Abu Muslim narrates: I went to see Abu Umamah (RA) while he was in masjid. I asked him if he had really heard the Holy Prophet (SAW) saying, "when a person performs abulution with right performance and then say his fard salat, Allaf forgives him all the sins committed that day by his feet going towards evil, by his hands in doing evil, by his ears in listening to evil, by his eyes in looking at evil and by his heart of thinking of evil. He replied, 'By Allah, I have heard these words from the oly Prophet (SAW) again and again."
Many of the companions have narrated this hadith with slight variations. In a narration by Usman (RA), the Holy Prophet (SAW) is reported to have warned against being wrong-headed in committing sins in the hope of them redeemed through salat.
We have really no ground to behave as such on this account. After all, what is the quality of salat that we offer? If Allah merely absolves us of our obligation it is His very special favour and grace. Again it is te height of ingratitude to disobey Allah just because He is clement, Merciful and Forgiving.
Ibne Masud (RA) narrates that he heard the Holy Prophet (SAW) saying: "At the approach of of hour of salat, an Angel is deputed to proclaim, 'Arise, O children of Adam and extinguish the fire that you (have by committing sins) kindled to burn yourselfs. So the people rise up, perform abulution and offer their zuhr prayer. This causes forgiveness their sins committed since day-break. The same is repeated at Asr, Maghrib and Isha. After Isha people go to bed, but there are some who busy themselves in good, while there are others in evil deeds.
Salman (RA) says:"After Isha, the people get devided into three groups. There are some for whom the night is a source of blessing nd gain. They are those who spend it in the worship of Allah, while other people are asleep. For them the night brings great reward from their Lord. There are others who turn the night into a burden and curse for themselves, for they are involve in various dark deeds in the dead of night. To them, the night brings woe and misery. There is the third group of people who go to sleep immeadiately after Isha; they neither gain nor lose"
Abu Qatadah bin Rabi (RA) says heard the Holy Prophet (SAW) saying:" Allah has said, "O, Muhammad! I have ordained five times daily prayers to thy followers. I have made a covenant with Myself that whosoever is regular in performing his prayer at its fixed hour, he shall be admitted into the paradise. Those of thy followers who do not guard their prayer, are not included in this covenant."
In another hadith, it is said that Allah has ordained five times prayers and whosoever is mindful of is prayer by doing abuluton properly and by praying at fixed hours with sincerity and devotion, is assured by Allah of his entry to paradise; and whosoever does not guard his prayers, there is no such guarantee for him; he may- or may not be forgiven. Salat is indeed a tremendous value. It affords us an opportunity to receive Allah's guarantee for paradise. When an executive power gives us guarantee or stands surety for meeting any of our requirements of this world, we feel quite satisfied and happy and we consider it our duty to obliged and devoted to him. Here Allah, the Absolute Sovereign of both the worlds is giving guarantee and is standing surety for the real success after death in return for five times daily prayers, which does not involve much effort on our part. If even then we do not avail of the opportunity, we shall have none to blame but ourselves for the dreadful doom that awaits us.
Warning and reproach for neglecting salat
There are a number of hadiths on the subject. On one occassion, the Holy Prophet (SAW) is reported to have said: "Hurry up with your salat when it cloudy (less you should err and miss the correct time) for discard of salat is to become a Kafir (unbeliever). What a stern warning against even missing the correct time of salat, as according to this quotation, to miss the correct time of salat is to discard it.
Although according to the interpretation of Ulama, the verdict of unbeliever is given against a person only when he rejects (and not simply neglects) salat, yet the words of the Prophet (SAW) occuring in these hadith should be very weighty for those who have any regard for him. It may, however , be noted that some of the very important companions of the Prophet (SAW) like Umar, Abdullah bin Masud, Abdullah bin Abbas (RA) etc and eminent jurists like Ahmad bin Hanbal, Ishaq bin Rahwiah, Ibne Mubarak (RA) etc are definitely of the opnion that the verdict of Kufr (unbeliever) can be given against the person intentionally discards his salat. May Allah save us!
Ubadah bin Samit (RA) narrates: My dear friend, the Prophet (SAW) while enjoining upon me seven good practices said, "Do not ascribe anything as partner to Allah, though you may be cut into pieces or burnt alive or crucified; do not forego salat, lest you should get out of the fold of Islam, do not perpetrate disobedience of Allah, lest you deserve His wrath; and do not take to drinking, for that is the mother of all evil.
It is said in a hadith that Allah bestows five favours on a person who is mindful of his prayers, viz: His daily bread s made easy for him, he saved from the punishment of the grave, he shall receive his book of deeds in his right hand on the Day of Judgement, he shall cross siraat with speed of lightning and he shall enter paradise without reckoning. As for he who neglects his salat, he shall meet five times of pusnishment in this world, three at the time of death, three in the grave and three after resurrection.
Those in the world are: he is not blessed life; he is deprived of the light with which the faces of the righteous are endowed, he receives no rewards for his good practices, his prayers are not answered; and he has no shar in the prayers of the pious.
Those at the time of death are: he dies disgracefully, he dies hungry, he dies in thirst which the water in the oceans of the world cannot quench.
Those in the grave are: he is so queezed there that the ribs of one side get into the ribs of the other side, fire is burnt inside for him and he is rolled on cinders day and night; a serpent with fiery eyes and iron nails equal in lenght to a day's journey is let loose on him and shouts with a thundering voice, 'My Lord has charged me with thrashing you till sunrise for neglecting Fajr, till Asr for neglecting Zuhr, till sunset for neglecting Asr, till Isha for neglecting Maghrib and till dawn for neglecting Isha.' The serpent will keep thrashing him till the Last Day. Each blow pushes him to a dept of seventy arms lenght. The punishment will last till the Day of Judgement.
Those after resurrection are: his reckoning will be a hard one; Allah will be angry with him; and he will be thrown into the fire. According to one report, he will have the following three lines written on his forehead:
'O you who neglected Allah's duty'
'O you who has deserved Allah's wrath'
'Now despair of Allah's mercy, as you neglected your duty to Allah'
It is also stated in a hadith that there wil be three courts to be held by Allah on the Day of Judgement. The first will judge between Kufr and Islam and there will be no pardon. The second will be to judge the conduct and duties of one towards another. All aggrieved shall be compensated there; compensation will either be realised from the aggressor or paid by Allah Himself if he pleases to pardon anybody. The third deal with duties towards Allah. Here, the doors of Allah's mercy will be thrown wide open and He shall pardon anybody He wills. In the light of all that has been said above, it must be clearly understood that we deserve the punishment that has been laid down for our commission of sins, but the All-embracing Mercy of Alah overrides everything and knows no bounds.
To be continued.
