As I've been reading tons of things regarding prayers, I thought of posting one too! :D
I think, every religions has their own ways of praying and the same goes to Islam. In Islam, praying five times a day is our obligation as a Muslim. Yes, obligation. Some people think someone is religious just because they pray five times a day. No.
"Praying five times a day doesn't make a person religious, it just makes him/her a Muslim."
But these days, people have been taking these prayers lightly. They pray when they feel like doing it and skip whenever they want. Sometimes, they accidentally "missed" their Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha'. Especially when they're far from home, at college as for instance. No one is there to remind them to pray even when the Adhans(calls to prayer) are loud enough to be heard.
Some families don't take prayers seriously. This is the problem. We can't really blame the parents as do you want yourself to be questioned by your children later on? Do you want your kids to ask you the same thing of why you're skipping prayers? So, blame yourself. You know it's your responsibility as a Muslim to pray. Hence, you should carry it on your own. Don't question others but advice them, convince them to pray.
I know, it is hard to convince them on how important the prayers are and how sinful they might be if they skip even a prayer. I am facing this problem too, hm :( No matter what, they should know. It is our job to save those who're drown in their worldly matters, but how?
What if they just nod when you remind them to pray?
What if they ignore your calls?
What if they make faces when you ask them to pray?
What if they get mad at you when you invite them to pray together?
What if they get annoyed with you when you constantly remind them to pray?
What if....
I don't know how to respond to these questions, though. But I think, it is okay. At least we tried. At least there are some efforts. Right?
So here, I shared some of the hadiths regarding the Fard prayers from Questions On Islam. I hope it might help us in dealing with people who take their prayers lightly. :)
1) Ibn Umar (r.a.) narrates: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following:
“The place of prayer (salah) in religion is like the place of the head in the body.”(Majmau’l-Awsat, 3:154, (2313.) Imam Tabarani, Mu’jamu’s-Saghir)
2) Abu’d-Darda (r.a) stated the following:"My friend Muhammad (pbuh) gave me the following advice:
“Even if you are chopped up and burnt, do not associate partners with Allah and do not miss your fard prayers deliberately. Allah will move His protection away from a person who misses his fard prayers deliberately.”"(Musnad: 5/238, Al-Bani Sahih Ibn Majah: 3529, Bayhaqi)
3) Abdullah bin Qurt (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said the following:
“On the Day of Judgment, a slave will be questioned about his prayers first. If his prayers are good, his other deeds will be good, too. If his prayers are bad, his other deeds will be bad, too.”(Tabarani, Targhib)
4) Jabir Ibn Abdullah (r.a) reported: The Prophet (pbuh) said the following:
“Between faith and unbelief is abandoning the prayer.”(Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Musnad)
5) Jabir Ibn Abdullah (r.a) also reported: The Prophet (pbuh) said:
“The key to Paradise is prayer; the key to prayer is wudu (ablution).”(Musnad Ahmad)
6) Ibn Abbas (r.a.) reported: “Once, the Messenger of Allah said to his Companions,
“Pray as follows 'O Allah! Do not make anybody among the rebellious and deprived people.'" Then, he asked, “Do you know who is rebellious and deprived?" The Companions said, “Who? O Messenger of Allah!” The Prophet said, “He who does not perform prayers!”(Ibn Hajar “az-Zawajir” / Abu’l-Lays Samarqandi “Qurratu’l Uyun”)
7) Hz. Ibn Abbas (r.a.) reported:
“When a person who abandons prayers reaches Allah, he will see that Allah will have inflicted His wrath on him.”(Bazzar, Tabarani, Majma’uz Zawaid)
8) Hz. Abu Dharr (r.a.) says,
Once, the Prophet (pbuh) went out in winter. A lot of leaves were falling off the trees. When he held a branch of a tree, more leaves started to fall off. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said “O Abu Dharr!” I said, “Yes, o Messenger of Allah!” The Prophet (pbuh) said,
“If a Muslim performs prayers in order to please Allah, his sins will be shed like the leaves of this tree are shed.”(Musnad Ahmad)
There are also some from the Quran,
9) In Surah Al-Maa'un
“So woe to the worshippers who are neglectful of their Prayers.”
10) In Surah Maryam
“But after them there followed a posterity who missed prayers and followed after lusts: soon, then will they face Destruction”
There are more if you explore. I just included some :)
People may judge but yeah, I'm not pointing this to anyone and I'm just sharing some information, as a reminder to myself and you guys too! :D
