Islam is for Those Who Want the Best
Islam is for those who want the best in life, here on earth and in the hereafter. Our Prophet S.A.W.S. always sought from Allah the blessings of a life of excellence and glory in this world and also in the eternal life to come.
Salaah is the golden gateway and our invocations, the Duaa’yaen, the key to this glory. As the Holy Qur’an inspires us:
Va qaala rabbukumud’oonee astha’jib lakum,
innallazeena yasthak’biroonaan ibaadathee
sa’yad’khuloona jahannama daakhireen
And your Lord has said,
Pray unto Me and I will hear your prayer.
Indeed those who spurn this act of devotion they owe me
they will enter hell, disgraced.
(Surath al Momin: 60).
The person who has missed even one Salaah is like one who has lost all his/her possessions and wealth and all the members of his/her family. (May Allah save all of us from such misfortune. A’meen!)
And on the Day of Judgment he/she will be in the company of those doomed to hell, like the Pharaohs and other tyrants and transgressors who had disobeyed Allah.
It has to be admitted there are many Muslims even today who are not regular in Salaah. They have hundreds of defaulted Salaah’s to compensate for. One reason for this is, they had not been educated or informed about the seriousness of the lapse.
The blame for this rests with their parents and other elders who had neglected their responsibility and failed to impart proper religious instruction to their children and their wards.
Islam was brought to people of every land by dedicated Muslim saints of the past. Many of them were kings in real life, or the scions of highranking families. They gave up the luxuries they had been used to and travelled alone and unaided to distant lands and conveyed the message of Syedina Mohammed S.A.W.S. S.A.W.S S.A.W.S.lAllahu Alaihi wa Sallam to a wide expanse of humanity.
Thousands of miles from home, they found an abode of peace and established prayer to Allah. People flocked to them, drawn by their spiritual pre-eminence and all round excellence as men of God. Allah endowed on them the power to grant favors to people.
They gave away bounties, cured the long sufffering and even the terminally ill people, assuaged the grief of the distressed and blessed the impoverished to be granted good fortune by Allah. The rulers of the region ceased to be despots and became their disciples.
The Muslim saints were universally respected and honored. They conferred riches on others; never sought or accepted any gift or offering from mortals. Allah was their Provider Supreme and Allah was Enough for them. They were certainly above all wants and were immune from all desire.
They were the most highly honored in their lifetime and were adored as the spiritual kings of the world. On their demise, the mausoleums erected on their graves, became landmarks of the region. Their memory inspires us and we pray to Allahu Sub’hanahu va tha Aalaa to kindly grant them still higher status and glory in the Jannathul Firdaus.
Among the modern murshideen (those who claim to follow the example of these glorious saints) has sprouted, unfortunately, a faction that has an entirely different orientation. The saints were preeminent in Qur’ani studies and their shining glory was their salaah’s and zik’r, which transcended the limits of human endurance.
If the peers who claim to be saints in the making and seek spiritual leadership of our times, could be equally enraptured with the love of Allah and sincerely observant of the exacting routine of countless salaah’s and zik’r, the world of Islam would not have faced the crises it has confronted for two centuries now. We mention these modern murshids with only regret for the intriguing role they have played in keeping many good Muslims from regular Salaah.
Salaah is the bedrock on which is erected the glorious structure of Shariyyah,the principle, precept and law of Islam.
In the Sight of Allah and His Chosen Ummah, we are recognized as Muslims only when we uphold the tradition of the Holy Prophet S.A.W.S. and perform regular Salaah.
His last message to his Ummah was a call to hold fast to Salaah as the means to liberate the world of its woes.
There is no “zikr” or other incantation that can supplant Salaah. It may complement and even embellish Salaah, the ibadah, the sum total of love, gratitude, praise and worship we owe to Allah.
If we happen to miss Salaah deliberately, day after day, we risk the loss of all our good deeds and we might find ourselves abandoned to severe chastisement on the Day of Judgment. Na-oozu billahi min zaalik! (May Allah save us from this calamity. A’meen!)
The future of Islam is in the hands of the intelligent and highly educated Muslims of today. Real glory, triumph and honors will be conferred on them worldwide when these apples of our eyes, the qurrathul ai’yn of the Muslim world, acquire the habitof regular Salaah.
Let us remember that our duty is to perform Salaah without fail, at the proper timing or in case of unintended delay, as early thereafter as we can.
Allahu Sub’hanahu va tha Aalaa created us. He judges us and He rewards us or chastises us. Let us just turn to Allah and be seeking His Compassion and Mercy every moment.
Salaah is the means by which we establish rapport with Allah, Our Supreme Creator, Who created us and grants us all the neymaath that we enjoy. The accepable ‘SAllah is that which we perform with Khushoo, complete devotion.
The Holy Qur’an guides us: “Successful indeed are the believers, who offer their salaah with all solemnity and submissiveness.” [Surath al-Mu’minoon:1-2] In explaining this verse, Ibn Katheer calls upon us to pray with Khushoo, calmness, serenity, tranquillity, dignity and humility. What makes a person have this khushoo’ is fear of Allah and the sense that He is always watching.
That is the best way for a Muslim. And that is also the route that will lead us, insha Allah, to glory and triumph everywhere.
We become better or lesser human beings by our competence and our success in keeping Shaiy’thaan and Company at bay. We must not allow them even a single opportunity to keep us from our good deeds and our salaah.
Allah knows every weakness of ours. He rewards us all the more when we try sincerely to overcome the temptations from Shaiy’than and his agents and we strrive to become better Muslims day by day.
As an aid to concentration in our Salaah, we have this helpful guidance from the Messenger of Allah S.A.W.S. who said: "Al Ihsaan implies that you worship Allah in the earnest belief that you are seeing Him; and in case you are not able to see Him, you must perform prayer with the realization in your mind that Allah is seeing you." (Sahih Muslim)
In the invocation we make to Allah
in Surath al Fathiha
we seek the best of gifts:
All praise is due to (You) Allah!
Kindly lead us along the right path,
the course taken by those
whom You blessed with bounties and
save us from the pitfalls of of those
who went astray
and earned disgrace.
Aameen!
