Omar Suleiman – The Quran And Prayer
AI: Summary ©
The holy grail of Islam is seen as a way to fulfill one's desire to connect with God and fulfill his desire to be recognized by others. Prayer and understanding the Prophet's teachings during prayer are emphasized, as it is crucial for achieving the Prophet's teachings. Prayer and practice daily to become a "hashe" in one's life, and finding one's comfort in the world is crucial. The importance of humility in praying for oneself and others is emphasized, as it is the fruit of good behavior and is expected for everyone to receive the fruit of good behavior. Prayer and finding a personal connection between oneself and Allah during prayer is crucial, as it is crucial to be mindful of one's actions and to prioritize one's own development.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
You know, because of this mistake about me
completing my Ph.D., when they announced in
the final ceremony that, oh, he finished his
Ph.D., mashallah, some of the mashayekh came
backstage and said, mashallah, mabrook.
I said, sheikh, that was five years ago.
But I'll take it from now.
Audhu billahi min ash-shaytani r-rajim.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.
wa laAAudwana illa AAala th-thalameen wa laAAaqeebatu
lilmuttaqeem.
Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barak ala abdika
wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim wa taslimin
kathira.
Dear brothers and sisters, one of the things
that makes Islam so compelling to people of
all backgrounds and at all educational levels is
this notion of the fitrah, this notion of
a natural disposition that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta-A'la has put inside of us
but already inclines towards that which He commands
us to do.
And at the heart of the fitrah is
the belief in la ilaha illallah, kalimatul tawheed,
the belief in one God.
And it is a belief that if you
were to take someone undisrupted, untainted by any
civilization, unconfused, that's not a word, I just
made it up, by any culture, by any
set of practices, if you were to take
someone whose fitrah was intact in any part
of the world, and you can trace this
historically and sociologically, they would believe in God.
They would have a connection to God.
Sure, there are some concepts that might not
be perfectly set, there are some issues that
would require clarification via revelation, but at the
end of the day there would be a
belief in God.
And atheism is so counter-intuitive and counter
-fitrah that it is the strangest thing in
the world to take someone to tell them
you have no God, or your gods are
just as powerless as you.
It's a bunch of stones or idols or
abstract figures that are limited and moldable by
your desires.
It doesn't make sense.
The belief in a higher power naturally resonates.
On top of that, the very next thing
that you would find that would emanate from
a person's fitrah is some sort of communication
with the divine, a desire to communicate with
that higher power.
And so a recognition that there is a
higher power, and then a desire to somehow
communicate to that higher power, and that's why
you would find that someone who does not
practice any elements of faith has no concept
of the obligatory or the prohibited, has no
set of laws or moral systems that they
abide by, but it is not uncommon to
find someone who would say, I still pray
to God.
I'm a prayerful person.
I still talk to God.
I don't know much about who God is.
I don't know what God has legislated.
I may be an agnostic, but I talk
to God.
I talk to God all the time.
Because that is the most practical form of
fitrah that exists in a person, that emanates
from that belief in God is a desire
to connect to God, a desire to talk
to God.
And Islam comes in as the way of
fitrah.
And it not only speaks to that natural
disposition and desire, but it disciplines it and
directs it towards something that is so concrete,
meaningful, not just fulfilling in that it can
get you through your day, but fulfilling in
that it prepares you for that day, the
day of judgment.
It's an incredible part of our deen, and
I want us to appreciate for a moment
that we are the nation of prayer.
We are the ummah of prayer.
And let me tell you how.
On the day of judgment, we know that
the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said
that I will recognize you by what?
I know it's the last session of the
night.
This is when everyone's really tired, so I'm
going to require interaction now.
I will recognize you by what?
Your wudu.
Excellent.
The signs of your wudu, the marks of
your wudu will be bright on the day
of judgment.
And so make sure that you cover all
of its spots.
The places of your sajdah, may Allah make
us a people who bow their heads and
humble their hearts to Him constantly, will be
shining on the day of judgment.
The one place, may Allah protect us from
the fire, but that cannot be consumed by
the fire, is the place of your sujood.
It will consume every other part of the
body, but not that.
But now imagine that at a practical level
on the day of judgment, the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam looking through the umam and the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam spotting his followers by
their wudu, and they made their wudu inherently
to prepare themselves for a salah, to prepare
themselves for the conversations that they would have
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
That's on the day of judgment.
When I say that we're the ummah of
prayer and in fact it is one of
the most compelling proofs of Islam that we
are the ummah of prayer.
Here's what I mean by that.
If you go to any public place in
the entire world and you see someone take
to a corner preparing themselves for prayer you
would almost know for certainty right away that's
a Muslim.
When you go to airports around the world
and you see the interfaith prayer halls you
know we often get the complaints in my
city in Dallas we have an interfaith prayer
hall in every single terminal.
And they're all musallas.
It's not our fault.
We're just the only ones that are praying.
It's not our fault that the congregations are
only happening on a regular basis by the
Muslims.
That's just the way that it is.
And you go anywhere around the world, and
I've tried this, walk into the interfaith prayer
room Yes, sometimes you'll find a Christian, sometimes
you'll find a Jew, sometimes you'll find someone
of a different faith.
But you know every time that the majority
of the traffic to that place of prayer
is going to be the Muslims.
They will crowd it, and they will keep
it functional.
And if you walked into a bathroom, may
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always keep us
in pure places, and you saw someone putting
their foot in the sink, you know that
that person didn't just decide to wash their
feet because they stepped in something.
You know right away that's a Muslim.
And it drives Islamophobes insane that in the
western world that out of accommodation, and this
is something we should praise by the way
when it is there, you have to thank
people.
Whoever does not thank the people does not
thank Allah.
When they have that sensitivity and that sensibility,
and they install footbaths or they install places
of ablution in public places, honestly it's a
noble feature.
It's a noble thing to do if you're
not a Muslim, to show that type of
friendship and that type of camaraderie to your
Muslim brethren in humanity.
But you know when you see a footbath,
that's for the Muslims.
That's because Muslims pray here.
If you saw taxi drivers pull over their
cars in any part of the world, you
would know that's a Muslim that needs to
pray on time.
If you saw someone bowing and prostrating in
a parking lot, any random place in the
world that's a Muslim.
In fact, SubhanAllah, there was a video that
went viral about a year or two ago
from a pastor in the United States.
And he was complaining that his Muslim driver,
time of prayer came and he pulled over
the car and he pulled out his rug
and he started praying.
And he was complaining to his Christian congregation,
I'm not about to let a Muslim out
pray me.
So he's talked about how I have to
pray and we have to pray because these
Muslims are out praying us.
We're the ummah of prayer.
And by the way, don't ever be shy
to pray in public.
When I go and I travel around the
world, and admittedly it's easier for brothers than
it is for sisters.
I'm not going to deny that.
But at the same time, SubhanAllah, I feel
good when I pray next to a gate.
And I remember recently, it was one of
the most beautiful things that happened to me.
I was praying in Philadelphia.
And Philadelphia, MashaAllah, has a notoriously powerful profound
Muslim population.
An indigenous, African-American Muslim population, generationally, MashaAllah,
beautiful population of Muslims.
And I started my salah, and by the
time I finished my salah, I saw gate
agents in the United States that took off
from their post and started to pray behind
me.
And I thought, how beautiful is that?
And if you were to look in the
laws of religious accommodation, accommodating for prayer even
if it doesn't spell out Muslim, it's almost
always talking about Muslims.
The point that I'm making is that you
are the ummah of salah.
You are the ummah of prayer.
And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has honored
you with that.
And someone seeing you pray could be the
reason by which they embrace Islam.
I've had it happen to me.
Because you look so peaceful.
You look so prayerful.
Like you're immersed in something so deep.
I want that.
What is it that you have?
It's the most natural expression of faith.
And if you were to open the Bible,
not once, not twice, not thrice, Jesus, peace
be upon him, Isa alayhi salam takes to
a place to fall on his face in
prayer, in sujood.
What other nation prays like Jesus, peace be
upon him?
Falls on their faces in prayer on a
regular basis the way that Isa alayhi salam,
the way that Jesus, peace be upon him,
would.
I use this as an introduction to come
into Mecca as we talk about the revelation
of the Quran and how the Quran began
to speak to this phenomenon in the year
610 with our beloved Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasalam,
the first year of revelation.
When the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu alayhi wasalam
was going up to Hira and he was
contemplating his purpose, contemplating creation, seeking the Creator,
the description of the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu
alayhi wasalam from Aisha radiyallahu ta'ala anha
is not just that he loved his seclusion,
he loved his contemplation.
He didn't just love his contemplation, kana yatahannath,
or yatahannath, both words are found in the
narration, that he was worshipping Allah in an
Abrahamic way.
What does that mean?
The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu alayhi wasalam as
he was longing for Allah Subhanahu wa ta
'ala and seeking that definition of a journey,
he knew Sallallahu alayhi wasalam to worship in
an Abrahamic way, meaning the Messenger of Allah
Sallallahu alayhi wasalam, as the scholars mentioned, was
incorporating naturally some level of qiyam, some level
of ruku, some level of sujood, even if
it wasn't defined yet, even if he doesn't
have the right words yet in terms of
the obligatory prayers, the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasalam's
heart and divine intuition that is coming to
him is guiding him towards that natural way.
When you look at Zayd ibn Amr ibn
Nufayl, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, one of those
pious people that died before the Prophet Sallallahu
alayhi wasalam received revelation, but was a muwahid,
was a true monotheist, who was seeking, seeking
Islam.
Between all the idol worship in Mecca, he
would put his face on the ground in
sajda, and he would say, Allahumma law anni
a'lamu ayyul wujuhi ahabbu ilayka abattuka bihi
walakinni laa a'lam Well, Allah, if only
I knew which way is most beloved to
you, I would worship you through that way,
I just don't know any better.
I'm on the way of Ibrahim alayhi wasalam,
the way of Abraham peace be upon him,
but I don't know how to specifically channel
this ibadah towards you.
The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu alayhi wasalam receives
the divine command iqara bismi rabbika allathee khalaq
Read in the name of your Lord who
creates.
He comes down to his wife, our beloved
mother Khadija radiyallahu ta'ala anha, she embraces
him Sallallahu alayhi wasalam.
He looks for the next revelation.
The confirmation comes through Waraqa ibn Nothar radiyallahu
ta'ala anhu.
Jibreel alayhi wasalam speaking to him in different
ways.
The voice of Jibreel alayhi wasalam confirming what
has happened to him Sallallahu alayhi wasalam He
goes to the mountains looking for the next
message the next part of the risalah.
What's next?
Until Jibreel alayhi wasalam appears to him again
with the next revelation which was which was,
raise your hands and then speak as loud
as you can What was the next revelation?
Yes, surat al muddathir barakallahu fiqh.
Some of you said muzzammid.
This is understandable surat al muddathir.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you
and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala raise
you and elevate you and make you a
source of coolness of your parents and elevation.
Allahumma ameen See what dua he got for
answering a question?
This is just to encourage you all.
MashaAllah, especially the youth Let them answer inshaAllah
ta'ala.
Surat al muddathir The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam comes back to the lap of Khadijah
radiyallahu ta'ala anha and surat al muddathir
comes.
Surat al muddathir one of the reasons why
we know, or the ruler mentioned in the
tarteeb in the order of revelation that it
came before surat al muzzammil is because in
surat al muddathir, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says, wa thiyabaka fatahhir the command of tahara,
the command of purification and the command of
purification precedes the command of prayer so some
of the ulama mentioned that upon, of course,
the fact that the hadith is in Bukhari
of Jabir radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, of surat
al muddathir being the next revelation to the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, but
this is significant because Allah gives the command
of tahara, of purity.
Prepare yourself for something that's about to come.
The next mission is coming.
As for now, stand up qum fa anzir,
call the people.
Call the people to what?
To one god.
To what?
The fitra has already been confirmed by in
terms of revelation.
Then comes surat al muzzammil.
Ya ayyuhal muzzammil qumil layla illa qaleela O
you who is wrapped up, stand up for
the night except for a small part Allah
subhana wa ta'ala mentions to the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stand up
and pray at night except for a small
part of the night half of it, or
take some of it a little bit more
increase and read more and recite and remember
and repeat more inna sanulqi alayka qawlan thaqeela
what's coming next is the heavy word in
greater proportions and as Aisha radiallahu ta'ala
anhu says, that after that pause in the
revelation which is known as the fitra the
revelation came fast.
She described it as heated.
Like it heated up on the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam it started to come heavy
and fast in large chunks to the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Rapidly and with the same intensity to the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Inna sanulqi alayka qawlan thaqeela inna nashiata allaylihi
asaddu wat'an wa aqwamu qeela.
The first order of prayer was not to
pray the five prayers.
The first command of salah was qiyamul lahl,
pray at night it was fard for the
believers, it was mandatory for the believers to
pray qiyamul lahl, to pray the night prayer
and Allah azawajal gives a reason for that
asaddu wat'an wa aqwamu qeela it is
more fitting to developing in yourself the resolve
that is necessary to pray in the night
where you are less distracted by the duties
of the day that's where you're going to
generate a love for your prayer that's where
you'll be undistracted, that's where you'll be entirely
devoted.
So spend your nights praying to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and Aisha radiallahu anha says
that the first page of qiyamul lahl was
revealed, and then Allah azawajal abrogated the obligation
of qiyamul lahl with the second page which
is one ayah, inna rabbaka ya'lamu annaka
takhumu adnaa min dhuluthayi allayli wa nisfahu, until
the end of the ayah that your Lord
is aware of your prayer, but Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala gave the believers, the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam and the believers by
extension the ability to not pray or the
permission to not pray qiyamul lahl every night,
it became voluntary for them okay, it became
voluntary for them.
The five prayers have still not shown up.
Now why is this so important?
And I want to take you actually on
a journey of the revelation of salah, the
transformation of salah in the Quran.
When words like salah and zakah were used
in the early revelation, in Meccan revelation, when
Allah azawajal mentions as salah was zakah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was not speaking
about the institutions as far as the believers
were concerned at that time of salah and
zakah as in the five daily prayers or
2.5% of your retained wealth.
They were referring to general concepts of prayer
and charity, not to defined prayers and defined
charity that it is natural and expected for
you O believers to channel yourself into prayer
and to take your wealth and to spend
on that which is good.
Again, fitri, fitri, natural even the atheist gives
charity because it's the expectation of a good
person that if you have you share that
you uplift, that you should be guided towards
that when people say why do we need
God to understand good things Allah azawajal represents
that He put in you good things that
were already understood, but that revelation refined those
good things, gave them definition, gave them true
value gave them a system to be channeled.
And so you'll often find as salah was
zakah, iqamat as salah, wa ita as zakah
and they're referring to the general notions of
prayer and charity.
In fact, by the way, subhanAllah, in terms
of the Quran, some of the ulema mention,
for example, sabbihis marabbikal a'la this is
revealed in the fourth or fifth year, surah
al-a'la sabbihis marabbikal a'la allathee
khalaqa fasawa.
Some of the scholars said sabbihis marabbikal a
'la, glorify the name of your lord is
referring to as salah, referring to the general
idea of qiyam al-layl at the time,
or channeling yourselves towards prayer, waking yourselves up
at night, and engaging in some form of
prayer, ibadah in a tawheedic fashion, in a
monotheistic way towards the qiblah.
Allah azawajal is giving it to the Muslims
in pieces.
And subhanAllah, it's very humbling when you see
a non-Muslim become Muslim and, you know,
I remember I was speaking to a brother
this was a person, subhanAllah, a very interesting
person he was the child of a pastor
and so he became a theologian in Christianity
then he left Christianity for Judaism, he learned
Hebrew he went to occupied Palestine, he studied
with rabbis, Judaism at the highest level became
a rabbi, very interesting background, married an Israeli
woman, and then subhanAllah became Muslim interesting person,
a few years ago Alhamdulillah, his wife became
Muslim as well, by the way, after some
time and subhanAllah, he was just sharing and
reflecting how humbling it is to be a
PhD, to be a theologian in two faiths,
and then with salah you're kind of tripping
over yourself, trying to read off of a
paper Bismillahirrahman, and you're trying to learn the
movements of prayer, and you don't know why,
and subhanAllah, I just want to show those
people in this audience as well that have
embraced Islam may Allah bless you, do you
know how pleasing that sight is to Allah
subhanAllah, when you break your ego and you
humble yourself trying to learn the prayer learn
a language that you never spoke before, trying
to learn movements and you submit yourself to
that, that's the true spirit of the hadith,
of the one who reads the Quran and
is fluent with the recitation of the Quran,
versus the one who trips over themselves because
that is part of the maqsood, that's part
of the desired goals of these ibadat, is
humility and you're humbling yourself, so think of
the new Muslim, learning salah that was all
the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr
radiAllahu anhu had to go through that process,
where he's looking as subhanAllah, sometimes there would
be someone that would come and embrace Islam
and they're in the salah, I remember this
brother is next to me and he's praying
like this the whole time why?
because he doesn't know how to pray, and
the person that was to his right he
told me, he said sheikh I thought he
was an agent, I said no he's not
an agent, he's coming to become Muslim this
is his first salah, humbling, all the sahaba
had to go through that process of learning
the salah and in that process, you get
to know Allah subhanAllah better think about the
development, in terms of now the definitions, Aisha
radiAllahu anhu says something incredibly humbling, about her
mother Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, implied by
it that when the time of al-Isra,
al-Mi'raj came the hijrah came that
that is when the five prayers were revealed
and so they were not upon the five
prayers before that, and what I think about
is if you were to have a conversation
with our mother Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
and say salatul dhuhr, salatul asr she wouldn't
know what you were talking about this woman
of perfect iman, our mother Khadija radiAllahu ta
'ala anhu never got to live to see
the five daily prayers, can you imagine that?
Khadija radiAllahu anhu didn't know fajr, didn't know
dhuhr or asr or maghrib or isha I'll
give you something more than that, she didn't
know Ramadan Khadija radiAllahu anhu never experienced taraweeh
she never experienced taraweeh in a masjid, of
course taraweeh is just qiyam she never experienced
the month of Ramadan and fasting the month
of Ramadan I'll do you one even further,
salatul janaza was not legislated when Khadija radiAllahu
anhu passed away she was buried in silence
radiAllahu ta'ala anhu yet she's a woman
of what?
perfect iman, there's no deficiency in the iman
of our mother Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
Allah is guiding them, they're developing a connection
so she prayed qiyam but she never prayed
the five prayers Allah takes our beloved Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam on this journey he
gives the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam the
five daily prayers and with those five daily
prayers he gives the reward of fifty prayers
subhanahu wa ta'ala from the initial legislation
of fifty to the eventual legislation of five,
guess what initially fajr was two raka'as
zuhr was two raka'as, asr was two
raka'as maghrib was how many raka'as?
it was still three I wanted to see
if anyone was going to say one and
a half it's like when someone's doing safar
and they say can I pray one and
a half for maghrib and isa was two,
so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala initially gave
us the prayers at the way that we
pray, qasr, it just shows you again the
level of graduality and how the prayer was
being developed, so while Allah was weaning off
this ummah from alcohol and adultery and some
of the fawahish that they had become accustomed
to before Islam Allah was simultaneously building the
salah with our ummah, you come to Medina
sometime the initial prayer, you would have walked
into a masjid and you would have seen
someone in a kurd like this some of
them would clasp their hands together between their
legs, not on the knees people used to
talk in salah so in the initial salah,
you walk into the masjid, you say salamu
alaikum similar to tawaf, so when the prophet
mentioned that tawaf is like salah, I want
you to remember this next time Allah blesses
you with umrah or hajj and you're sitting
there on your phone facetiming during your tawaf
trying to capture your selfies during tawaf that
tawaf is like salah except that talking has
been prohibited in salah, meaning the rules of
tahara apply to tawaf and generally what applies
to salah applies to tawaf, it's a form
of prayer, it takes the place of your
the two rak'ahs when you open or
that you greet the masjid with so back
then, salah initially, you could talk, you didn't
have full conversations you didn't get in there
and say how was last night and what
did you do while you're having salah but
salamu alaikum, you sneeze, in fact there's a
narration of a companion that walked in, he
was away for some time and he didn't
know of the change in revelation in the
abrogation of speaking in salah, so he walked
in, salamu alaikum no one says wa alaikum
salam to him sneezes, says alhamdulillah, no one
says yurhamukallah he says mabikum, what's going on
with you people, has everyone lost their minds
and the sahabah are trying to signify to
him they're not going shh they're kind of
hitting their hands a bit, trying to signal
to him to be quiet the whole salah
he's talking, he's upset, why isn't anyone responding
to me, he thinks that it's about him
it's not about the salah, until the messenger
of Allah after the salah clarifies and look
at the adab of the messenger of Allah
that the prophet says that for the one
who was talking, this used to be permitted
for us like this is how the prophet
says his face this used to be permitted,
and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala prohibited
it for us, so don't feel too bad
but know that going forward you should not
speak in salah, so many rulings over time,
you used to have to do wudu more
the wudu after eating anything that was cooked,
there were so many rules of tahara in
motion, so many rules of salah in motion,
to get it to the point that we
have it right now, of the five daily
prayers but if you were to read the
ayat in the Quran about salah, the spirit
of salah is captured throughout from the very
beginning revelations in Mecca to the end of
the revelations in Medina, and I want to
discuss briefly inshallah ta'ala how the salah
is then spoken about in the Quran if
you were to open the Quran and you
were to read from surah al-baqarah by
the way one of the names of surah
al-fatiha is surah al-salah because you
need it for your prayer, your prayer is
invalid without it so you start with al
-fatiha, alif la meem dhalika al-kitabu la
rayba fee hudal lilmuttaqeen allatheena yu'minuna bilghayb wayuqeemuna
al-salah okay, it starts off with, and
surah al-baqarah is in the very beginning
of al-madina al-munawwara, it sets the
constitution of the Islamic state and the construction
of the believer, which is why subhanAllah it's
so apt in where it is placed right
now, in the order of placement in the
Quran because this is when Islam had state
system structure for the people in every way,
and so it starts off with this, the
very first injunction to the believer, after belief
in the unseen, is to take that belief
in the unseen and to establish the prayer,
wa mimma razaqnahum yunfiqoon, which is referring to
sadaqa or zakah, as we said zakah and
sadaqa were interchangeable words in the early revelation,
they span from what we have provided to
them, that's the beginning of the construction of
a believer if you were to go to
the first ten verses of surah al-mu'minoon
qad aflaha al-mu'minoon allatheena hum fee salatihim
khashi'oon, the very first way that Allah
describes the believers, by the way subhanAllah an
exercise that I do with people, in my
umrah group, I actually built out a whole
document take the first ten verses of surah
al-mu'minoon and take the verses of ibadur
rahman, the servants of the most merciful, and
take the verses of luqman al-hakim, speaking
to his son, three sets of verses and
then compare yourself to these three sets of
verses, one by one, subhanAllah, you will find
amazing insight about yourself, amazing insight about yourself
if you just sit with the quran, with
these three sets of verses the first ten
verses of surah al-mu'minoon, where the prophet
was so happy at their revelation, so pleased
at their revelation, the very first way Allah
describes the believers is those who have humility
in their prayers, in surah al-ma'arij
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, illal musallin
except for the believers, allatheena hum ala salatihim
da'imoon those who are consistent with their
prayers, just as we are the ummah of
salah, distinguished by salah in this dunya and
on the akhira, in hellfire, the people are
markedly distinguished by what, qalu lam nakum minal
musallin, we weren't amongst those that used to
pray see subhanAllah, even though they know the
identity of the believers is salah we were
not amongst those that used to pray, so
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says illal musallin,
except for those who pray ibadur rahman allatheena
yamshoon alal ardi hawna wa itha khatabahum aljahiduna
qalu salama, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions
the servants of the most merciful, because Allah
azawajal is talking about the observable actions here,
to other than those servants themselves, ibadur rahman,
the servants of the most merciful, those who
tread lightly on the earth, wa itha khatabahum
aljahiduna qalu salama, when the ignorant address them
they respond with words of peace, wallatheena yabitoona
lirabbihim sujjadan wa qiyama, and Allah azawajal describes
that when they retreat to their homes, you
will see them in sujood and in qiyam
in prostration and in standing, and what the
scholars mention of the benefits of that, because
we know that we start with qiyam and
then we go into sujood, is that sajdah
is the epitome of humility therefore these people's
humility to the rest of the world is
not a fake humility, there are those that
fake humility and there are those who manifest
a humility that they are manufacturing in their
homes with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in
their qiyam so it starts off with sujood,
if you were to see these people they're
in sajdah to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
because aqrabu ma yakoona alabdu rabbihi wa huwa
saajid, the closest that a servant is to
Allah is when he is in sujood man
tawadu'a, whoever lowers themselves for Allah, rafa
'a, Allah azawajal raises them, and so it's
the greatest manifestation of humility, and the greatest
way to pray, or the greatest way to
manifest humility in salah, is to be focused
on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and every
time Allah azawajal describes the believers it is
at the top of the description of the
believers, and by the way it's important to
say here, very important that when someone says,
you know, religion is not just about salah,
it's not just about salah you know, there
could be some truth to that statement, but
you know, even when we hear sadaqa wa
huwa kadhoob sometimes you can say the truth,
and you're a liar, or kalimatu haqq uridabihi
batil, you can say a word of truth,
but you desire falsehood with it, when you
say that it's not just about salah, you're
inherently minimizing the salah because we would actually
say, it's actually all about the salah, don't
take my word for it Umar ibn al
-Khattab radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, when it comes
to the worldly affairs, when he sends the
letter to Sa'id ibn Abi Waqqas radiyallahu
ta'ala anhu as a governor, and the
first letter of his administration, hafidh alas salah
fa innaka in dayataha fa anta liman siwaha
adhia' maintain your prayer, because if you lose
your prayer, then you will lose everything after
it, the Prophet ﷺ says that on the
day of judgment the first thing you'll be
asked about in regards to the right of
Allah upon you is your salah, if it
is good, everything else will be good and
so it's true, it is all about your
salah but, if you're like that woman who
the Prophet ﷺ described or it was described
to him she prays extra, and she gives
extra she fasts extra, but she has a
nasty tongue to her neighbors, and the Prophet
ﷺ said there's no good in her, she's
in the fire, that's because that prayer was
not transforming her inside was not transforming, her
akhlaq was not benefiting her in the way
that prayer is meant to benefit, therefore, she
was doing the motion of prayer, but she
was not absorbing the meaning of prayer of
the meanings of salah is silah, it's a
connection between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, ya wasilal munkata'een asilni ilayk, oh
you who connects, those who are disconnected, connect
me to you, of the meanings of salah,
is that it takes you back to your
origins, as the scholars mention, when you would
say salaytu, I have skinned something back to
it's origin I've removed the rust, I've taken
it back to it's origin, these are all
meanings of salah, now let's come back to
the Quran here's what I want to leave
you with biidhnillahi ta'ala in terms of
the way that Allah azawajal spoke about this
incredible divine commandment, and something practical we can
take from it, all of us are on
a spectrum in regards to our salah, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions, wasta'eenu bis
-sabri was-sala wa innaha la kabiratun illa
ala al-khashi'in, surat al-baqarah that
hold fast with prayer and patience and verily
it is difficult except for those of humility,
stop for a moment, Allah says it is
kabira it's heavy, and Allah describes the hypocrites
wa idha qamu ila salati qamu kusala when
they get up for their prayer they get
up lazy, kusala so if any of you
who are taking notes, which is 90%
of the sisters and 10% of the
brothers, as you're taking your notes if you
put on one side a description of salah,
and there's like a barometer and I talked
about this with hope and fear as well,
a way to take the temperature qamu kusala,
kusala refers to how lazily you get up
for prayer, how reckless your wudu is, careless
your wudu is how you let it go
to the last minute ta'khir, and sometimes
that last minute can end up in the
sinful as well, right, but you habitually get
up almost like it's a burden upon you,
you hate your prayer, you look at it
as something that you want to get out
of the way, how many times do you
hear people say that, let's get the prayer
out of the way, it's not a gift,
it's a burden it's not life, it's a
disruption of life wa idha qamu ila salati
qamu kusala, this is how Allah describes the
prayer of the hypocrites may Allah protect us
from being from amongst them, Allahumma ameen, and
then on the other side of that spectrum
is the salah of the furthest human being
ever from hypocrisy, and that is that is
who?
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam the best of Allah's
creation, how did Ibn Abbas Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
describe him?
That he observed him in his night, and
that when the last third of the night
came wathaba Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he jumped like
a lion pounces he jumped up Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, it wasn't let me slap an alarm
clock, it wasn't give me 10 more minutes,
he immediately rose up Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he
read the last verses wa tawadda wa ahsan
al wudu, he did wudu and he did
it perfectly, you know the wudu of fajr
is the one that sometimes you do your
face and you forget to do your arms
or you do your head but you forget
to do your face and then you realize
halfway into your salah that you know, why
are my arms not wet?
Because naturally it's like I've got to get
this out of the way Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam longed for his salah, loved it got
out of his bed quickly, somewhere in between
these two, towards the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
tatajafa junubuhum anil madaji, yad'uuna rabbahum khawfan
wa tama'a wa mimma razaqlahum yunfiqoona, so
Allah describes in surah al-sajdah the description
of the believers may Allah make us amongst
them, they fight with their beds tatajafa junubuhum
anil madaji, it's so comfortable their bodies fight
with their beds, and Allah azawajal laughs at
people like this, an authentic hadith calls the
angels, look at this person out of his
love of Allah azawajal, fighting with his comfortable
bed getting up to pray, beautiful, it's a
beautiful thing but the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
the fighting was less with the body, because
he was ready, his heart never slept Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, so you're on a spectrum here
now there's some of us, subhanAllah, tatajafa junubuhum
anil madaji you fight with your body at
night and you go back to sleep and
you don't even pray fajr, some of us
maybe cannot pray qiyam, may Allah make us
all amongst the people of tahajjud Allahumma ameen,
and subhanAllah one of the ways that the
scholars mention, is even if you don't get
up and pray then get yourself used to
sitting up in your bed and reading Quran
and making dua and doing dhikr, and there
are multiple ahadith to serve as evidence for
this by the way, that a person who
wakes up and says a dua has this
reward, and then if he stands up and
prays then he has more reward there are
multiple narrations that I don't have time to
go into right now, the point is get
yourself used to getting excited about the moments
to talk to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
getting used to that, until your body will
naturally follow as well, and it will be
less hard to get out of your bed
so there's a spectrum here, during the day,
wa idha qamu ila salati qamu kusala, people
that get up lazy for prayer, the Prophet
salallahu alaihi wasallam is arihna biha ya bila,
arihna biha ya bila comfort us with it
oh bila ju'ila qurra tu'ini fissalat
the joy of my heart and my eyes
is found in my salah, where are you
there?
you know this is one of the problems
of being, or one of the side effects
idh nasha'a fil islam, man lam ya
'riful jahiliyya, as Umar radiyallahu anhu said when
a people grow up not having known ignorance,
is that if you grew up your life
and your parents were waking you up for
salah, and that's a ni'mah, may Allah bless
our parents who did that for us, Allahumma
ameen, your parents were waking you up for
salah that at some point, because you got
used to your parents checking up, did you
pray did you pray, did you pray, come
pray, come pray, come pray, and then when
they're not checking up on you anymore you
start getting lazy, you never got to discover
a connection to the salah yourself, it's on
you at some point to get yourself up,
and to take it seriously for yourself so
you have a spectrum, and this spectrum subhanallah
is one that comes down to what the
ulama mentioned, it's not an authentic hadith, but
it's an athar, a narration with true meaning,
that hubd dunya, that the love of this
world is at the root of every sin,
kulli khati'ah every sin at the root
of it is hubd dunya, is the love
of this world so Allah azawajal when he
says, ma lakum idha qila lakum anfiru fee
sabeeli laithaqaltum what is it when you are
called to go out in the path of
Allah, you cling to the earth, taqaltum ila
al ard the same thing is clinging to
your bed, clinging to your comfort in this
world, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
teaching you daily to get rid of that
comfort, and to focus on something greater and
here's what I give you in conclusion, and
the brothers did not put the time on
the screen, so I have to look at
it myself alright, here's what I want you
to appreciate biidhnillahi ta'ala, come back to
surah al-baqarah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
when he says, wasta'eenu bis-sabri was
-salah, wa innaha lakabeeratun illa ala al-khaashi
'een, allatheena yadhunnoona annahum mulaqoo rabbihim, wa annahum
ilayhi raji'oon seek help, seek perseverance, seek
closeness, bis-sabri was-salah, with patience and
prayer the word patience here refers to what?
can anybody tell me?
what does sabr mean in this verse?
sabr, ibn abbas says is al-sawm, is
fasting fasting is the exercise of sabr, it's
the exercise of patience, and so Allah azawajal
called as-siyam as-sabr, he called as
-sawm as-sabr, he called fasting patience because
it is ibadatun as-sabr it is the
worship of patience, where you exercise patience over
your shahawat, over your desires, and the one
who exercises patience over their desires can handle
patience with their devastation as well okay, because
as-sabr ala al-shahawat, to be patient
with your desires is harder than being patient
with al-bala, harder than being patient with
trials and tribulations, it prepares you for those
moments wasta'eenu bis-sabri was-salah, wa
innaha la kabeeratun ila ala al-khasheen first
Allah azawajal says that it is heavy, except
for people who humble themselves, when you start
your salah you say allahu akbar Allah is
greater, and if you don't understand allahu akbar,
then the salah will be a kabeerah upon
you if you don't understand that Allah is
greater than any pursuit then the prayer which
is to be done out of the greatness
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, will instead
become a great burden for you allahu akbar,
for the believer, wa innaha la kabeerah but
it's heavy, it's a great burden ala al
-khasheen, subhanallah I could go on and on
about this, surah Taha, one of the early
revelations again, before the five prayers, when Allah
azawajal mentions Musa alayhi salam innani ana allahu
la ilaha illa ana fa abudini wa aqimis
salata li dhikri very important, I am your
god there is no god but you, establish
the prayer out of my remembrance, you don't
establish the prayer so you can feel better
about your life it's not yoga, it's not
meditation, there are secondary benefits it's just like
you don't fast to lose weight, you fast
to obey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but
if you fast right, it will have health
benefits as well so, allahu akbar, Allah is
greater than any other duty or pursuit that
I have, otherwise if I don't feel that
way, then the burden of salah will be
greater upon me wa innaha la kabeerah illa
ala al-khasheen, now here is the benefit
that I want you to keep with yourself,
inshallah allatheena yadunnoona annahum mulaqoo rabbihim fa annahum
ilayhi raji'oon inshallah, these verses Dr. Zakir,
I don't know the exact verse number, see,
every time I see you I want to
get it right, 46, 47, somewhere in the
40s late 40s, early 50s, this is the
Umar Suleiman version I'll give you the page
and the overall direction Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala says after talking about Bani Israel, who
lost their prayers by the way, very significant
in terms of context, Allah describes the khasheen
and He said what makes them khasheen, what
makes them humble, what makes them seek their
prayer allatheena yadunnoona annahum mulaqoo rabbihim wa annahum
ilayhi raji'oon, because they know that they
will one day meet their Lord and they
know that they will one day return to
their Lord this is what makes them khasheen
subhanAllah, a beautiful jam I want you to
reflect on allatheena idha asabathum musibah, qaloo inna
lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon, Allah says,
wabashshiris sabireen give glad tidings to the patient,
those who when they are struck by a
trial they say, to Allah we belong and
to Allah we return because to understand inna
lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon, to Allah
we belong and to Allah we return, makes
the difficulty mean less, puts it in perspective
likewise, prayer will be a difficulty it will
be a disruption, it will be an annoyance
unless you know that to Allah you belong
and to Allah you return if you know
that to Allah you belong and to Allah
you return then the prayer will become your
priority over everything else, you won't fit prayer
into your schedule, you'll schedule around your prayer
you won't be thinking about other things in
your prayer all the time, you'll be thinking
about your prayer when you're doing other things,
now granted that's a high level, I don't
want to demoralize everyone but to say that's
where we need to get to, that's where
the Prophet salallahu alayhi was that he was
thinking ahead to his prayer outside of his
prayer whereas we are the opposite, you go
into salah and you start thinking about everything
else, subhanAllah الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُلَاقُوا رَبِّهِمْ
وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ is similar to inna lillahi
wa inna ilayhi raji'oon, the last benefit
that I'll give you from this ayah in
regards to what we find in the prayer
two things, and this is subhanAllah one of
the hard things about reading translation, and by
the way even if you read the Arabic
and glance over it what's the difference between
mulaqoo rabbihim wa annahum ilayhi raji'oon that
they will meet their Lord and to Him
they're returning, isn't it the same thing?
they'll meet their Lord and to Him they're
returning, isn't it the same thing?
there's a beautiful, beautiful deep scholarly discourse in
regards to these ayahs number one, that you
connect to your Lord on a personal level
and when you enter into your salah, you're
entering into a conversation with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, and you are meeting Allah azawajal
in a rehearsal of the day of judgment
every single time you go into your salah
wal-ihsan, and ta'budu allaha ka ammaka
tara, and excellence is to worship Allah as
if you can see Him, the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam was praying as if he could
see Allah in front of him, that's why
he could go all night salallahu alayhi wasalam
and it didn't matter what happened to his
feet because he was already, he was connecting
that way salallahu alayhi wasalam and so it's
a personal connection, and unless you find conversation
in your salah between you and Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala then when you go into
your salah, you're going to be playing out
all the conversations before and after the prayer,
that's number one number two, is in regards
to the jaza, the reward that you expect
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala you see,
when you go into your prayer, you're distracted
either by something else, because something else is
more compelling or, you are thinking about something
else because you think that the consequence of
that is greater, what do I mean by
that?
when you go into your salah, because especially
in this day and age where we're stuck
to our screens all the time, and we're
so lost in terms of focus, when you
go into prayer, because it's probably the only
time that you're not looking at your screen,
you start making all your plans ahead of
the salah, think about it, let's be real,
you start thinking about the meetings that you
have for the rest of the day, you
start thinking about the things that you need
to do and shaytan will come and remind
you, hey, don't forget to put this down,
don't forget to do this don't forget to
do that, so you're planning ahead of the
prayer, and that's why the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam said, pray as if it's your last
prayer there is no other prayer, why are
you planning ahead of the prayer, this is
the last prayer, but you'll be thinking about
the next thing that you have to do,
the next thing that you have to do,
the next thing that you have to do,
because you're looking for something from those things,
the believer is talking to Allah, looking for
his reward a person who does not have
those qualities, is talking to themselves and looking
for something else, does it make sense to
you now?
الذين يظنون أنهم ملاقوا ربهم وأنهم إليه راجعون,
subhanallah when Allah azawajal mentions to us that
the believer when they receive their books in
their right hand, may Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala make us amongst them they would say,
هَا أُمُقْرَأُ كِتَابِيَ إِنِّي ظَنَنْتُ أَنِّي مُلَاقِنْ حِسَابِيَ
read my book, I knew that one day
I would be met with this accountability, that's
why I prepared for this day, I got
this book ready because I knew it was
coming, I knew the moment was coming two
surahs that you read every single night, surat
al-sajdah, surat al-mulk in surat al
-sajdah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions, وَلَوْ
تَرَى إِذِ الْمُجْرِمُونَ نَاكِسُوا رُؤُسِهِمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ رَبَّنَا
أَبُصَرْنَا وَسَمِعْنَا فَرْجِعْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَالِحًا إِنَّا مُوقِنُونَ if
you could see the disbelievers with their heads
low in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala bowed before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
saying, our lord, we hear we understand, we
can see, وَبَّنَا أَبُصَرْنَا we can see, we
can hear, we understand what's happening now, take
us back we'll do it right this time,
we have certainty now in surat al-mulk,
Allah azawajal mentions the consequence, so people that
don't believe strong enough in the meeting with
their lord, and people that don't believe strong
enough in the consequences of returning to their
lord, in surat al-mulk Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala mentions the people in the fire
أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَذِهِرٌ the angels will say to
them, didn't a warner come to you?
قَالُوا لَوْ كُنَّا نَسْمَعُ أَوْ نَعْقِلُ مَا كُنَّا
فِي أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيدِ وَلَكِنْ كَذَّبْنَا but we denied
that warner, and had we listened, had we
paid attention we would not have been in
this miserable state of punishment dear brothers and
sisters, salah is a representation of your overall
relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if
it's good then your relationship with Allah is
good, if it's bad, your relationship with Allah
is bad, if it's mediocre, your relationship with
Allah is mediocre if it's careless, your relationship
with Allah is careless if it's last minute
and rushed, your relationship with Allah is last
minute and rushed it's just a representation of
how you feel about your lord as a
whole and therefore, as you leave this convention
may Allah azza wa jal bless the organizers,
may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless the
state of Perlis, the Mufti, the organizations that
have brought this together Allahumma ameen, all of
the volunteers you leave with this last message,
guard your prayer, because if you lose it,
then you will lose everything after, may Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst those
who establish the prayer out of the remembrance
of him, and who love him, and who
long for him and who worship him as
if we can see him, Allahumma ameen