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And believe in the Book I have now sent down; as it confirms the Scriptures you

already possess, be not among those who reject it; and not barter My Signs for a

worthless price, and take protection in Me alone.

And confound not truth with falsehood nor hide the truth, knowingly.

And observe Prayer and pay the Zakat, and bow down with those who bow.

Do you instruct others to do what is good and forget your own selves, while you

read the Book? Will you not then understand?

And seek help with patience and Prayer; no doubt, Salah is a hard task but not for

those obedient servants.

Who realize that ultimately they shall meet their Lord and shall return to Him.

Dear brothers and sisters, I am reciting some verses of Surra-Albaqarah in which

Allah Rabbulalamin ordered us to observe prayers and if someone faces difficulties

in keeping to righteous path, then he should seek help with prayers and patience.

Dear brothers and sisters the prayers are the most important of all the religious acts

such that if they are accepted by Allah, all the other acts of worship shall also be

accepted. However if the prayers are rejected, then the other acts shall be worthless.

Salah is the second and most important pillar of Islam. The Prophet pbuh says that:

Salah is the pillar of deen and the foundation of Islam. He who upholds Salah has

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upheld Islam and he who leaves Salah has left behind religion. (al-baihaqi). This

means that although performing Salah is not a complete religion but it is one of the

foundations of our religion. The building of Islam is based on five pillars and Salah

is one those. If it is strong then the building will be strong and if it is weak then the

building of Islam will be weak.

Dear brothers and Sisters, Salah is an act of worship: It is not a custom. It is not a

ritual. It is very special. It has no equal. It has no alternative. There are no excuses,

even when you are ill, on a journey or even in a war. Salah is a practical sign of

obedience to the commands of Allah. It is the practical proof of our faith in Allah

and Islam. The Prophet (pbuh) said "Salah is the only distinction between a

believer and a non-believer.” (Muslim) So imagine the status of that person who

misses his prayer? What distinction does that person has from the non-believers?

Dear brothers and sisters, the importance of Salah was emphasized in the Quran

about 500 times. Salah was the last will of the Prophet (PBUH). As his soul

departed he said with his last breaths: As-Salah, As-Salah. That is how important

Salah is. It was the first command in Islam, it was the last will of the Prophet

(PBUH), and it is the first act that we will be judged on the Day of Judgement.

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The Prophet said, The first matter that the slave/person will be questioned on the

Day of Judgment is the prayer. If it is sound, then the rest of his deeds will be

sound. And if it is incomplete, then the rest of his deeds will be incomplete.

Abdullah bin Masud says:

I asked the Holy Prophet: Which action is dearest to Almighty Allah?

He said: Prayers at their prescribed times

I asked what is next? He said: obedience to parents

I asked what is next? He said: Jihad in the way of Allah

Dear brothers and sisters, Salah wipes out our sins: Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

once asked his companions “Tell me if there was a river at the door step of one of

you in which you washed 5 times a day would any of your dirt remain?” Sahaba

replied that none of it would remain Prophet then said “That is like the 5 times

Salah, with which Allah wipes out sin.

Once Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) shook a dry branch of a tree so that all of the

leaves of the branch fell off than the Prophet (s.a.w.) said "The sins of those who

offer Salah, drop off as the leaves of this branch fell off."

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In hadith, the Prophet [PBUH] states that the prayer of the man in Jama’ah is worth

25 times his prayers alone. When he performs good Wudu, and leaves his house for

the sole purpose of prayers, with every step he takes his status is uplifted, and a sin

is forgiven. As he prays, the angels will continue praying for him, saying, God

bless him and God forgive him, until he finishes his Salat. This is the reward for

establishing prayers with Jama’ah.

Dear brothers and sisters, listening Friday Khutaba and offering Friday prayer

has also countless reward. In Hadith, Imam Muslim reported that the prophet

(S.A.W.) said, "If anyone performs wudu properly, then comes to the Friday

prayer, listens to the Khutbah (Speech) attentively and keeps silent, his (minor) sins

between that Friday and the previous Friday will be forgiven, with the addition of

three more days.

Dear brothers and sisters Salah is a direct contact or link between the worshipper

and Allah with no mediators. Prayer connects you with Allah. The Arabic word As-

Salah is derived from the Arabic word meaning "connection". Hazrat Ali often said

that when he wished to listen to Allah then he read Quran and when he liked to talk

to Allah then he offered prayers.

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Dear brothers and sisters, Allah says just in the beginning of Holly Quran that

people with certain qualities can only get benefit from the Quran.

First of such quality is piety and the other qualities are believed in the unseen,

establish the Salahs and spend in the way of Allah Rabbulalamin.

Here important questions arises that what is meant by "establishment of Salah".

The expression 'establishment of Prayer' has a wider meaning than just

performance of Prayer. It means that the system of Prayer should be organized on a

collective basis. It means that if someone is not offering prayer, if someone is not

offering prayer correctly then its our duty to invite our friends and other Muslims

for offering Salah.

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Once prophet was giving Khutaba on Friday and He mentioned to Bani Ashir that

in your neighborhood there is a tribe who do not know how to offer prayer and they

also do not know about the problems of Salah. Prophet said if you will not change

your attitude towards those people and do not try to correct their prayer and teach

them about the important aspects of salah then I will give you punishment.

This means that if someone is only offering his own prayer but does not try to

invite others and does not try to correct the prayers of others then he is not

"establishing the Salah" according to hadith mentioned before. But actually it's very

much beyond our imagination to invite unknown people for prayer. We often find

no courage even to invite our friends and family members for Salah.

Dear brothers and sisters the next meaning of "establishment of Salah" is to offer

prayer correctly. One day, while the Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny)

was present in the mosque, a person entered it and started to offer prayers.

However, the manner in which he offered them was such that he neither performed

his ruku (bowing) correctly, nor his sujood (prostration). Observing this, the

Prophet (PBUH) remarked: “If this person happens to die and his prayers are like

this, he would not have died upon my religion!”

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Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once said, "The worst form of theft is the theft of

prayer". Then sahaba asked "How can one commit theft in prayer?" The Holy

Prophet (PBUH) replied "By skipping on the complete performance of bows and

prostration’s.

Dear brothers and sisters, If someone wants to understand the reason of Salah, why

the Salah is too much important for us and why it is obligatory to us, the Allah has

summarized the reason in one Ayyah. Allah said in surrah Taha verse 14.

"When he reached there, a voice called out, "O Moses, I am your Lord; take off

your shoes, for you are in the sacred vally of Tuwa. And I have chosen you: so

listen to what is revealed. It is Who am AIIah: there is no god but Me: so worship

Me and establish Salat to remember Me".

Dear brothers and sisters, Salah is obligatory for the remembrance of our beloved

Allah Who created us and Who is our lord. But what is the meaning of

remembrance of Allah? Is it sufficient for us to come in the mosque, offer prayer

and no change happens to our character.

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Dear brothers and sisters, no this is not the true meaning of remembrance of

Allah. Salah teaches us that we should remember Allah when we are doing trade

when we are doing our business, when we are doing our jobs. Salah teaches us that

we should remember Allah when we meet with one another, when we are deciding

our matters. Salah teaches that we should remember Allah when we celebrating our

occasions and when we are moving in the society. But in all these matters normally

we prefer our Nafs, we normally prefer our traditions, we normally prefer rituals of

our society. Dear brothers and sisters the Salah is a sort of training which prepares

a Muslim for the remembrance of Allah with every breath of his life, Salah is a

sort of preparation for Muslims to remember the orders of Allah in all spheres of

their lives. Allah says in Quran

(O Prophet), recite the Book that has been revealed to you and establish

Prayer. Surely Prayer forbids indecency and evil. And remembrance of Allah is

indeed of greatest virtue. Allah knows all that you do.

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Imran bin Husain reports that the Holy Prophet said: "He Whose Prayer did not

restrain him or keep him away from the evil and indecent acts, offered no Prayer at

all." (Ibn Abi Hatim). Another Hadith reported on the authority of Ibn Mas`ud that:

"He who did not obey the Prayer, offered no Prayer at all, and obedience to the

Prayer is that one should keep himself away from the evil and indecent acts." (Ibn

Jarir, Ibn Abi Hatim). Imam Ja`far Sadiq has said: "He who wants to know whether

his Prayer has been accepted or not, should see how far his Prayer has restrained

him from the evil and indecent acts. If he has been restrained or confined himself

from the evils, his Prayer has been accepted." (Ruh al Ma `ani).

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In the era of Sahaba it was even next to impossible and no one could imagine

that someone is Muslim and he is also not offering prayer with jamah. Whenever

the Sahaba seen that some Muslim did not come for prayer they instantly went to

his home to know if he was sick or he was in some problem that stopped him to

come for Salah. It was not possible that without any major reason any Muslim

could leave any prayer. And if that Muslim could not able to present any good

reason then Sahabah understood that whether he is Munafiq or he became Murtid.

In Muslim societies, it was not possible that someone is not offering prayers even

Munafqen had to offer prayers. Allah says in Surrah Al-Taubah verse 54

The reason why their expending shall not be accepted is no other than that they

have not believed in Allah and His Messenger: and they come to offer their Salat

but reluctantly, and they expend in the Way of Allah with unwilling hearts.

According to this Ayah, this is an important sign of Munafaqeen that they offer

prayer reluctantly.

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Many Scholars of Islam hold the opinion that if someone is not offering Salah, then

he is a disbeliever by quoting the following hadith:

“The act which distinguishes between believers and disbelievers is the prayer, and

whoever neglects it. He has disbelieved.”

Imam abu Hanifa commented on this Hadith that if somebody did not offer any

prayer he committed Kufr but Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal said that the person who

deliberately and intentionally did not offer the prayer he became Kafir. We all

heard the name of Abdul-Qadir Gillani. He was very much strict about the person

who did not offer the prayer. He said that if there is a row of hundred camels and at

the last Camel a person is sitting who has no worry about his prayer he said I will

not even touch the first camel of that row only because of the fear that curse of a

person would affect me.

Now dear brothers and sisters, what is happening in our societies? Even on Friday

prayer the number of people who are attending Friday prayers is ten times less than

the number of people who do not come for the prayer. And if you ask them the

reason they will blame their jobs, their classes, and their assignments and some of

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them give you very interesting logic that we have full faith in Allah that He will

definitely forgive us whether we pray or not.

From the traditions reported by Hadrat Jabir bin 'Abdullah the Holly Prophet

(PBUH) said that Allah seals the heart of the person who leave three Friday

Prayers, one after the other, without a genuine reason and lawful excuse. Rather in

one tradition the Prophet said that "Allah turns the heart of such person into the

heart of a hypocrite." (Musnad Ahmad, Abu Da'ud, Nasa`i, Tirmidhi Ibn Majah

Darimi, Hakim, Ibn Hibban, Bazzar, Tabarani in al-Kabir).

Hadrat 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud has reported that the Holy Prophet said: 'I feel I

should ask somebody to stand in my place for the Prayer, and I myself should go

and set fire to the houses of the people who do not come for the Prayer." (Musnad

Ahmad, Bukhari).

Dear brothers and sisters, in fact Salah can bring many more blessings in our

lives. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said “The person that observes prayer properly,

the prayer itself, blesses him with good wishes". Salah solve our problems, it

strengthen our relationship with Allah. Allah says in Quran

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Seek help in patience and prayer.

There was a Muslim Mughal king whose name was Aurangzeb and who ruled over

whole Hindustan including Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. He

attacked on the area named Dakin but the enemy Hindu forces closed themselves in

a fort. The Mughal king surrounded the fort. One day when the time of Zuhur

prayer was reached, the Jamah was standing but they forgot that they were in the

firing range of enemy forces. When Imam started to say Allah-o-akbar the fire

came and imam was martyred. Then the second person from the first row came

forward but he was also shot and was martyred then the third person came forward

but he was also martyred. After this everybody reluctant to come forward and to

become Imam but then the king Aurangzeb came forward. But when the

commander of enemy forces saw that the king had no fear of death then he ordered

to stop fire and opened the doors of fort by saying this that Aurangzeb is not king

but like a "Dewta" small god and we have courage to fight against humans but not

against these Dewtas. The fort was conquered due to the blessing of prayer and

courage of the king.

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Dear brothers and sisters Salah gives us both worldly and spiritual benefits. It

enhances the human equality. It is the best scene of Mankind's equality. It lessons

us discipline, it lessons us love and co-operation.

Dear brothers and sisters in Salah all have one Niyyah, one language and identical

actions. All bow down together, all go to Sajdah together. This teaches us the

lesson that we, as Muslims, should be united at all times. This is the spirit of most

Ibadat that we should be united but what we have got lesson from Salah.

I do not want to comment to what extent we are getting message of discipline, love

and co-operation from our Salah. I only want to comment on unity because it is

directly related to our survival. One day I came to this mosque where we offered a

prayer five times a day and from where we get this message that we are united and

we are believer of one Allah and His messenger. I saw that some body wrote after

the names of the candidates who were standing in the election that this is sunni

Mosque and some one wrote that this person is shia and this person is wahabi and

bla bla. I do not like even to comment on these sentences but I want to show you

the picture of Baghdad when Hulagu khan, the Mongol commander entered into the

city of Baghdad. At that time, the capital was so much divided that it was not

possible for Muslims to gather on any single point. The whole society was divided

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into different sects. Shia and Sunni were even those sects who were ready to kill

one another. There was one sect of Muslims who were famous as "Kharji" and who

used to kill Muslims even if they commit small sins.

In this atmosphere of division the Hulagu khan entered into the city of Baghdad on

10th of February 1258. He ordered his army to destroy the city and the whole city

was burnt into ashes. Baghdad was famous of its world renowned libraries at that

time. All the books thrown in the river "Tigris" Dajla rives that flows through

Baghdad, the color of river Dajla first became black because of the ink of the books

and then became red because of the blood of Muslims. Citizens of Baghdad

attempted to flee but were intercepted by Mongol soldiers who raped and killed

them abundantly. Out of 2.0 million Muslim population of Baghdad, Hulagu army

killed 1.6 million people in the city. They did not ask anybody before slaughtering

that are you Shia or Are you Sunni. The Caliph himself was killed in the most

ruthless manner. His legs were tied to a horse which was driven all over Baghdad.

This was the end of the glory of that city which was famous in the entire world at

that time. Baghdad was center of excellence, center of science and technology at

that time. The length of Bazar which was only famous for its books was 8 kms.

Dear brothers and sisters no weapon, no technology, no army saved them from the

Azab of Tatar's. And If you ask any historian about the major reason of the fall of

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Baghdad at that time he will tell you only one major reason and that was the

division of Muslims in different sects at that time.

Now dear brothers and sisters look into our present conditions. We are in the same

condition as we were 900 years before. We are divided on the basis of sects, on the

basis of languages, on the basis of races, on the basis of regions and on the basis of

tribes. Dear brothers and sisters even animals when they feel that they are in danger

they come together. But sorry to say our condition is worse than animals. Are we

not realizing our present scenario? Everywhere kuffar are playing with our lives,

our dignity and our religion. Dear brothers everywhere, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, In

Araqan, in Kashmir everywhere but what is our attitude. Are we thinking that we

are safe as we are living in Europe? Dear brothers and sisters bell is ringing, evil

forces are united and gathering to make feast on our blood and we are more and

more divided and divided. When Baghdad was burning and people were killing,

women hold the rope of the horse of Hulagu and said, "I prayed to my Allah that

He sent Azab on you" Hulagu replied and his words are actually the truth of the

history. Hulagu said " I am azab of Allah who sent on you, I am azab of Allah to

teach you a lesson"

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If we will not take any lesson from our history, if we consistently become blind and

deaf from the orders of Allah, if we do not want to learn the lesson of unity from

our Salah and if 1 million killing of Muslims in Iraq, 2 million killings of Muslims

in Afghanistan, 100,000 killings of Muslims in Kashmir, 50,000 killings of

Muslims in Chechnya, 200,000 killings of Muslims in Bosnia, 20,000 killings of

Muslims in Burma, 60,000 killings in Philippine, are not sufficient to open our

eyes, not sufficient to unite us then I fear that our destiny who are thinking we are

safe, then I fear that our ending who are thinking we are in western countries, will

be more ruthless and more dreadful than the citizen of Baghdad at the time of

Hulagu.

I want to conclude my khutaba on salah by narrating a beautiful and eye

opening hadith from the Prophet (PBUH). Actually this hadith is for me and for all

those people who do not show so much concern about their prayers the Prophet

said:

“My Ummah consists of four groups:

1. One group offers the prayers, however they are unmindful/careless of their

prayers, and they shall be placed in ‘Wayl’. ‘Wayl’ is the name of one of the

bottom-most levels of hell. Allah has said in Suratul Ma’un verse 4 & 5:

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“So woe to the praying ones, who are careless of their prayers.

2. One group is such that it occasionally offers the prayers, and so, ‘Ghayy’ is the

abode for the people of this group. ‘Ghayy’ is the name of another of the bottom-

most levels of hell. Allah has said in Surrah Maryam verse 59:

“But there came after them an evil generation, who neglected prayers and

followed the sensual desires, so they shall soon encounter the consequences of

their deviation

3. The third group consists of those, who never offer their prayers, and for them is

‘Saqar’, which is also the name of another of the low levels of hell and about which

Allah has said in Surrah Al-Muddaththir verse 42 & 43:

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“(The inmates of paradise shall ask the inmates of hell) What has brought you

into hell? They shall say: We were not of those who prayed.”[5]

4. The fourth group consists of those, who offer their prayers regularly and are

humble in them. Allah has said in Surrah Al-muminun verse 1 & 2:

قد أفلح المؤمنون الذين هم في صالتهم خاشعون

“Successful indeed are the believers, Who are humble in their prayers.

We pray to Allah that our ending should be in those people who are real successful

in the eyes of Allah-Rabul-alamin. We pray to Allah-Rabbulalamin that Allah give

us wisdom and courage to learn our lost lesson of unity.