Man has taken many journeys throughout time. But there is one journey that nobody has ever taken. Nobody—except one.
On a vehicle no man has ever ridden, through a path no soul has ever
seen. To a place no creation has ever before set foot. It was the
journey of one man to meet the Divine. It was the journey of Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to the highest heaven. It was
al-Israa’ wal-Miraaj (the magnificent journey).
On that journey Almighty Allah took his beloved Prophet to the
seventh heaven—a place not even angel Jibreel could enter. In the
Prophet’s mission on earth, every instruction, every commandment was
sent down through angel Jibreel. But, there was one commandment that was
not. There was one commandment so important, that rather than sending
angel Jibreel down with it, Allah brought the Prophet up to Himself.
That commandment was Salah (Prayer). When the Prophet was first given
the command to pray, it was to be fifty times in a day. After asking
Allah to make it easier, the commandment was eventually reduced to five
times a day, with the reward of the fifty.
Reflecting upon this incident, scholars have explained that the
process of going from fifty to five was a deliberate one, intended to
teach us the true place Prayer should hold in our lives. Imagine for a
moment actually praying fifty times a day. Would we be able to do
anything else but pray? No. And that’s the point. What greater way than
that to illustrate our life’s true purpose? As if to say, Prayer is our
real life; all the rest that we fill our day with… just motions.
And yet, we live as if it’s exactly the opposite. Prayer is something
we squeeze into our day, when we find time—if that. Our ‘lives’ don’t
revolve around Prayer. Prayer revolves around our ‘lives.’ If we are in
class, Prayer is an afterthought. If we are at the mall, the Macy’s sale
is more urgent. Something is seriously wrong when we put aside the very
purpose of our existence in order to watch a basketball game.
And that is for those who even pray at all. There are those who have
not only put aside their life’s purpose, they have abandoned it
completely. What we often don’t realize about the abandonment of Prayer
is this: No scholar has ever held the opinion that committing
fornication makes you a disbeliever. No scholar has ever held the
opinion that stealing, drinking or taking drugs makes you a disbeliever.
No scholar has even claimed that murder makes you a non-Muslim. But,
about Prayer, some scholars have said he who abandons it, is no longer
Muslim. This is said based on a hadith such as this one: “The covenant between us and them is Prayer, so if anyone abandons it, he has become a disbeliever.” (Ahmad)
Imagine an act so egregious that the Prophet would speak about it in
such a way. Consider for a moment what Satan did wrong. He didn’t refuse
to believe in Allah. He refused to make one prostration. Just one.
Imagine all the prostrations we refuse to make.
Prayer: Life’s Forgotten Purpose
Consider the seriousness of such a refusal. And yet, think how
lightly we take the matter of Prayer. Prayer is the first thing we will
be asked about on the Day of Judgment, and yet it is the last thing that
is on our mind. The Prophet said: “The first thing which will be judged
among a man’s deeds on the Day of Resurrection is the Prayer. If this
is in good order, then he will succeed and prosper, but if it is
defective, then he will fail and will be a loser.” (At-Tirmidhi)
On that Day, the people of Paradise will ask those who have entered
Hell-fire, why they have entered it. And the Qur’an tells us exactly
what their first response will be:
What led you into Hell Fire? They will say: ‘We were not of those who prayed.’ (Al-Muddaththir 74:42-43)
How many of us will be among those who say “we were not of those who
prayed, or we were not of those who prayed on time, or we were not of
those who made prayer any priority in our lives?”
Why is it that if we are in class or at work or fast asleep at the
time of Fajr and we need to use the restroom, we make time for that?
In fact, the question almost sounds absurd. We don’t even consider it
an option not to. And even if we were taking the most important exam of
our lives, when we need to go, we will go. Why? Because the potentially
mortifying consequences of not going, makes it a non-option.
There are many people who say they don’t have time to pray at work or
school, or while they are out. But how many have ever said they don’t
have time to go to the bathroom, so while out, at work or school have
opted instead to just wear Depends? How many of us just don’t feel like
waking up at Fajr time if we need to use the bathroom, and choose
instead to wet our bed? The truth is we’ll get out of bed, or leave
class, or stop work, to use the bathroom, but not to pray.
It sounds comical, but the truth is we put the needs of our body
above the needs of our soul. We feed our bodies, because if we didn’t,
we’d die. But so many of us starve our souls, forgetting that if we are
not praying, our soul is dead. And ironically, the body that we tend to
is only temporary, while the soul that we neglect is eternal.
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