim)
Our Prophet (saas) states that the first act of worship that people will give an account of in the Hereafter is the prayer (salat) and the servant will be saved if he has fulfilled them and that he will be among the lost if he failed. (Al-Tirmidhi)
In a hadith revealed by Omar (ra), people asked Allah’s Messenger which act of worship is most liked by Allah. Our Prophet (saas) answered: The prayer (salat) performed during its specific time. Whoever abandons his prayer, he has no religion. The prayer (salat) is the pillar of the religion of Islam. (Al-Baihaqi)
Among the five obligatory prayers, our Prophet (saas) especially emphasized the importance of the prayer in the morning and afternoon. He gave the good news of the Garden to those who safeguarded these prayers. (Sahih Bukhari)
He never showed the slightest negligence towards prayer. On the contrary, he continued to pray until he was so exhausted as not being able to stand. One of his people asked him why he exhausted himself so much though he was given the good news of the Garden. He (saas) replied: “So that I can be a servant who gives thanks a lot.” (Ahmad ibn Hanbal)
Some of the hadiths of our Messenger (saas) about prayer are the following:
The obligatory prayers made five times a day is like a strongly flowing river flowing just before one’s door in which a person bathes five times a day.
(Sahih Muslim)
(Sahih Muslim)
Prayer (salat) is a curtain between a believer and unbeliever. Abandoning the prayer is to remove this curtain. (Sahih Muslim)
The distinguishing factor between them and us is the prayer (salat). Therefore, the one abandoning the prayer has resembled an unbeliver. (Al-Tirmidhi)
The rewards of praying together with the community is twenty times more than the one performed alone. (Sahih Bukhari)
If only believer knew the rewards of the prayer performed at night and at dawn, they would go to perform it with the community, even if crawling. (Sahih Bukhari-Sahih Muslim)
If a person cleans himself thorougly at home and goes one of the mosques in order to perform one of Allah’s obligatory acts, one of his steps erases his sins while the other raises his grade. (Sahih Muslim)
The one who receives the most rewards in return for praying is the one who is most distant to mosque. (Sahih Bukhari)
Attest one’s faith who goes regularly to mosque. (Al-Tirmidhi)
Our Prophet (saas) saw someone playing with his beard during the prayer and said, “if he had any fear full of respect in his heart, he would have it also in his limbs and would not play with his beard.” (Al-Tirmidhi)
Waiting for fourty years is better than passing before the one who prays. (Bazzar)
A time will come when people will talk about worldly matters in mosques; those people will have no worth at Allah’s sight. Never keep company with them. (Al- Baihaqi)
The Virtue of the Prayer (salat)
HARUN YAHYA