Importance of Salah

Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

100 Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala nabina, Karim Allah Allah He was happy as in.

We begin by praising Allah Shiva Hannover the other asking Allah to send his peace and blessings upon the final prophet Mohammed bin Abdullah Sall Allahu alayhi wa sallam and all those who follow his way with righteousness until the end of time.

Today just want to give a brief and important reminder of the most important act of worship in the life of the believer.

In a Hadith, the prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was asked by one of the Sahaba what is the greatest deed?

What's the best thing you can do? right because 109 Islam Allah has given us many good deeds.

Fasting, xhaka, O'Meara Hajj

sadaqa, recur. Quranic recitation, so it's a hobby watching to watch the best, what's the most important the best thing I can do? And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam replied us Allah to Allah waka to praise Allah on time.

The best thing any believer can do in this world is to establish the habit of praying the five Salah Okay, this is number one.

And so that's what I'm going to talk about today.

A bit about Salah. Why is it important and what we are meant to get out of it, why Allah makes Allah important and what spiritual benefits we are supposed to derive from the solar.

So Salah is the second pillar of Islam and I wanted to think about something a bit of a paradox in our community that we know there are five pillars of Islam right believe sola, Zakah, fasting and Hajj. All of us take belief very seriously. We take Zakat seriously we take fasting in Ramadan seriously, we take Hajj seriously. But for some reason many people don't take solace seriously even though it's the second full of Islam.

Praying salah and time is more important than almost any other good deed. Besides believing. It is more important to praise Allah on time to fast the month of Ramadan. It is more important to praise Allah on time need to go for Hajj, it is more important to praise Allah and time than to wear hijab. It is the second most important part of our religion after believing.

So why is it as a community that we don't see this importance attached to it that we see to the other acts of worship, which are also important.

It seems to me that over over the past few generations, Salah has become just a ritual

it's become something that that we've been told to do. We don't know why we don't know what it means. We don't know what we are saying. And so we don't see the full benefit and value of it.

So to understand solar, we go back to the time of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam what was Salah to them.

What was Salah to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the Sahaba

the purpose of Allahu alayhi wa sallam considered Salah to be his form of relaxation, his form of enjoyment of happiness.

No he would look forward to Salah because it would make him happy. It will bring peace to his harsh

disallow of the early Muslims was down. It was down they did not do what we do today. Nowadays we go door to door we hand out pamphlets. We handle books. We debate people, the Sahaba didn't do this. What did they do? Abu Bakr radiallahu to pray Salah, the non Muslim would see him praying salah and they would convert to Islam.

He loved Islam. He loved Islam. I mean, it's such a beautiful folly. In the early years of Islam, Abu Bakr radiallahu planned to leave Makkah.

In fact, he actually had left Morocco, and many people aren't aware of this. Abu Bakar has left Makkah and he was traveling and looking for another place to move to. And along the way he met one of the noble men of Makkah, who told him this man was not a Muslim, but he told me that you are one of our nobles, you one of the best people in Makkah, go back to Makkah, I will protect you from everybody else. And so he went back to Makkah with this man. And this man made a

deal with the leaders of Makkah that you leave our backer alone and let him worship and in exchange for that he'll do something that you all want as well. So what did the what was the deal of the connection is fine, we leave our worker we let him live in Makkah one condition.

He must not worship Allah outside of his home. Meaning we don't want him praying Salah

Anyway except by his house. Why did he say he mustn't do Dawa Emerson preach Islam and Muslim teach Quran he said the Muslim preacher line. That's the only thing the Kurdish what they did not want Abubakar radiallahu to preach a lot in public. So our worker accepted this deal. And he started praying to Allah in his garden, because that's technically part of his home. And many of the non Muslims, they would gather around the house and aboubaker and watching free soda

and it would move the hearts and many of them started converting to Islam.

And so the Quraysh took the deal. First, they said we said you're not allowed to Priscilla in public. We mean you're not allowed to pray outside of your home, not even in your garden tree inside your home. People mustn't see you pray. So that became the new rule. Abu Bakr was forced to follow up to Allah opened the doors of Egypt for him to Medina. But the point of the story, what was Salah to Abu Bakar and what is solid to us,

the Salah of Abu Bakar brought people into Islam. When people saw him worshipping Allah, they became Muslim.

And for many of us, Salah is something we don't even think about doesn't cross our mind. We need to pray five times a day.

How important is praying five times a day

we look at the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the explanation given by Manuel ghazali in his Deen

Rasulullah Ahmed stated that

on the Day of Judgment, if your Salah is intact, that's all that matters. If you prayed five times a day, to put it loose in the process of say, if you pray five times a day, you save

anyone ghazali explains this. And he says that a person who prayed five times a day throughout their life, who made this a habit who stuck to it, Allah has promised that person you will put them into each other.

This is all as promised that Allah will not break his promise. And then he won't because it's someone who did not prepare them to be somebody who did not make this a habit if you're not taking seriously. If Allah once you forgive them, if Allah wants to punish them, it's up to Allah.

So my question is, do we want to take this chance? Do we want to take this chance that leave it to Allah if he wants to punish me if he wants to put me in China? Or do we want to take up this promise of Allah Allah as promised Jenna, to the people who safeguard the five daily Salah

It's really that simple. Allah subhanho wa Taala created us to worship him. If he wanted that worship could be 50 times a day, if he wanted at worship could have been all day long. But he made it five times a day out of mercy to us

five times a day. That's all of us. And in return, we get gender.

We have to start taking this concept of Salah more seriously. It is the most important thing in our life. More important than anything else. You know many people when they start practicing Islam, they go about the backwards the first start growing a beard wearing a hat wearing you know the Arab dress, thinking that makes them a good Muslim. All of that secondary Salah is number one. You want to be a good Muslim, start with the Salah. That's number one. That's the most important thing. A person who prays five times a day and wear shirt and pants is better than a person who has full time copy and doesn't pray. Because the Salah is number one, it is the single most important thing in

your life. And this is what we need to do we need to bring ourselves to the level where we treat it as the most important part of our life.

So why is Allah makes Allah important? Well, we sit number one is because He created us to worship him. But there is not a single act of worship that Allah has made except that he benefits you and I

the acts of worship don't benefit Allah Allah is above need. He's independent, nothing that we can do what better for him because he had he's perfect. Right away. It's perfect. So nothing that we do is any way going to diminish or add to him. Rather Sala benefits us how Allah mentioned two things in the Quran. When speaking to Musa alayhis salam Allah says Akemi salata is the key establish Sala to remember me. The number one benefit of Salah it keeps us remembering a lot throughout the day. You start your day with fudger and you pray over at lunchtime and you end your day with a shot and in between you pray your acid and Mowgli you are remembering a lot throughout your day. And that

keeps you on the straight path that keeps you from falling into major sins that keeps you from going astray. Number one benefit of praying five times a day. Hakim is solid and his decree established Salah so that you can remember me that Allah Subhana Allah says in other words of the Quran, Allah gives a secondary benefit of Salah what happens when you remember Allah trial today? What happens? You stop doing major sins, you are less likely to commit a major sin

If you pray five times a day, and sure Allah Subhana Allah says in Surah Anca booth in the solar Tottenham new Pasha Mancha, de Sala stops you from immoral deeds and saying bad things, it stop you from seeing and doing evil things should we see in the Quran two benefits of Salah number one, it will make you quite more conscious of Allah. Number two, it will stop you from committing the major sins. And so for many of us who struggle with remembering Allah who struggle with the temptation to commit major sins, just re establishing the Salah five times a day will save you from this.

A few years ago, I met a brother from another country, young man who was telling me his story. And his story really demonstrated this verse, that from a young age, his parents tried to get him to pray five times a day. And growing up in a non Muslim country. He used to go to the nightclubs used to do all these things. And he had gotten into the habit of praying five times a day. So one night he went with his friends to the nightclub and it was shocking. It was Margarita Malaysia time and he started looking for a place to pray.

And you realize there is no place to pray in a nightclub.

And then he asked himself, what am I doing? You

know, if I can't worship Allah, what am I doing here. And so at a very young age, he made the decision to stop going to the nightclub completely, because it is getting in the way of his Salah. And so he because he was in the habit of praying five times a day that pulled him out of the bad habit of going to the nightclub in a stroller, and your child will go solo won't stop you from your immoral things. You want a value between you and sin, start praying five times a day. If you pray five times a day, you will overtime start letting go of your sins, you will start sending less your sins will decrease why because you are more conscious of Allah you are remembering Allah you are

thinking about Allah and this will pull you away from sense.

A third benefit of Salah is mentioned in the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, where he gave a very beautiful metaphor. He said that if you had to go to a robot and wash your body five times a day, how much dirt will be left on your body? The Sahaba said nothing. The prophets lie. Some say that Salah is the same. When you pray to Allah five times a day they are loosens lifted on your book of deeds. every dollar that you pray wipes away some minuses, every dollar that you pre wipe through the minuses. The you know Allah subhana wa Taala is so merciful to us. He has put into our lives so many means of wiping away our sins. That really for someone to show up on the Day of

Judgment with a book full of sins, it's only their own fault. Because think about it when you pray five times a day Allah wipes all your sins. When you make Voodoo Allah wipes away your sins. When you give sadaqa Allah wipes away your sins When you fast Allah wipes away since when you make Amara although actually your sins When you make Hodge Allah wipe through your major sins. So if you're doing these things, what's next on the book of deeds, this Allah's mercy, what he doesn't want to punish us, he wants to forgive us. So he put all of these things in place to wipe away our sins. Number one being the solar, if you pray five times a day, whatever minus and you fall into in

between those two, Allah forgives them.

Because Allah knows it's impossible for a human to be sinless. So the Salah, it stops you from doing the major sins, and it serves as the wiping away of the minuses. And so what's left at the end of the day, a clean slate, you're left to the clean slate. And all Allah asked to return is to pray five times a day. So we can pray five times a day and in return, Allah will give you all of this, he will give you the clock, he will give you his remembrance, he will give you protection from agents and he'll give you forgiveness for your sins, and He will give you agenda because it allows promise to the believer that if they pray five times a day that he will interject It is our promise Allah

does not break his promise.

So what I'm gonna talk about for the last few minutes of this discussion is

how to get that benefit out of our Salah.

Because unfortunately for many of us, you know, I hear this a lot from young young people, they come to me and say, I used to feel the Salah. No, I pray but it's like I didn't do anything. He didn't he didn't change me or benefit me in any way. And I've discussed this in details before I actually have a YouTube video on this topic is one and a half hours in details how to get that spiritual blessings from the Salah. But just to put it very simply in five minutes. Number one, have a good intention. Number one, have a good intention. Have an intention that I am worshiping Allah for the sake of Allah to become a better Muslim.

You see, when you go to the mosque and you just pray and walk out, it's all a blur.

But when you make your intention when you are walking emotion, you tell

So I am going to worship Allah. And I'm going to do it for the sake of Allah. You now do it more consciously, and when you do it more consciously you're more likely to benefit from it. Number two, understand what you are seeing in your Salah. This is most important for benefiting from this era. There's a verse in the Quran Allah subhanaw taala speaks about the people who are intoxicated. You know people who are high on drugs or alcohol. Allah says, Do not approach Salah do not pray Salah

while you are intoxicated, until you understand what you are reciting

allama commented this verse Allah says that a person must only pray the Salah when you understand what they are reciting. Now these homeopaths are not high we're not on drugs we not drinking, drinking alcohol. But the same effect is there that we do understand what we are reciting. We don't know what the Fatiha is, we don't know what superhydrophobic Allah is, we don't know what he means. We don't even some of us don't even know what Allahu Akbar is, and so we don't understand what we are reciting and as a result, we get no benefit out of it. So if you want to benefit from your Salah, understand the Salah, sit with the olive and and learn the meaning of the Salah. What is

Allahu Akbar? Why do we start to Allahu Akbar? Why Surah Fatiha what is Surah Fatiha mean? The student I recite What did these students mean? Let me reflect on that. And what is super high neurobiol as a multi super high neurobiol Allah what is the benefit of the such now what is the benefit of the ruku? Ask yourself these questions learn these things. And then your salary kicks on index a different dimension. Your salary becomes a different kind of spiritual experience when someone stands before Allah, and they see a law worker believing that there is nothing greater than a law and they fold their hands and they start reciting al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen knowing that

Allah replies Hamid Ali Abdi replies to each line and you engage in a conversation with Allah like this, and then they recite in other surah perhaps something simple like throughout your class, and they remind themselves boo hoo Allahu Ahad see Allah is the only god he's the only one worthy of worship Allah who somebody Allah is above everything he's he's in comparable to anything. lumea lead was a Beulah. He has no children and he's not the child of anyone. But um, Yakuza Hakuna has and is nothing like Allah. He's reminding himself of to he's, he's reminding yourself of the pure Akita, of the correct beliefs. And then when he goes into the Roku, and he says the super Han or bill or gene,

you know, Glory be to Allah the greatest. He's reminding himself who is the greatest. It's not me. It's not my business. It's not my enough's. It's not my family. It's Allah. When he stands up, and the Imam says Sammy, Allahumma hamidah Allah, yours, the one who praises him, and then he follows that up with praising Allah, Allah subhana wa salam, O Allah, all praises for you, our Lord have read this for you. He feels that praise from his heart. And then he goes down into such depth about which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam stated, there is no position in which a servant is closer to his Lord and in such such a is the time when the other answers such as the time when you

are closer to Allah subhana wa Taala such that is the position we allow will grant you whatever you want. And so he goes into such depth and he said, super hanabi Allah, glory for Allah the highest you are at your lowest with your hands and fish in the ground, you are praying, praising Allah Allah, the One who is highest one with above the Throne, the one who is above, beyond this creation of worship ohana with Allah at your lowest you are praising the highest when you understand that and then you pour your heart out to Allah. And then when you finish your Salah with the Salaam, being wishing peace upon the people around you on your left and your right and the angels on the left and

right. If you pray Salah like that, with understanding, it is a different experience altogether. It is something else it is something special, it is what it is supposed to be a spiritual journey, it means of connecting with Allah subhanho wa Taala a means of increasing your remembrance of Allah increasing your dukkha increasing your Eman And so my brother's

My advice to everyone. When it comes to the sada do not neglect it. Start off simple, I'm going to give you a very simple way to get started. The simple way to start off is concentrate on the foreign seller. Make your first dollar a habit. If you're not in the habit of praying start with the farm. So wake up in the morning force yourself at least to pray to record when you wake up. For future work overtime comes at least take a break from work to pay for rockets. As I say McGarrett three ish as a matter how tired you are at least force yourself to pay for. Now once this becomes a habit now you're in the habit you fulfill the fact the basics are there. What I was gonna ask you about the

Day of Judgment is there and now it's a habit. Now you start adding one number one thing you add on Twitter, as on Twitter. Number two the two Raka agenda before facha. Why? Because the Prophet Muhammad slogan had to do

Did that the two rockets of Sundar before paljor are worth more than this entire world in terms of the reward for it, so add that in, and then you start adding in other symbols, and you start building up like this. You see, the spiritual journey of Islam is gradual. Allah does not expect you to go from zero to 100 overnight. It's a gradual journey from the bottom to the top. And so you start off slow and you build your way up to start off with the basic with the power, then adding the weaker than adding the sooner and along the way, learn the meanings. So to the allama and learn the tuxedos to refer to the llama learn the Tafseer of the unicycle. Ask someone to explain to you what

is Shiva hanabi Allah Why do we recite this? What is robina was called him Why do we recite this, learn the meanings of these words. So when you are praying, you are praying with understanding you are praying with connection to electrical Hanna with Allah, you are playing with hope and mercy in our hope and fear and love Allah subhanho wa Taala and this makes us better people. And this gives us the benefits of the Salah, which we mentioned in the beginning. The benefits of the Salah is that it gives us the remembrance of Allah, it protects us from the major sins, it serves as forgiveness for our minus since Allah has promised genda for those who safeguard the fight for that do We ask

Allah to make us from those who pray five times a day We ask Allah to make us from those who safeguard the sada from those who will be on the right side on the day of judgment and from those who understand and value the salah and appreciate it and we truly experience the beauty and the sweetness of Salah walking with a 111 robot army.