Salah in Focus - Corrected Khutba Transcription

Salah in Focus - Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda

Opening

"[In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.]"

"[All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions. Good evening.]"

Introduction: Prayer in Focus

I wanted to very briefly, inshallah, today talk to everyone about the title of the lecture which is Prayer in Focus. And I wanted today's lecture to focus a little bit on creating or rather, returning salah to a position of focus and making salah a priority within our lives. And in order for us to be able to reach that level and for us to be able to understand the importance of salah in our lives and work towards improving it, first and foremost we need to understand what is the actual importance of salah and what is the significance of prayer within our deen, within our religion.

I wanted to address this from a few different angles. The first thing I wanted to talk about is the historical significance of salah. The historical significance of prayer within Islam.

The Historical Significance of Salah

The Beginning of Revelation

And in order to do that we basically take a look at the life of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). And when we look at the life of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) we find, we see that salah was the aid the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was provided with. The outlet that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was given by Allah in dealing with the psychological, emotional and even sometimes the physical hazards of the line of work the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was in.

We all know about the beginning of revelation. We all know that incident, we all know that story on that fateful day in the cave of Hira, Jibreel (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ - alayhis salam) he came to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and of course the revelation began and the responsibility of Prophethood was, he was made aware of that responsibility. What was very interesting is that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) obviously understanding the magnitude of the responsibility that had been laid upon his shoulders, he came home and he was overwhelmed, he was shaking and he was physically and emotionally overwhelmed by this experience that he had just had.

And at that time Allah when he came home and he was in this condition, we know that later on Allah He addressed him

"[O you who are wrapped [in garments], Arise and warn, And your Lord glorify.]"

Allah gave him the initial command, the very first command and that was stand up, warn the people, proclaim the greatness only of your Lord.

The Weight of Responsibility

Now that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was being essentially mobilized by Allah. Allah was telling the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), you have to get up and you have to get going, you have to move, you have a message to deliver, you have a mission to accomplish, you have to see this to fruition. And what lies, what depends, what is, what basically depends on you succeeding in this mission? The fate of all of humanity.

"[And We have not sent you except comprehensively to mankind as a bringer of good tidings and a warner.]"

The fate of all of humanity rests on your shoulders. And your ability to discharge this great responsibility you take a look, one thing that I often say about Quran and even the seerah, the life of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is unfortunately many times we have entertainment like approach to seerah and to the life of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and even the Quran.

What I mean by entertainment is, we hear a lecture, we hear an ayah, we hear about an incident from the life of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) from the seerah, and we listen to it, it sounded nice, it was very entertaining, it was very nice, and then we move on. And if somebody brings that up again, somebody mentions it again, then we, excuse me, you already covered that. That's our approach.

And that's how we, that's entertainment. I read a book one time, or I read a magazine once, I don't read it again. Maybe if it was good, I read it a second time. Maybe if I'm bored, I read it a third time. But I don't read it after that, again and again. And the other thing is, we just flip the pages.

Putting Ourselves in His Shoes

When talking about the life of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), what's very important is that we place ourselves in those shoes. We visualize a situation. We try to just imagine. Even at a distance. Even though we don't really know what it's like, and we might never understand what it was like, but at least try to experience those emotions, those feelings, those sentiments. So the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is carrying the weight of the entire world on his shoulders.

I mean, when we deal with a little bit of pressure, how easily do we crumble? How much does it weigh down on us? We feel helpless, we feel like there's nothing we can do. It breaks us down. We become incapable of doing anything else. Just because of the pressure we're feeling in a particular situation. Well, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) obviously was feeling this pressure. Being responsible for the, for delivering the message to all of humanity.

Well, Allah provided him with an outlet. Provided him with a means, a way to spiritually be able to deal with this pressure. To be able to shed the burden or the negativity.

The Command to Start with Family

Not only that, but when the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) did go forward, when he did move forward and began delivering the message to people, Allah told him

"[And warn, [O Muhammad], your closest kindred.]"

don't you start by warning, by delivering this message to your own close family members. Your own immediate relatives. Begin with them.

And we would think that's an advantage. That makes sense. Okay, they're gonna be easier to talk to. If anybody will be sympathetic towards me, it'll be my family. It'll be my relatives, my kin. But we all know when the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gathered the Quraysh, when he gathered his people, how they responded to him.

They cursed him. His own uncle cursed him

"[May the hands of Abu Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he.]"

He cursed him. Ridiculed him. Humiliated him. In front of everyone. And completely dismissed him. And set the tone for what was to come from there on. He was the leader of the people. If he's dismissing him, who else is going to listen to what he has to say? So this is how things started off.

Dealing with Negativity

Now imagine dealing with that. Your own family members being that negative towards you. So now he's dealing with a lot of pressure, a huge responsibility, and now on top of everything else, negativity.

You know how difficult it is to deal with negativity? It's easy to say, Oh, be positive, don't worry about it, it's okay. You know if you have somebody in your family, a relative, or a friend, or an acquaintance, and they're always being very negative. Anytime you come, you sit down, they have some criticism, they say something nasty, or they pick on you for something, or they start an argument, or they start a fight.

They always got to bring up the sore topic. There's always that one guy that does that. What happens? The next time when you're having a get-together, you're going to a dinner, you ask, is he going to be there? And he say, yeah, he'll be there.

Alright, Jazakumullah khairan. You don't go? Why not? Because you just can't deal with that negativity. And you tell, when your parents, or your family, or your wife, or somebody, your brother tells you, don't worry, don't let him ruin it for you.

You go. Why are you letting him keep you away? You say, I can't deal with the negativity. I just can't. It brings me down. I'm having a great day. I have a smile on my face from here to here. This guy opens his mouth, and that's it. The clouds come out. I can't deal with that.

So you say, I'm not going. Negativity. It bears on the human being. He finds it difficult to deal with. Well, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was dealing with an extreme amount of negativity. A very, very high level of negativity.

Allah's Solution: Night Prayer

All of this is bearing down on him. How long do you think somebody could survive in these conditions? Not very long. How long would somebody be able to survive? Not very long.

But the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was able to keep going, and going, and going. And everyday, his spirit would increase. Everyday, his energy was renewed. Everyday, his determination was more than the previous. He was more determined every morning. More and more determined.

How? Allah gave him an outlet. Allah gave him the most valuable tool a person can have. Allah, when he commanded him to go out and preach, Allah also commanded him

"[O you who wraps himself [in clothing], Arise [to pray] the night, except for a little - Half of it - or subtract from it a little, Or add to it, and recite the Qur'an with measured recitation. Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word.]"

in the night. Stand before your Lord. Salah. Stand up before your Lord. A part of the night, half of the night, a little bit less, a little bit more, whatever it takes. But stand up before your Lord. And this amazing, beautiful, this amazing, beautiful, powerful Quran that is being revealed down to you, recite that in the prayer.

Recite that in the prayer and stand up and pray throughout the night. And Allah is telling him, look, you better stand up and pray in the night. This is for your own good. Because this responsibility that we've given you, it's very, very heavy. And not only that, but Allah said, Allah gives a beautiful analogy, it's a metaphor.

Allah says, you have a long swim ahead of you. A very long swim ahead of you.

"[Indeed, for you by day is prolonged occupation.]"

itself. Just grammatically the word سَبْحًا already means you have a very difficult swim ahead of you. And then Allah says طويلًا It's very difficult, it's very treacherous, and it's a very long swim. You'll need to be strong, you'll need to be determined, and you'll need to be able to deal with whatever comes your way. Allah is telling him, look, you have a huge responsibility.

Don't underestimate standing up and praying. This will help make it easier for you to deal with everything else. And then let's fast forward into the seerah.

The Year of Sorrow

Loss of Khadija (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهَا - radi Allahu anha)

Fast forward into the seerah. When you go forward into the seerah, you once again find a situation, where things became to the point of being unbearable. Once again, I repeat, any one of us in that situation, I can speak for myself, I would not have been able to make it through this type of a situation.

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) his wife Khadija (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهَا - radi Allahu anha) his wife of over 25 years, she died and passed away. And his child, he lost his wife, 25 years he spent with her. I know it sounds cliche, but this is what they call a soul mate.

Somebody you spend your whole life with. Somebody that's there for you through thick and thin. Somebody that you can rely upon no matter what the situation, what the circumstances.

He lost that person. Then, his children have lost their mother. Very easy for, yes, in this year of Prophethood Khadija died. No, no, no, no, no. Think about it. Think about what it means to lose your companion of 25 years, your wife, and then your children losing their mother.

To stand there and look at your children in the face and they no longer have their mother. Imagine the pain. And in this situation, by the way, this is from a personal perspective.

If you take into consideration the message or the mission of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as a messenger, as a prophet, there was also nobody more supportive to him than Khadija (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهَا - radi Allahu anha). If you look in the beginning of Sahih Bukhari, you find a chapter, the very first chapter is called بَابٌ بَدْءِ الْوَحْي The chapter about the initiation of revelation.

When the revelation began in the life of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). You'll find that chapter. And in that chapter, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) recounts the entire ordeal. And then he talks about when he came home, shaken up and overwhelmed, and dazed and confused.

Someone held his hand and spoke these, you see these powerful, beautiful words being spoken. That don't worry. Why are you worried? What are you worrying about? Allah will not put you to waste.

Allah will not let you go to waste. You're too valuable. You're too good of a person. You help the poor, the needy, the widows, the orphans. They all know your doorstep. They all know they can come to you.

Such a valuable asset to society and to people, to humanity. Allah will not waste you. And those words were spoken by Khadija (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهَا - radi Allahu anha)

The wife of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). She was his rock. She gave him strength. So in the first person, when he said, who's going to accept this? Who's going to accept this message? You know what her response was? (أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّكَ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ - ashhadu an la ilaha illa-llah wa ashhadu annaka rasulullah) That was her response.

I accept it. I accept it. That's the person that he loves. So from a personal and also what you could call from a professional perspective, there was no one more important to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) than Khadija (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهَا - radi Allahu anha) And he lost her. But here's the thing.

Allah was going to teach the ummah, the generations to come, mankind a lesson through the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam)

Loss of Abu Talib

Six to eight months after the passing of Khadija, Abu Talib died. His uncle. And once again it's very easy for us to say his uncle Abu Talib died. Let's put it into perspective. Who was Abu Talib? I'm going to ask you just a couple of quick questions, easy questions about the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

When did the father of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم die? Anyone? Before he was born. When did the mother of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم die? When he was? Six years old. Whose care did he go into after now his father and his mother are gone? His grandfather, Abdul Muttalib. When did Abdul Muttalib die? When the Prophet was? Eight years old. Two years after that.

From the age of eight, the family, the guardian, the one who raised the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was Abu Talib. Think about that. He was his parent. He was his parent. The books of seer, the books of history, they actually note the fact that Abu Talib was a leader of the Quraish. So he had a designated position to sit in, near the Haram and near the Kaaba where the leaders would sit.

And it was the observation of people, it was the observation of the people of the time, that when Abu Talib would sit there, they would always see the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sitting in his lap. They never used to see his own children, but he would have the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in his lap. When Abu Talib would travel for business, when he had to travel for business, he would leave his wife and his children behind in Mecca.

But he took the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم with him. I'll leave my children back here, but I will not let Muhammad out of my sight. He loved him that dearly.

Abu Talib was the Prophet's family. And when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came forth with the message, when revelation began, and Allah told him, go out and start delivering the message. And he did.

Even though Abu Talib did not accept, he was the biggest supporter. He was his most ardent defender. He was the gatekeeper to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . All of Quraish knew, if you wanna get to Muhammad, you gotta go through Abu Talib.

And he kept people at bay. People still behaved inappropriately. There were a few indiscretions here and there. But for the most part, the floodgates did not open because Abu Talib was always there. And the books of Sira also make note of the fact that when Abu Talib passed away, before that they say, before Abu Talib passed away, the people of Mecca knew there was a limit with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم But after Abu Talib passed away, the young thugs, not some influential person, not the Abu Jahls, not the Abu Lahabs, the young thugs in the streets of Mecca would walk up to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and curse him and disrespect him in public, thinking there was nobody that they had to answer to, because Abu Talib is gone. It was a huge tragedy for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to lose Abu Talib.

The Pain of Non-Acceptance

And especially that close to Khadijah رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهَا. Then the other thing we don't think about. See, what I'm asking you to do is think about the Sira, feel the Sira. We have a huge problem today in the ummah, and especially we're having trouble conveying this to our youth, is a connection, a sense of connection to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. People today, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, are confused about the personality of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. There are more attacks levied against the personality of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم than ever in history.

And we have to think about that. It's because we as Muslims do not have a full appreciation of who he was and what he did in his lifetime. I often like to tell my community, today we know of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. There are more books published on the Sira today, there are websites and PDFs.

We know a lot about the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم,but we have yet to fall in love with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. We have not fallen in love with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Our youth don't admire him, they don't look up to him. He just never has been presented. We haven't looked at him in that light, and we haven't presented him to our youth in that light.

So I was going back to describing the situation, the predicament of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Abu Talib passing away was a personal tragedy. This was his family. He didn't have any brothers and sisters. His grandparents were gone, his parents were gone. It was Abu Talib. Professionally, he was the gatekeeper. He lost that defender, that would keep those vicious people at bay. And there was another personal tragedy embedded in the death of Abu Talib that we don't think about. Abu Talib died without accepting Islam.

And that's easy for me to quote as a fact of history. But talk to any of our brothers and sisters in our communities who are reverts or converts. And if their parents have not yet accepted Islam or taken shahada, ask them every morning when they make up, what's the first du'a they make? And before they go to sleep, what's the last du'a they make? They pray for the guidance of their parents and their family.

It pains them. It burns them. I have a couple of childhood friends, friends from my youth, who alhamdulillah accepted Islam, took shahada in high school with us. Until today, it's the thing that bothers them above everything else. It's the thing that makes them restless inside. Imagine the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمhe's presenting guidance and iman to all of humanity.

And hundreds and eventually thousands of people are coming into Islam. Tens and hundreds of thousands of people. There were over a hundred thousand people at the khutbah of Hajjatul Wida.

And everyone is flowing into Islam, wave after wave. But that person that's most nearest and dearest to you, left this world without accepting Islam. And you know the ayah that was revealed that the death of

Abu Talib... You know the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمwhen Abu Talib was on his deathbed, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم went and began to whisper in his ear, in Abu Talib's ear.

He says, look, I know. Because Abu Talib said, I'm afraid, I'm ashamed, I'm embarrassed. People will say, Abu Talib tried to cheat death in his last moments, by just grabbing on to whatever straws he could. And he left the religion of his forefathers and took the religion of his nephew. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم whispered in Abu Talib's ear. He said, just whisper it in my ear.

Just whisper it to me. Just your shahada, just once whisper it to me. I'll be your witness on the day of judgment. I'll say, oh Allah, he read it, I heard it. I'll be your witness. And Abu Jahl was sitting in the same room, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Screaming at the top of his lungs. Abu Talib, don't forget the religion of your forefathers. And in this condition, Abu Talib died, refusing to take shahada.

We know the ayah that was revealed at that time. And we don't really understand this ayah completely. We often understand it to say like, this is Allah rebuking the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. You can't guide whom you want to.

Allah guides whom He wills. You don't get to decide who gets hidayah. This was not a rebuke. This was Allah consoling the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. This was Allah consoling the pain of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. Because imagine anybody else in that situation. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was beating himself up over this. What else could I have said? What else could I have done? What more was there for me to do? So that Abu Talib would have taken the shahada.

Allah is telling the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, this was not in your hands. You don't control who gets hidayah. It never was, it never will be. Allah decides who gets hidayah. Don't beat yourself up about this. It was out of your control, it was out of your hands.

This was Allah consoling. And you know what tells you really how severe the pain of the Prophet صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was? Almost 12 years after that fact, I think 12 years after that fact, 12 or 13 years after that, was the incident of Fath Makkah, the conquest of Makkah, after the passing of Abu Talib. 12 or 13 years later, the sahaba still remembered the pain of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at the passing of Abu Talib, without iman, without shahada.

Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه at the occasion of the conquest of Makkah, brought his father. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was sitting in the haram. And he brought his father Abu Quhafa, who was very old, and he was blind. He was naturally blind. And he was very very old. The hadith even describes that all of his hair had gone white.

Even his eyebrows and his eyelash, everything had gone white. And Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه brought him to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم saw Abu Bakr bringing Abu

Quhafa, he told him, you should have told me. I would have come to meet him.

And then Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه said, no he needed to come. He came to accept Islam, take shahada. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sat down with them and began giving the shahada to Abu Bakr's father Abu Quhafa at this old age.

Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه started to cry. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, tears of joy, Abu Bakr. He said, no, Prophet of Allah, these are tears of sadness.

He said, why would you be sad? Your father is accepting Islam, taking shahada at this old of an age. Why would you be sad? He says, because I wish it would have been Abu Talib in his place. Because that would have removed your pain.

That would have brought more joy to you. I would switch their places in a second. That's the pain of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . It was that evident, that obvious to everyone around him.

The Divine Solution: Miraj and Salah

So as I was speaking about that time, that era from the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم his wife passes away, the mother of his children, his soulmate, his partner, and his biggest supporter, his first supporter, and then his biggest defender, his family, Abu Talib. They both pass away in a very short span of time.

Imagine how devastated anyone would be in this situation. Imagine how traumatized and emotionally just completely destroyed someone would be. And not only that, but here comes the negativity. All the opposition in Mecca, the people who were opposing the mission of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم they jumped at the opportunity.

Said, this is it. This is what we've been waiting for. This is what we need, what we want. And then they went around spreading propaganda against the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. See, see, we told you. He had this new religion, right? And everybody thought it was all great. We told you it was gonna end badly.

Look what happened to him. Everyone around him is dropping dead. Look what's happened. He lost everybody important to him. Imagine dealing with that negativity. What did Allah do at this moment to remove the pain of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم? To give him a coping mechanism? Allah gave him salah.

The incident of Mi'raj. Allah invited him above the seven heavens. He was closer to Allah than any human being has ever been. And Allah bestowed upon him the gift of prayer, salah, and told him to bring it back to humanity. Allah addressed him in the Quran إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ فَصَلِّ لِرَبِّكَ وَانْحَرْ Then what did he tell him? How do you deal with the negativity? How do you deal with the pain? How do you get over this? فَصَلٌ لِرَبِّكَ . Pray Salah.

Salah as the Prophet's Coping Mechanism

So this is the historical significance of salah. It came, it was recommended, it was provided by Allah at the greatest moments of tragedy and pain in the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. The most difficult moments of his life, salah came. And it became part of the personality of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. إِذَا حَزَبَهُ أَمْرٌ فَزِعَ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ )Abu Dawud hadith 1319) The sahabah remember about him.

One thing, of any significance would occur, when something was going down, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would at once rush to prayer, rush to salah. Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه who spent 10 years serving the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Much after the passing of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he was asked, there were some strong winds blowing in Medina, it looked like a storm was on its way. Someone asked him, did you ever see situations, weather conditions like this in the days of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم? And if so, what was the course of action? He said, this is very severe.

He said, if just the clouds moved in, or the wind started to blow a little too strongly, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would immediately go to the masjid and engage in prayer. If you have a need, go to prayer. You have a difficulty, go to prayer.

You're confused, salah al-istighara. You need something, salah al-haja.

A Student's Question About Prayer Frequency

Someone even asked me a question. I was asked this question at the university I used to teach by a non- Muslim student. I used to teach Arabic. So it wasn't Islamic studies class, it was an Arabic class.

But they obviously knew that I had a background in Islamic studies, and so they would also bring those questions when they wanted to. And there was this one student in the class, really smart kid, he approached me with a question one time. He said, I've been studying Islam, I've been reading up on Islam.

And I understand that after accepting Islam, first and foremost responsibility is prayer, five times a day. And he said, I studied what's the exact nature of this prayer. And I saw that it takes all about 10 to 15 minutes to pray.

I said, yeah, that's roundabout right. 10 to 15 minutes. So he said, well, then here's my observation.

Here's my question. He said, the purpose of prayer is to find focus, to connect with Allah. I said, yes.

So he goes, okay, here's my question. If I need to study for something at school, I find it more productive to sit down at one time and study for an hour and a half continuously, rather than study in five different sessions, 15 minutes a piece, or 20 minutes a piece. I get more work done if I consolidate all the time into one big chunk and I sit down and get everything done.

Wouldn't it be more productive for you all to pray in this situation? It's a great question. So I told him, first and foremost, the reason why we pray five times a day and not just at one collective time of the day, is because this is how we've been told to pray. Our deen, our religion is a religion of obedience.

A religion of obedience. So that's the reason why. Now if you want to talk about benefits, let me explain a couple of things to you.

The Benefits and Wisdom of Five Daily Prayers

First and foremost, salah is meant to give us a sense of connection to Allah. A sense of devotion and dedication to Allah. I'm devoted to something higher. I have a purpose that's a lot higher than the memo that I have to file right now, or the homework assignment I have to complete right now, or the groceries that I have to pick up from the store right now, or the food I have to eat, or the TV show I have to... My purpose of life and my sense of purpose is a lot greater than this. That's what salah gives us. So salah is broken up into five different times of the day.

Different intervals. To keep us connected to that idea, to remind us of,

"[You] alone do we worship and You alone do we ask for help."

That's my purpose of life. That's why I pray.

The next thing is, salah gives us a sense of discipline. Salah gives us a sense of discipline. Notice how amazing, Allah has created the system of prayer.

It's five times a day, right? Morning, afternoon, early evening or late afternoon, and then the evening time, Salatul Maghrib, and then at night, Salatul Isha. Five prayers. But Allah has attached it to the natural elements.

When dawn breaks, and then when the sun moves past the zenith, the sun begins its decline. And when the shade becomes this large, and then when the sun sets, and then when night sets in. It's attached to the seasons, the elements of nature.

So what happens because of that? The time fluctuates. It's not that Salatul Isha is going to be 730 year round. Not even that much. To keep me on my toes. Salatul Isha right now is 730. But you just heard the announcement, in a couple of days, Salatul Isha will be at? 9 PM.

Adjust. I gotta make the adjustment. It's to discipline the person.

Salah as Spiritual Recharge

And then here's the other thing. Talking about the historical significance of prayer, and connecting it to the spiritual significance of prayer. The prayer in the life of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), we see it playing a very vital role, and that was to recharge the batteries of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

He used to exhaust himself all day long preaching to people. Tirelessly. Self-sacrifice. And then all that negativity would be poured on him. How would he shed the negativity? How would he re-energize himself? How would he prepare himself to go back out there for another day? Prayer, salah. Salah would help him deal with whatever came his way.

Salah is meant to serve that purpose. It's like charging the battery. You know these new phones that they have? Like the smart phones? They do a lot of cool things. You know what the biggest problem with the phones is? Battery life. Everybody complains about battery life. If you have an iPhone, you plug it in when you get in your car, at your office, at work, you go to your friend's house, you have an iPhone charger.

Right? It's the biggest problem. I had to buy a case that has a battery in it. Because it would just keep dying on me.

You have to keep charging it, plugging it in. Think about life. Everything that happens on a daily basis.

Everything that keeps happening. Problem at home, then at work, then some traffic, then an accident, a flat tire, and bills, and laid off. Think about all the hits that keep coming with life.

Every day. Salah is to recharge the battery. That's how we plug ourselves into the wall.

Recharge the battery, shed the negativity, reconnect with Allah, and we're ready to go back out there and deal with it again. That's what salah does. That's the purpose salah serves in our life.

That's the benefit of prayer in our lives. That's what we need to do. But here's something to think about.

When Prayer Doesn't Work

Something to chew on now. That might be a benefit of prayer. But think about how devastating it would be.

You arrived at your friend's house. Your phone was dying. You're expecting some really important phone call.

So you plugged it in to the charger. You're talking with your friend. You come back 20 minutes later to find your phone dead.

What happened? I plugged it in. Oh, that outlet doesn't work. Phone's dead, right? What's happening a lot of times with a lot of us is, salah has the power to recharge our batteries.

But what ends up happening? I say, Allahu Akbar, and I finish with, Assalamualaikum warahmatullah. It didn't charge my battery. Because there's no power coming into the outlet.

Something's wrong here. Something's wrong here. Something's wrong.

It's not recharging my batteries. I need to find that. I need to be able to find focus about my prayer.

I need to find the essence of my prayer. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says,

(Ahmad hadith 12293)

The coolness of my eyes has been placed in prayer, in salah. You know what that means?

It's what's called, it's a figure of speech. We kind of know, we've become familiar with the coolness of the eyes, because it appears a few places in the Quran. So we kind of know what it's talking about, but understand it from a linguistic standpoint, a language perspective. This is a figure of speech.

This is a verbal idiom in the Arabic language. Understand it how the people who said this figure of speech, how they understood it. Why they said it. Imagine being out in the desert, 1400 years ago. Being out there in the burning scorching heat of the desert. And it's hot.

It's burning and it's dry. And then imagine that the sand, the hot burning sand is blowing in your face and into your eyes. Think about how much your eyes would dry up and how much they would burn.

And then imagine coming upon some nice cool water. And taking that cold water and splashing it in your face and into your eyes. How refreshing would that feel? The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, when I pray, that's how I feel.

That's how I feel. It removes everything. Refreshes me.

Does my salah do that for me? It's a personal question. Everybody can only ask themselves. But does my salah do that for me? If the answer is no, I gotta figure out how to fix it.

It's broke and I have to figure out how to fix it. And this is not something I can sleep on. This is not something that I can put it on my to-do list.

This is imperative. This is imperative. I don't wanna make the lecture too technical or too heavy.

The Foundation of All Deeds

But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has clearly told us:

(Tirmidhi hadith 413)

The very first thing, the very first thing that a person will be reckoned for, will be questioned about, on the day of judgment will be salah prayer.

If the salah is correct, solid, taken care of. Everything else will be taken care of.

Because salah is the foundation. Salah is the foundation. When the foundation is solid, you can build a beautiful structure like this on top of it.

But if salah is not correct, Everything else built on top of that will also be corrupt, will also be broken, will also be shaky. Salah is the foundation. I gotta fix my salah.

I have to fix my prayer. Imagine the situation of the person who lived a full life in this world, prayed 40-50 years of his life, and has to stand before Allah and face the reality that not even once in my life did I pray properly. Imagine how tragic that would be.

Imagine how tragic that would be. You know, it was so beautiful right now. Salatul Isha was amazing, subhanAllah.

That's how the Quran was meant to be read. And he read an ayah there, it just absolutely shook me. Exactly what the point of salah is.

The Story of Zakariyya (عليه السلام)

When Allah is speaking to Zakariyya (عليه السلام) when Zakariyya calls out to Allah, and he's explaining his situation

his plight. He says, look, I'm very old. My bones are all aching.

My head has gone white. I've never done anything wrong in my life, because you told me not to. I worry about what I leave behind, what I have to leave behind.

And I worry about continuing my legacy. But my wife is also very old. Not capable of bearing children.

I still beg you and ask you. Bless me with children. Bless me with children.

Allah tells him, Okay. He says

We give you a son, and we tell you his name. His name will be Yahya.

We've blessed you. Here you go. You have a son now.

You'll be blessed with a son. Now Zakaria comes back. See the human element.

Zakaria (عليه السلام) comes back to Allah. Says

How will I have a son? I just explained my situation. How can I have a son?

My wife, even when she was young, she was not able to bear children.

And what about now in old age? And I myself am extremely old. To the point of becoming feeble. That's how old I am.

Allah says

That's what Zakaria said, right? Allah says

But what did your Lord say?

That's not a big deal for me. Zakaria, that's a big deal for you. But Allah says, it's not a big deal for me.

Who created you? Allah says, I did. And you were nothing. I brought you into existence from nothingness.

Think about that. When Allah goes on to address the situation of Maryam, the mother of Isa (عليه السلام) Same thing Allah says

Maryam said, how am I going to bear a child? I've never been touched by a man in that way, in that manner. How will I? Allah said

That's not a big deal for me.

This will become a sign, a miraculous sign for people to come. And a blessing from us. It's been decided, that's it.

That's all it takes. Allah has decided it. That is the power, the magnitude, the glory and the might of Allah.

Boundless, endless, unimaginable power that Allah has. And we have a direct line to tap into that. And that is through salah.

That is through prayer. So, we need to find that prayer. We need to be able to feel salah, experience prayer.

Experiencing Salah

I often ask the question, talking to audiences, I often ask the question. This is a question I ask myself. And I ask everybody to ask themselves.

When is the last time you remember yourself experiencing salah? Notice I didn't say praying. I didn't say performing salah. No, no, no.

Not praying, not performing salah. Experienced salah. When was the last time? When was the last time you remember yourself losing yourself in your salah? You know what I mean by losing yourself? Have you ever seen kids in front of video games? Gone.

Hello, hello, hello. It's gone. Gone.

You walk into the room and say, Hey, Nasir. Nasir. You have to shake.

Hello, hello, what? That's it. Gone. People watch TV? They put on a movie? Three hour long movie.

At the end of it, they say, Man, finished too quickly. I was in Boston last weekend. Boston people, football fans.

I can relate to them. I'm from Texas. I said, Do you realize football games? I can't talk to you all about football.

Do you realize football games today last three and a half hours? It hit me. This past season, everyone's talking about football, football, football, football. I was busy.

I didn't have time to watch a single game all the way through. And then I was talking to a friend of mine. Some big game.

I don't remember. For the Cowboys, something, something. And he says, Oh, the game started.

I said, I'm busy. Sunday school at the masjid. I can't make it.

And Salatul Dhuhr was over. School was over. And he calls me and he says, Well, come on over now.

School's over, right? Dhuhr's finished. I said, The game's still on? It's three o'clock. What are you doing?

And he said, No.

It starts at 12, goes till like 3.30. I said, SubhanAllah. Three and a half hours long. A football game.

Think about it. It starts and it finishes. And people are like, they didn't sit down the whole time.

There's a couch behind him. He sat, stood like this the whole time. He's gonna tackle the television.

We lose ourselves. We're so engaged. We're so busy.

When you talk to your friend on the phone, look at the minutes that you've spoken. Look at the little thing, the little counter when you get done with the phone call. Think about it for a moment.

45 minutes. 45 minutes. It's astounding.

But prayer? If the shaykh goes up to lead, and he reads one page, and then he starts at the top of the second page, it's like, Oh man, this guy. I'm gonna leave something in the suggestion box today. Right?

I'm gonna leave a note in the suggestion box today.

The Reality Check

SubhanAllah. When you sit down and you actually think about it, it's baffling. It's baffling.

We count the seconds when we pray. But we lose hours when doing other things. When will we feel... You know the sahaba, sahabi, I forget the exact name of the sahabi, performing salah with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) at night.

And he says, I joined in with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). And he was reading Surah Al-Baqarah. And I thought when he would reach 100 ayat, we'll be done, ruku'. And then he went past, and then he reached, I thought, okay, he's gonna stop when he reaches the 200 mark.

And then he kept going. Okay, he's gonna finish the surah. And he finished the surah and started the next surah.

SubhanAllah. That was salah. That was salah.

That made them who they were. That was their connection to Allah. That's why Abdullah bin Mas'ud (رضي الله عنه - radi Allahu anhu) he used to teach his family members and his students, the tabi'oon, he used to teach them, that,

He said, anytime you have any need, any situation, any circumstances, there's a first salah right around the corner. You have a problem at 3 o'clock? It's not a big deal, is it? Salatul Asr. Pray Asr, connect with Allah, then put your needs before your Lord.

It's taken care of, khalas, finished. You ran into a situation at night? Salatul Isha. You wake up in the morning, you have some type of a disturbing message, some problem's gone out? Salatul Fajr.

There's a salah around every corner. Use that salah. That's your outlet.

That's how you can solve your problems. So now, let's take the... This is real great, this is fantastic. But this is also a lot of talk.

We all know salah is important. We all know we need to pray salah properly. But let's talk about something practical now.

Three Areas for Improvement

How? Okay, I accept... I speak for myself, I accept my salah is not up to par. My salah is not up to par.

How? What practical measures can I take? What practical steps can I take to ensure and to bring my salah up to par? What can I do? So for that, there's a lot of different things.

I like to group them into groups of three. Three areas of improvement. Three practical steps we can take towards improvement.

First Area: Change of Lifestyle

The first one, I like to call, a change of lifestyle. A change of lifestyle. What I mean by a change of lifestyle?

You cannot practically expect, you cannot expect to go from committing a sin to just switching right over to salah, and you just turn on the switch, you flick the switch and your khushu is on.

Turns on the khushu machine. It doesn't work that way. You don't... And it has a big K on your chest.

It doesn't work that way. You can't just... We can't expect to do that practically. You know the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) tells us (الصَّلاةُ نُورٌ - as-salatu nur) (Muslim hadith 223).

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) teaches us that salah is a nur. It's an illuminating light of the believer.

And this reminds me of Imam Al-Shafi'i, rahimullah, and his couplets. Imam Al-Shafi'i tells us a little story about himself. He says (شَكَوْتُ إِلَى وَكِيعٍ سُوءَ حِفْظِي فَأَرْشَدَنِي إِلَى تَرْكِ الْمَعَاصِي وَقَالَ اعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ الْعِلْمَ نُورٌ وَنُورُ اللَّهِ لَا يُعْطَى لِعَاصِي - shakawtu ila waki'in su'a hifzi fa-arshadani ila tarki al-ma'asi wa qala a'lam bi-anna al-'ilma nurun wa nuru Allahi la yu'ta li'asi) when I was a student, I would go, I would pay attention, I would understand the lesson, but I would have trouble retaining what I was learning.

So he says, I complained to my teacher Waqir, that, listen, I'm not able to retain what I learned. So he says (فَأَرْشَدَنِي إِلَى تَرْكِ الْمَعَاصِي - fa-arshadani ila tarki al-ma'asi) He recommended to me, that stop committing sins. Stop committing sins.

You can't come here and be super (طَالِبُ الْعِلْمِ - talibu al-'ilm) super student of deen, and then go out there and live just like everybody else does, like an animal live your life. You can't do that. There's gotta be a transition.

There's gotta segue from one into another. They have to start to come together. (وَقَالَ اعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ الْعِلْمَ نُورٌ - wa qala a'lam bi-anna al-'ilma nurun) He said, knowledge is a light, a (نُورٌ - nur) that Allah bestows upon a person.

(وَنُورُ اللَّهِ لَا يُعْطَى لِعَاصِي - wa nuru Allahi la yu'ta li'asi) But the (نُور - nur) that light from Allah, is not given to a sinful person. Salah is a (نور - nur). It's a light.

If our lives are filled with sins and indiscretions and illicit behavior, we will not feel the full impact of our prayer. We have to begin a change of lifestyle. I have to watch my behavior, I have to watch the way I conduct myself, the way I speak, what I say, what I don't say, how I spend my time.

Start to temper myself and start to improve my life outside of prayer, because that will impact my life inside of prayer. That will impact the quality of my prayer. But see, this thing about the change of lifestyle, that's a personal thing.

That's one individual thing, that's a personal thing. That depends on the conviction and the determination of the person. He has to make up his mind, I'm going to change my life so that I can improve my relationship with my Lord.

Second Area: Preparation for Salah

The next area of improvement is the build up or the preparation for Salah, leading up to the prayer.

There's a few things that can be done. The first thing that needs to be done, Salah needs to become an event in our lives.

You know what I mean by event? When you go to work or you go to school in the morning, and if you have to be there by 8 o'clock, you have to be at school or at work by 8 o'clock, and you live 15 minutes away from school or work, so that means 7.45 you need to leave your house. Does anybody wake up at 7.40, roll out of bed and just walk out the door, straight to work or school? Anybody do that? Hopefully not. There's a lot of unemployed people in this room.

Okay? Don't do that. Let me clarify, do not do that. Alright? We don't wake up an hour before.

May Allah forgive some people that wake up two hours before. Alright? And then they shower, and then they iron their clothes, and then they dress, and then they eat something, and some coffee. There's a whole process.

Why? Because work's important, brother. But yet when it's time to pray, I'm on my phone, Allahu Akbar. It was nothing.

There's no... Just goes right into it, right? I'm typing an email at work, Oh, it's time for dhuhr. Allahu Akbar. Just right into it.

The game's on, Oh, commercial break. Allahu Akbar. Instant replay.

Allahu Akbar. That's how we deal with salah. You know, have you ever seen when the imam goes into ruku, those brothers are jogging from the back of the masjid? It's how we approach prayer.

Everything else is important. When I have to go to the wedding, it takes me two hours to get ready. But salah is... Salah is not an event, it's not an occurrence.

Salah needs to become an event in our lives. Prepare for it. Take out time for it.

Just because you're not praying in the masjid, doesn't mean you pray whenever you get a free second or a free moment. Time for prayer is fixed. (أَوَّلُ وَقْتِهَا - awwalu waqtiha) (Tirmidhi hadith 170) The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said this is one of the most beloved actions to Allah. Soon as time comes in, I fix myself with prayer. One o'clock is when I pray every day.

Whether I'm at the masjid or at work or at home, I pray. Give it the importance it deserves. When I start to treat it as important, it will become important to me.

That's how we work, that's how we're programmed. That's the psychology, that's the psyche of the human being. If I don't treat it as important, it'll never be important to me.

I have to take those steps, force myself to make it important to me.

Teaching Children Through Example

And I'll tell you something else. Notice the children sitting there. That's how we teach our children how to pray. Imams of masjids, number one request or question, can you give a khutbah about salah? Kids are off from school today, can you talk about prayer? The youth group, number one request to teach them about prayer, tell them that it's important to pray. We need to teach our children to pray.

And children learn how to pray from their parents. You don't get to outsource that. That's not something you outsource.

Hire somebody in India to teach your kids how to pray. Hire them in India and bring them here and tell them to teach their children how to pray. No, you don't get to outsource that.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is carrying the weight of humanity and Allah says, you tell your family to pray. You. And how are you going to teach your family

how to pray?

You have to be very, extremely particular about prayer, then and only then will you be able to tell them to pray.

That's how we teach them. You know children, they start to learn very early on. Baba is going to work now.

They know. They pick up on the signs. Okay, he's getting ready.

Or he's drinking his coffee. He's going to work now. They know that's not the time to mess with them.

He has to go to work. And even if the kids like screaming and crying and yelling and sobbing, what do we do? We still go to work. My boss isn't going to want to hear, Oh, my kid, he was crying so much.

He's so cute. You should have seen him. He's saying, Baba, please don't go.

That's why I'm 20 minutes late. Your boss isn't going to like that answer. So we teach our children.

That's how we teach them. And when there's a time, and the son is being told to call out the adhan, and the whole family prays, gets together in the room, and they pray at that fixed time, in home time for salah needs to be fixed. Then the children, it's natural.

It's second nature to them. They just naturally do it. It's something I learned from my elders and my teachers.

When my first daughter was born, Maryam, I wanted to really implement this. So when I would make wudu, I would have her, when she was old enough to start walking around, like about a year old, I would have her stand there and watch me make wudu. It didn't take long.

In a couple of months, we have like the little water dispenser, she was there like flooding the kitchen. My wife was yelling, what did you do? So I taught her how to make wudu, mashallah. It works.

They copy everything about us. That's how we'll teach them how to pray.

Making Wudu and Dressing Properly

So as I was saying, part of improving our prayer is the build up, the process, the lead up to the prayer. I have to take some time out, sit down, clear my mind, clear everything. Just remove everything for a while.

Otherwise, texting, drop the phone, Allahu Akbar, wonder what he wants.

I just texted him, can you meet me up for lunch? Oh man, I wonder where he wants to meet. That's it. The mind is still connected.

So we need to separate everything, cut off everything. It's time for prayer. And then, make prayer an event.

Dress properly. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) would change his clothes. When you come home, he had clothing for home, he had clothes in the house.

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was very casual, very loving, family member at home. Doing chores, spending time with family, playing with the children, very casual. But the family of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) tells us, when he would hear the adhan, it's like he became a stranger.

Just like when that father, it's time to go to work. Listen kid, you can yell and scream and cry. I have to go at that door.

That's how I pay the bills. Well, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam), when he would hear the adhan, that's it. Now it's time for something more important.

And he would go use the restroom, and he would make his wudu, and then he would change his clothes. Put on nice respectable clothing. We don't go to work in our pajamas.

But yet we're very willing to like pray in our pajamas. Don't even get me started how brothers show up to Salatul Fajr. It's embarrassing.

It's embarrassing. The outfits, mix and match. You know the kurta over the pajama was kind of okay, but when it's like the shalwar with the shirt, that's too much for me.

That just doesn't look right. So how we pray? So Salat needs to become an event, an experience. Making wudu properly.

It feeds into the concentration of the prayer. Believe it. And you know what I mean by doing wudu properly? I don't mean the hurricane wudu.

You know what the hurricane wudu is? The guy steps into the restroom, water flies for 15 seconds, it's like a magic trick, wudu. Instant wudu. That's not how wudu is done.

Properly, thoroughly. Make sure I did it appropriately. This is an act of ibadah.

This is an act of worship. My sins are being shed from me. I'm purifying myself on the outside, reminding myself I'm about to go purify myself on the inside.

That's what wudu is. So doing wudu properly, and then approaching the Salat properly.

Third Area: Understanding the Prayer

Now the third area of improvement, and this is the most important, the most powerful area to really change the whole experience of Salat, is the actual prayer itself, the Salat.

And that has two things. One is the fiqh of Salat. Learning how to pray properly.

The procedures that need to be done, the rules and the regulations, the postures, what can be read, what can't be read, how to correct the mistake, that's the fiqh of Salat. That's important. And that gives us the structure of prayer.

And alhamdulillah, we still need a lot more education about the fiqh of Salat, but to a certain extent, we do find a lot of books, a lot of lectures, a lot of seminars, a lot of programs, alhamdulillah now teaching us the fiqh of Salat properly. But here's the other area. Probably the most powerful thing we can do to change our experience of Salat is to begin to comprehend, to begin to understand the beauty, the power, the eloquence, and the meaning of the words we actually say and recite within the Salat.

That's probably the most powerful thing we can change about our prayer. That when I stand before Allah, and when I say, (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) What am I saying? I'm making a proclamation of how absolutely perfect ربّي is my Lord, my Master, my Sustainer, my Creator, my Provider. How absolutely perfect is my Lord and my Master.

الْأَعْلَى The one who is the highest, the most exalted. When I understand, when I rather than (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) And I'm counting. When I understand what I'm saying, and I think about the fact, my face is on the ground right now.

I'm in the lowest possible position a human being can be in. By putting his face, the most respectable part of his body on the ground, and he says (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) absolutely amazingly perfect is my Lord, my Master, my Creator, my Sustainer, the one who is the most exalted. Then that salah changes.

Then it's a connection. Then it's a link. And there's so much we have to learn about what we say, and what we read, and what we recite within the prayer.

Its eloquence, its beauty, its power, is really yet to be discovered by the majority of Muslims. The majority of Muslims. I'll show you one little example.

Understanding "Allahu Akbar"

Allahu Akbar. What does Allahu Akbar mean everyone? Allah is the greatest. Very good.

Because that's wrong. Okay? Allah is the greatest. But that's not what Allahu Akbar means.

I don't want the lecture to get too technical, too grammatical, but I'll share with you something. If I say, Muhammad is smarter than Khalid. But then I say, Khalid is the fastest in the room.

Muhammad is smarter than Khalid, but Khalid is the fastest. Smarter is the comparative. I'm comparing two people.

I'm saying, Muhammad is smarter than Khalid. But when I say Khalid is the fastest, that's a superlative. I'm saying he's the fastest guy in the room.

Comparative and superlative. Do you understand the difference? In Arabic, there's also a comparative and there's a superlative. Akbar.

This is called Ism al-Tafdheel. This is the comparative, not the superlative. This is the comparative, not the superlative.

This means Allah is greater than. Literally is what it translates to. Allah is greater than.

Sure, the end understanding might be of the simple fact, Allah is the greatest. Like I said, we accept that, but that's not what Allahu Akbar means. Allah is greater than.

But when I say, if I were to say Muhammad is faster than, what's your next question to me? Who? So when I say Allah is greater than, what? Who? This is a rhetorical function of classical Arabic. We find this in the Quran as well. Sometimes when there's a statement that demands an object, but the object is not provided, a blank is left there.

This is done intentionally. This is done intentionally to broaden the meaning, to create versatility in the meaning, to make the meaning applicable to each and every single individual, to make the meaning personal. So when I say, when I stand for salah, Allah is greater than blank.

What that blank means? Whatever or whoever is distracting me from prayer at this moment, Allah is greater than that. If it's fajr, Allah is greater than my rest and my sleep. If it's dhuhr, Allah is greater than my boss and my work.

If it's salatul asr, Allah is greater than worrying about catching afternoon traffic. If it's salatul maghrib, Allah is greater than eating dinner. Or watching my television show.

Salatul isha, Allah is greater than my rest or my sleep or my exhaustion. It's to create versatility. The phone is ringing, Allah is greater than my phone.

The emails are coming in, Allah is greater than that. The game is on the television, Allah is greater than that. My kids are screaming their heads off, Allah is greater than my love for my children.

It creates versatility in the meaning. Now the next time you say Allahu Akbar, think about that. It doesn't become so ritualistic anymore, does it? It changes it, it's not procedural anymore.

I'm not just saying, Allahu Akbar. I'm thinking, what is it that's distracting me at this moment? What is it that is occupying my heart and my mind at this moment? I'm reminding myself, Allahu Akbar. Allah is greater than that.

Whether it's my friend waiting for me outside, or it's my sleep, or it's my food, or it's my work, or it's... It doesn't matter. Allah is greater than all those things. That's how salah changes, when you understand the meaning.

The Hadith Qudsi of Prayer

There's a beautiful, we don't have time to get into it, I won't, but I'll just mention it. So you can go home and maybe look it up yourself a little bit. There's a Hadith Qudsi, in which the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) tells us that Allah says (قَسَمْتُ الصَّلَاةَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ عَبْدِي نِصْفَيْنِ - qasamtu-ssalata bayni wa bayna 'abdi nisfayn) (Muslim hadith 395) I have divided the prayer between me and my slave.

You know what we find in that Hadith Qudsi? Surah Al-Fatiha, which is probably, which becomes the most ritual and procedural of all the things we do in prayer. Because we do it in every raka'ah, right? Every raka'ah we do it. So it just becomes normal, it's automatic.

Alhamdulillah. Even when the imam, the sheikh leads. He's reading Al-Fatiha, we're all mentally checked out.

And he says, kaaf, kaaf. Alright, he's reading a good surah today. Right? We all wait for what's after.

Fatiha... What's next? But when you read that Hadith and you understand it, subhanallah. It would make you want to read Fatiha for the rest of your life. When Allah says (فَإِذَا قَالَ الْعَبْدُ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ قَالَ - fa idha qalal 'abdu alhamdu lillahi rabbil 'alamin qala) (اللَّهُ حَمِدَنِي عَبْدِي - Allahu hamadani 'abdi) When the slave stands before his Lord, before Allah, and he says (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ - alhamdu lillahi rabbil 'alamin) The same statement he's been saying for 20 years, in every raka of every prayer that he's ever offered, every single time, Allah responds to him and says (حَمِدَنِي عَبْدِي - hamadani 'abdi) Look my slave has praised me.

And then when he says (الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم - ar-rahmanir-rahim)Allah responds back again (أَثْنَى عَلَيَّ عَبْدِي - athna 'alayya 'abdi) Then when he says (مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّين - maliki yawmid-din)Allah responds back again and says (مَجَّدَنِي عَبْدِي - majjadani 'abdi) imagine how disrespectful and how wretched and how unfortunate it is for me to be standing there in my prayer completely oblivious that the Lord and the Master and the Creator of everything is speaking to me directly, individually. Amazing.

That's what we can change when we begin to comprehend and understand the beauty, the power and the magnificence of the words within the prayer.

Upcoming Seminar: Meaningful Prayer

And this kind of leads me here to the last part that insha'Allah in two weeks time, today is the 12th, insha'Allah on March the 26th, which is two weeks from today. I'll be coming back insha'Allah here to Majid Umar and we will have a one weekend seminar.

This is seminar we organized and it's visited about 12 different cities so far. With insha'Allah schedule to visit insha'Allah many more cities afterwards. And this is a one weekend seminar titled Meaningful Prayer,

Vocabulary of the Salah.

And it's a study of the beauty, the eloquence and the meaning of all the words we read and recite in the Salah. From the beginning, the Takbeer, Allahu Akbar, opening supplications, Al-Fatiha, some other extra parts of the Quran, the Tasbeeh of Ruku and Sujood, the Tashahud and all that which we read in the sitting portion of prayer, extra supplications, what supplications or Adhkar did the Prophet used to say even after the prayer, the supplications of Qunoot, the supplication of Istighara. All of this insha'Allah we will do a linguistic analysis of all of these different words and supplications and Adhkar that we say and we read within the Salah.

You know one thing that was very eye-opening to me in terms of sometimes our priorities and our oversights as an Ummah. When we sat down and we had this idea that this would be a very practical and enlightening course and material to share with the greater American Muslim community. And we decided we need to sit down and create a seminar around this issue, around this topic and deliver this to people.

You know I had to sit down and create the seminar, design the seminar from scratch. So I figured why don't I make my life a lot easier. Let me look up if somebody has written a book already about this.

Somebody has already done the research for me. Hey, easy right? So I sat down and I looked through and I didn't find any books in Arabic, any in English, any in Urdu, or Farsi, Persian. I even know somebody who speaks Turkish.

I figured maybe there's something in Turkish. I asked him. I didn't find anything.

I called a couple of friends overseas who work with book publishers and I asked them. They said they couldn't find anything. A comprehensive book, a research material that had in-depth from the beginning till the end done a complete linguistic analysis of all the words and everything we read and we recite in the prayer.

And so started from scratch. Took every single word. Looked it up in the lexicons, in the dictionaries.

What's the root meaning of the word? Where does the word originate from? What was the original meaning of the word? What are the other conjugations of this word? Then went and looked within the Quran. Where does this word occur in the Quran? What have the Mufassirun said about it? What is the context of the word? What does the Quran teach us maybe something about the beauty of the word? Then go and look for the words in the hadith, the sunnah, the supplications of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam). See what you can find about there. And in that way created a comprehensive, thorough, proper understanding of not just the meaning, but the beauty and the eloquence of each and every single word.

And then when you piece them together and you create supplications out of them, then what eloquence is created in the entire statement. And that's basically the material of the course. And what's amazing and

beautiful about the salah, the eloquence of the Quran is something, alhamdulillah, something the ummah has been attuned to and that work has been going on.

At times we've kind of lost focus or whatever on that. So at more times there's been more focus than others. But nevertheless, it's been a constant area of scholarship.

The beauty, the eloquence, the balagha of the Quran, the words of Allah. The balagha of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is to quite an extent not a completely researched field. Not a completely discovered field.

But there have been some works done. What's beautiful about the salah, salah is a combination of the words of Allah, the Quran, and the prophetic supplications. The supplications taught to us by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. It's a combination of both.

It's extremely powerful. The potential to change somebody's life. The experience of a lifetime is salah.

So insha'Allah, I just wanted to encourage everyone, insha'Allah we'll be back in two weeks. So I encourage everyone to come and join us for the course, insha'Allah. And also let others know, spread the word insha'Allah.

It's a very valuable opportunity for everyone to learn about the prayer and the salah. And insha'Allah for myself and everyone in the class to drastically improve our experience of salah. You know, excuses only go so far.

Stories of Dedication

I'm just gonna be very honest with you. And I apologize and forgive me if I'm being too forward or forceful. But I really, I had a couple of eye-opening experiences which teach me that, taught myself.

And I just wanna share my own discovery, my own sort of realization. Excuses only go so far. I've had two people who took this course.

A lot of interesting people I've met who've taken the course. Two people I met that always are there in my mind. It reminds me of how we are in need of the deen.

And how we need to do whatever it takes to improve our relationship with Allah. I taught this course back in October last year in Austin, Texas. I got an email.

I got an email four days before the course started. The week of the course. From a sister who had taken shahada, accepted Islam maybe about five years ago.

She was a convert sister. And she's blind. She's been blind from birth.

And she was emailing me asking, we have a PDF file for the student handouts, the course material. She was asking if I could send her a special format, a converted format of the course file because she has a braille machine. That she plugs her flash drive with the file onto it and it outputs the material in braille.

She said, I wanna come and take the course and improve my prayer. And I need to be able to study it in braille. SubhanAllah.

And when the sister did come for the course, she had her walking stick. Walking through the classroom, maneuvering through the classroom. No excuses.

She could have made a dozen excuses. Anybody could, she could. No excuses.

And then last month, a month ago, exactly a month, I went to, I was actually in Northern California, I was in Sacramento to teach the class. And there was a brother at the back of the class. And somebody told me, on the first night, after the first session, somebody told me, there's somebody I want you to meet.

He's there at the back of the class. He went back and introduced me to the brother. The brother was of Hispanic origin.

The brother was Hispanic. And he had taken shahada two years ago at the age of 76. And he was there taking the course.

I asked him, what motivates you? What motivates you? He said, I want to improve my relationship with Allah. I wanna learn how to pray properly. Excuses only go that far, for myself and for everyone as well.

Course Details

So inshallah, get the word out, let people know to come and join us. And inshallah, the first session which will be, these are the flyers for the course by the way, inshallah you can get them after the session. The first session of the course will be Friday evening at 7 pm.

Friday evening at 7 pm. And the first evening of the course will be 7 to 10 pm on Friday evening. And that is free and open to everyone, to the entire community.

So please let everyone know, on that first night we will study surah al-Fatiha within the context of salah. We will study the hadith Qudsi of (قَسَمْتُ الصَّلاةَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ عَبْدِي) that in depth and in detail and gain a proper understanding of salah within the context of, proper understanding of surah al-Fatiha within the context of the prayer, the salah. So please encourage everyone to come.

Inshallah, even if they can't come for the rest of the weekend, they'll come at least for that evening and go home with something substantial that inshallah will be the beginning of their road down improving their salah, inshallah. Jazakumullah khairan. If you want any more details about the course, you can inshallah go to bayyinah.com We have a direct URL.

You can go to meaningfulprayer.bayyinah.com And even you can go to majidomar.com It's got the information on the front page of the website. Jazakumullah khairan.

Closing

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.