Salat

 

Allah (s.w.t.) has said in the Holy Qur'an: "I have not created the jinn and humankind for any other purpose except that they should worship me."

"Successful indeed are the believers. Those who offer their prayers with humility and attentiveness" (Al-Mu'minun 40:1-2 )

There are five pillars of Islam and Salat is the second pillar. We are obligated to pray 5 times a day at the prescribed times. There are no excuses or reasons that can be used to avoid Salat.

When we make a telephone call, we pick up the receiver and dial a specific number to reach a certain person. Sometimes the person we want to reach is unavailable, the telephone number is wrong or disconnected, but when a Muslim (with all prerequisite of salat) makes his intention and stands to pray, he/she has made a direct connection to his/her creator. There are no busy signals, no static, and no wrong numbers. When we pray, we are actually talking to Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet said, "A faithful believer while in prayer is speaking in private to his Lord." Sahih Buykhari: Volume 1, Book 8, Number 405.

We should be humble and genuine in out salat. We should pray as if we are seeing our creator. Prophet (SAW) said, "...worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then indeed He sees you."

If we are humble and genuine in our plea for help, forgiveness, or desire, then He will grant our request.

Allah says: "And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way. " 2:186

Remember, Allah does not need us; we need Him.

There are many reasons to perform daily salat. Here are a few:

Reasons:

• The Salat is so important that the word 'Salat' is mentioned a total of 67 times in the Quran.

• In our day-to-day activities, the one thing that makes us different from the non-Muslim is salat.

• One can become a non-Muslim just by leaving his/her salat all together.

• Performing salat at different intervals of the day, allows us to leave our world and make a direct connection to Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

There are many benefits of salat. Here are a few:

Benefits:

• By performing our salat in the correct manner, we can ask Allah to remove our sins.

• Salat can protect us from evil. "Observe the Salat (Contact Prayers) for it prohibits evil and vice." 29:45.

• It makes our beliefs stronger. "You shall glorify and praise your Lord and be with the prostrators, and worship your Lord until you attain certainty." 15:98-99.

• Performing salat is a form of exercise.

• We come closer to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. Prophet (SAW) when he said: "The closest a person is to His Lord is when he is in prostration." [Muslim]

• Most importantly, Salat helps up commemorate Allah subhana wa ta'ala. "I am God, there is no other God but Me, you shall worship Me and observe the Salat (Contact Prayers) to commemorate Me." 20:14

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