Baseerath

Before I genuinely began to cultivate and nurture my relationship with God, I regarded the five daily prayers that Islam enjoins on believers as laborious. It seemed impractical to expect that I would be able to stop what I was doing during my busy work schedule to take time out and pray. Working as a news wire journalist, I was often spending upwards of 10 hours a day in the office or at conferences, interviews and meetings, barely able to make time for a lunch break. If I wasn't working, my time was divided between house chores, errands, family and friends, and exercise. I was punctual with everything in my life, except that I was late five times a day. In my mind, it was not viable to expect that I could wake up before the crack of dawn to pray the early-morning prayer, fajr, otherwise I would be too tired to work effectively later that morning. It also seemed inefficient to interrupt my work meetings to pray duhr, the mid-day prayer, and asr, the afternoon prayer. Making the su

One of the worst forms of theft or cheating is cheating in prayer. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The worst type of thief is the one who steals from his prayer.” The people asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how can a person steal from his prayer?” He said: “By not doing rukoo’ and sujood properly.” (Reported by Imaam Ahmad, 5/310; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 997). This lack of composure and failure to pause in rukoo’ and sujood and to stand up straight after rukoo’ or sit up properly between sujoods may be observed in many of those who pray, and hardly any mosque is free of examples of people who do not have the proper composure in prayer. Correct composure is one of the pillars of prayer, without which prayer is invalid. This is a serious matter. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “A man’s prayer is not good enough until his back is straight in rukoo’ and sujood.” (Reported by Abu Dawud, 1/533; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 7

(A true story related in Al-Mawaa’idh wal-Majaalis: 85) A burglar scaled the wall of Malik bin Dinar’s* house one night and easily managed to get inside. Once inside the house, the thief was disappointed to see nothing worth stealing. Malik was busy performing prayer. Realizing he was not alone, he quickly ended his prayer and turned around to face the thief. Without showing any signs of shock or scare, Malik calmly extended greetings of peace and said, “My brother, may Allah forgive you. You entered my home and found nothing worth taking, yet I do not want you to leave without taking away some benefit.” He went in another room and came back with a jug full of water. He looked into the eyes of the burglar and said, “Make wudhu’ and perform two rakaah of prayer, for if you do so, you will leave my home with a greater treasure than you had initially sought.” Humbled by Malik’s manners and words, the thief said, “Yes, that is a generous offer indeed.” After making wudhu’ and performing t

Sahih Muslim : Book 42 "Kitab Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqa'iq", Number 7061] Mutarrif (Radi Allah Anhu) reported on the authority of his father: I came to Allah's Apostle (sal-allahu-alleihi-wasallam) as he was reciting: "Abundance diverts you" He said (sal-allahu-alleihi-wasallam): "The son of Adam claims: My wealth, my wealth. And he (the Holy Prophet) said: O son of Adam. is there anything as your belonging except that which you consumed, which you utilized, or which you wore and then it was worn out or you gave as charity and sent it forward?" [Sahih Muslim : Book 42 "Kitab Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqa'iq", Number 7063] Abu Huraira (Radi Allah Anhu) reported Allah's Messenger (sal-allahu-alleihi-wasallam) as saying: "A servant says, My wealth. my wealth, but out of his wealth three things are only his: whatever he eats and makes use of or by means of which he dresses himself and it wears out or he gives as charity, and this is what he store