Establish the prayers and the
prize is Paradise
Allaah Almighty Says (what means): "And when you have completed the prayer,
remember Allaah standing, sitting, or [lying] on your sides. But when you become
secure, re-establish [regular] prayer. Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the
believers a decree of specified times." [Quran 4:103]
For forty consecutive years, Sa`eed Ibn Al-Musayyib may Allaah have mercy upon
him was to be found in the mosque before the Athaan (call to prayer) was made. `Umar
may Allaah be pleased with him became unconscious after he was stabbed, and
according to Al-Miswar Ibn Makhramah may Allaah have mercy upon him it was said:
"Nothing would wake him up except the call to prayer, if he is still alive." So
people said to him: "The prayer has finished, O Chief of the Believers!" He
therefore awoke and said: "The prayer! I swear by Allaah that there is no share
of Islaam for whoever abandons the prayer." He then performed the prayer while
his wound was bleeding.
After Ar-Rabee` Ibn Khaytham may Allaah have mercy upon him became partially
paralysed, he would go to the mosque helped by two men. He was told: "O Abu
Yaazeed! You have been given permission to pray at home." He replied: "You have
said the truth, but I heard the caller say: 'Hayya `ala al-falah' (rush to
success), and so I thought that whoever hears this call should answer it, even
by crawling."
'Uday Ibn Haatim may Allaah be pleased with him said: "Every time the time for
prayer arrives, it finds me eager and ready to perform it (i.e. in the state of
ablution)."
Abu Bakr Ibn 'Abdullaah Al-Muzani may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "Who is
like you, O son of Aadam? Whenever you desire, you use water and make ablution,
go to the place of worship and thus enter the presence of your Lord (i.e. start
praying) without a translator or barrier between you and Him!"
Abu Rajaa' Al-`Ataaridi may Allaah have mercy upon him said on his deathbed: "I
am not grieved by leaving anything behind, except that I used to bow down on my
face five times a day before my Lord, the Exalted and most Honoured."
Abul-'Aaliyah may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "I would travel for days to
meet a man and the first thing I would note about him would be his prayer. If he
was one who established the prayer perfectly and on time, I would stay with him
and hear the knowledge he had to impart. If I found him to be careless
concerning the prayer, I would leave him and say to myself that for things other
than the prayer, he would be even more careless."
When 'Ali Ibn Al-Husayn may Allaah have mercy upon him would perform ablution,
the colour of his face would change. His family asked him why this would always
happen and he would reply: "Do you know before Whom I am about to stand (in
prayer)?"
Yazeed Ibn 'Abdullaah may Allaah have mercy upon him was asked: "Should we make
a roof for our mosque?" He replied: "Purify your hearts and your mosque (in its
current state) will suffice you."
'Uday Ibn Haatim may Allaah be pleased with him said: "Ever since I became a
Muslim, I always made sure to have ablution when the Athaan is called."
'Ubayd Ibn Ja`far may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "I never saw my uncle
Bishr Ibn Mansoor miss the first Takbeer (that commences the congregational
prayer in the mosque), and whenever any person stood up in our mosque to ask
people for help, he would always give him something."
Ibn Sam`ah may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "For forty years, I only missed
the first Takbeer once, and that was when my mother died. If you know of a man's
disinterest in being present in the mosque for the first Takbeer, then wash your
hands of him (i.e. know that there is no good in him)."
Sufyaan Ibn `Uyaynah may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "Honouring the prayer
includes arriving before the Iqaamah (the call that establishes the prayer) is
called."
Maymoon Ibn Mahraan may Allaah have mercy upon him was once delayed from coming
to the mosque on time. When he did eventually arrive, he was told that the
people had already concluded the prayer: "We all belong to Allaah and to Him
shall be our return! I value the congregational prayer more than being made
governor of Iraq," he lamented.
Yoonus Ibn 'Abdullaah may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "What is the matter
with me? If I lose a mere chicken I feel concerned, but when I miss a prayer in
congregation it does not grieve me!"
`Umar may Allaah be pleased with him once said while standing on the pulpit: "A
man may have white hair in Islam (i.e. reach old age while being Muslim), but
has not yet completed even a single prayer for Allaah the Exalted!" He was
asked: "Why is that?" He replied: "Because he does not perfect the prayer's
required Khushoo` (solemness) and fails to be attentive to Allaah with his
heart."
Hammaad Ibn Salamah may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "I have never stood up
for prayer without imagining that the Hellfire is before my eyes."
Mu`aath Ibn Jabal may Allaah be pleased with him advised his son saying: "My
son! Pray the prayer of he who is just about to leave this world, and imagine
that you may never be able to pray again. Know that the believer dies between
two good deeds: one that he has just performed, and the other that he intended
to perform next."
Bakr Al-Muzani may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "If you want your prayer to
be of benefit to you then say to yourself prior to it that you may not have the
chance to perform another prayer.'"
Shubrumah may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "We once accompanied Qarz Al-Haarithi
on a journey; whenever we would camp down in an area, he would scan it with his
eyes and when he found a good piece of land that he liked, he would go to it and
pray there until it was time for us to leave."
Al-Qaasim Ibn Muhammad may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "Whenever I went out
in the morning, I would visit (my aunt) `Aa'ishah may Allaah be pleased with her
and greet her. One day, I found her performing the Dhuhaa prayer and reciting
the following verse from the Quran repeatedly, while crying and invoking Allaah
(which means): "So Allaah conferred favour upon us and protected us from the
punishment of the Scorching Fire." [Quran 52:27] I stood there until I felt
weary, then I left and went to the marketplace, telling myself that I would
return to her when I finish. Later, when I did return to her, I found her still
standing in prayer, reciting the same verse, and crying and invoking Allaah.'"
Maymoon Ibn Hayyaan may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "I never saw Muslim Ibn
Yasaar turn his head while praying, whether the prayer was short or long. Once,
a part of the mosque collapsed while he was praying in the mosque and the noise
caused people who were as far away as the market to be terrified, but he felt no
fear whatsoever and continued praying without even moving his head." He may
Allaah have mercy upon him also said: "I accompanied `Ataa' Ibn Rabaah for
eighteen years. When he became old and weak, he would stand in prayer and read
close to two hundred verses from Chapter Al-Baqarah while standing so firmly
that no part of him would move."
Abu Bakr Ibn 'Ayyaash may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "If you saw Habeeb
Ibn Abu Thaabit while in prostration, you would think that he was dead due to
its extended length."
'Ali Ibn Al-Fudhayl may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "I saw Ath-Thawri go
into prostration while praying, and I performed Tawaaf (circumambulation) around
the House (i.e., the Ka'bah) seven times before he raised his head from
prostration."
'Uthmaan Ibn Abi Dahrash may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "I never performed
a prayer without invoking Allaah afterwards to forgive me for falling into
shortcomings in the way I performed it."
Mu`aawiyah Ibn Murrah may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "I lived among
seventy of the companions of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may
Allaah exalt his mention ) and had they lived among you today, they would not
recognise any of your acts except the Athaan!" He may Allaah have mercy upon him
also said: "If a man from our predecessors was resurrected among you today, the
only thing he would recognise would be your Qiblah (prayer direction)."
When Haatim Al-Asamm may Allaah have mercy upon him was asked about his prayer,
he replied: "When the time for prayer draws near, I perform a perfect ablution,
go to where I will pray and sit there until I am fully cognisant of what I am
about to do. Then, I stand up and pray, imagining that the Ka`bah is in front of
my eyes, Paradise to my right, Hell to my left and the Angel of Death behind me.
I imagine that it is the last prayer I will ever perform; I stand up in hope of
Allaah, His Paradise and His rewards, and in fear of Allaah's torment in the
Hellfire. I then say the Takbeer while having full attention. I recite the Quran
calmly, bow humbly, prostrate with humility and attentiveness and then sit on my
left leg, with my left foot laid on the floor and the right foot raised up - all
the while praying with sincerity. Afterwards, I have no certainty about whether
that prayer was accepted from me or not."
One of our pious predecessors may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "O son of
Aadam! You need your share of this life, but your need of the Hereafter is far
greater. If you take care of your share of this life then you will lose your
share of the Hereafter, and you will very soon lose your share of this life,
too. But if you take care of your share of the Hereafter then you will also win
your full share of this life with ease."
Talq Ibn Habeeb may Allaah have mercy upon him said: "Allaah's rights are
greater than the slave's capacity and ability to fulfil them. Therefore, reach
every morning in a state of repentance and every night also in a state of
repentance."
Source:
https://www.kidsxone.com/islamic-stuff/islam-for-kids/733-establish-the-prayers-and-the-prize-is-paradise