Pen for Allah

[previous post in the series - # 3:Practicing Magic]

The Fourth Major Sin - Not Praying.

Allah (swt) says in the Quran:

“Then there succeeded them a generation which neglected prayers and followed lust. They will meet with destruction (Ghayy), excepting the one who repents and believes and acts righteously.”  (Surah Maryam 19:59-60)

Ibn ‘Abbas (ra) explained that ‘neglected’ here does not mean that they completely abandoned prayers, but that they delayed them to the end of their prescribed times. Sa’id bin Musayyab, a great Imam following the generation of the companions, elaborated on this, saying: “A person neglects prayers if he delays the noon prayer up to afternoon prayer time, afternoon prayer up to almost sunset prayer time, sunset prayer up to evening prayer time, and evening prayer up to morning prayer time, while delaying morning prayer until just before sunrise. If anyone dies without repentance while continuing in this manner, Allah has promised Ghayy for him, and that is a valley in Hell which is very deep and has foul food”.

Allah (swt) says in the Quran:

“So Woe (Wayl) to the worshippers, who are unmindful (SaHoon) of their prayer.” (Surah Al-Maa'oon 107:4-5)

S’ad bin Abi Waqqas said: “I asked Allah’s Messenger (saw) about the meaning of unmindful (SaHoon), and he replied: ‘It is delaying it (the prayer) up to the end of its prescribed time’”.

While Allah (swt) calls such people ‘worshippers’, they are lazy and perform the prayer very late. He has promised them ‘Wayl’ , which signifies a great punishment. Some say, “Wayl is a valley in Hell, exceedingly hot, and that is the place for those who delay or miss the prayer, excepting the ones who repent and correct their habits.”

Allah (swt) says in the Quran:

“O you who believe, let neither your wealth nor your children distract you from the remembrance of Allah (Dhikrillah). And those who do so, they will be losers.”  (Surah Al-Munafiqun 63:9)

The commentators say: “‘The remembrance of Allah’ (Dhikrillah) in this Ayah means the five daily prayers. If anyone is so busy in buying and selling, or with his daily work of earning a livelihood, or with his children, that he cannot perform prayers on time, he will be among the losers.”

The Prophet (saw) said in this regard: “The first thing which will be judged among a person’s deeds on the Day of Resurrection is the prayer. If that is in a good order, he will pass the test and prosper, and if that is defective, he will fail the test and will be a loser…” (Tirmidhi)

Informing us about the inhabitants of Hell, Allah (swt) says:

“[The people in Hell will be asked]: ‘What caused you to enter Hell-fire?’ They will say: ‘We were not among those who prayed. nor did we feed the needy. We used to engage in vain discourse with the vain-talkers, and we used to deny the Day of Judgement, until there came to us that which is certain [i.e., Allah's judgement]‘. Then, no intercession by any intercessors will benefit them.” (Surah Al-Muddathir 74:42-48)

Therefor, abandoning the Prayer completely, is more serious matter then “just” being distracted or unmindful. The Prophet (saw) said: “What lies between a man and polytheism and infidelity is abandoning the prayer” (Muslim). and he also said: “Do not abandon your prayers deliberately, for the one who abandon the prayer deliberately has no claim upon Allah and his Messenger” (Ahmad).

We ask Allah (swt) for His Guidance and His Blessing, we seek His refuge from the temptations of the Shaytan and we ask Him to keep us firm on our religion and firm on our prayers. far from unmindfulness and negligence and close to sincerity and righteousness.

*****

And before you move on to the next post, I recommend you to download and listen to a great motivational lecture made by Yusuf Idris, titled - “WHY DON’T YOU PRAY?”
[Download- Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3]

In the next post Inshallah we will explain about Major Sin # 5 - Not paying Zakat