Prayer - Salat

So on the other hand we see that salat, the second pillar of Islam-you cannot leave it. Five times a day you are obliged to do it and you cannot leave it for any reason. No reason. No excuse. there is a very severe penalty for leaving prayer. If you are sick and you don’t fast there is no penalty. If you are poor and you have no money to give zakat there is no penalty. If you cannot afford to go to hajj there is no penalty. But for leaving salat there is a very high penalty - hellfire. Ma bayn al-kufr wal iman tark al-salah, - What is between belief and disbelief is leaving prayer. So there is no way, no excuse for any sick person, for a person with or without money, he or she has to pray. Five prayers. The sick person who cannot pray standing can sit and pray; who cannot pray sitting prays lying down, one who can’t pray lying down may pray with his eyes. Salat has to be performed. Oh Muslims don’t avoid giving salat its importance. No.

`Ibadat 24x7

It is so very very important to Allah (swt) that He ordered and obliged 50 salat a day, not one. Allah ordered the Prophet (s) to perform fifty prayers, which means continuous worship. Wa ma khalaqta al-jinn wal ins illa liy`abudun. "And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should worship Me."[51: 56]

If it was fifty and if it was still fifty, we would have no time even to raise our heads. Fifty salat, every salat, if you performed it correctly takes fifteen minutes. Fifty salat by fifteen minutes is 750 minutes plus eating, plus wudu for fifty prayers. So what is left? That is meaning of the ayah Wa ma khalaqta al-jinn wal ins illa liy`abudun. [51: 56]

Allah said fifty prayers but what is kayfiyya al-salah- how it is done, what are arkan as-salah the procedures? We know Fajr has two sunnah rakat; Dhuhr has eight or four; four sunnah before, `Asr has two or four sunnah, Maghrib has two; and eleven rakat for 'Isha. Then you have salat ad-Duha, salat al-Awwabin, salat al-Ishraq, salat an-Najat, Salat al-Tahajjud. Then the fifty other prayers also have their sunnah!

So all of your time 24 hours is going to be occupied.

That is the verse ma khalaqta al-jinn wal ins illa liy`abudun ma ureedu minhum min rizqin wa ureedu an yu`imun. inna Allahu hua ar-razzaqa dhul quwwat il-mateen - "I do not desire from them any sustenance and I do not desire that they should feed Me." Allah can give you, you cannot give anything. Don’t think you are going to work for your children, bringing money. If Allah wants to close it---it is finished---nothing. Submit. Allah gives. Allah provides. So 24 hours you are going to be in continuous `ibadat through salat, prayer.

Allah (swt) gave Sayyidina Muhammad (s) fifty salat but then with His mercy reduced it to five. But in the mizan, in the balance, the five salat are considered fifty. If we do our five prayers correctly with complete submission to Allah, complete presence (khush`u) then it as if we were peforming salat 24 hours a day, it is equal to fifty prayers. Then it will be written for us, in the mizan, Wa ma khalaqta al-jinn wal ins illa liy`abudun. You will be under the tajalli of that verse.

The key to the Mercy and Blessing of this verse for Allah (swt) to dress you with the blessings of this verse is five prayers which leads you to the fifty prayers which lead you to the verse of Qur’an: Wa ma khalaqta al-jinn wal ins illa liy`abudun.

Salat - Summation of Worship

Additionally, salat is very important because in it is contained the whole of `ibada. First in salat you declare the shahada the Oneness of Allah in at-Tahiyyat: ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasuluh. To become a Muslim you say shahada only one time in your life. In your salat you are saying it every day in every two rak`at. So salat includes the first pillar of Islam, kalimat at-tauheed.

Salat as Zakat

Salah includes your zakat--not 2½ percent but 100% percent. Because when you work and make money and go from one year to another year you are only obliged to give 2 ½ percent of the profit--not the capital. You are going to give on what you have profit.

Out of your capital and it is 2½ percent. Whatever you have of jewelry and gold or any kind of savings is money on which you must give 2½ percent, from one year to another. But in salat you do not only give that. Because when you work you are spending time to go work five; six; eight hours a day making money, saving and then paying 2 ½ percent.

In salat you are giving your whole time to Allah swt. If you make ten dollars in one hour; if you spend one hour in salat, it is as if you are giving the entire ten dollars, not just 2 ½ percent. And the ten dollars might be spent and won’t last for one year and you don’t pay any zakat on it, but the salat you are giving. You are giving the entire amount so it is in a geometrical multiplication that increases from 2½ percent to 100%. That is real zakat! You are giving everything that belongs to you. And the most important thing that belongs to you is when Allah gave you the body and this spirit--you are giving to Allah (swt) you are giving to Allah’s will.

Salat as Siyam

Second in salat you are holding your tongue from eating, drinking, backbiting, speaking. Not only your tongue, but your whole body from touching. Because in siyam a man cannot approach his wife or vice versa, because it is not allowed. Eating is not allowed. In salat you cannot do anything like that. In siyam you can fast but you can also speak. In salat it is more you fast you cannot speak and you cannot approach your spouse. That is a higher level of fasting that is included in salat.

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