How to be earnest in salat – Part 2

Salat timetable based on our bodily and emotional needs

Fajr – break your sleep. In Islam, Allah advocates early hours

If you follow the sunnah lifestyle, will find it easy to wake up for fajr
(not if you go to sleep at 2am!)

Fajr marks the beginning of your day. The way Allah wants us to start
our day is not stagger out of bed and stumble into the kitchen and
make a cup of coffee. Allah wants us to wake up, splash water on our
faces and start the day not just with the physical exercise but a
spiritual nourishment.

A reminder that I am beginning my day. This is one more chance I have

received today. Because sleep itself in Islam is considered like a form
of death. So this is one more chance that Allah gave me today. Fajr is a
reminder I must not waste this chance. I must use it and I must use it
for Allah for this day will not come again.

Scholar once asked, why is it that people who pray in the night are so
beautiful. He said it is because they spend their night with Allah.

When you start your day having read Fajr on time, there is an inward
glow within, an inward calmness that whatever happens, its alright.
Allah swt will give me the strength to cope with it.

Then after than you have a long interval before zuhr. This long interval
– about 8 hours is so that we can fulfil all our worldly chores, household
tasks, if working can go out etc.

Then there’s a very natural break for zuhr. We have people who
complain they cannot pray because they’re so busy or so immersed in
their career – ‘we can’t even take out 5 minutes’ - that’s the biggest
mistake that any human being can possibly make. Because dunya will
never give us anything. And to sacrifice one’s akhirah for the sake of
dunya is a very short-sighted bargain. And this is what people do about
zuhr and asr. ‘Oh we didn’t have time and we will just go home and
read kaza’. If you miss your prayer accidentally or out of sheer…you
didn’t plan it that way, then do read kaza, . But to plan to read kaza is
an act of kufr.

‘Whoever leaves the salat intentionally he has done kufr’.

Zuhr is another prayer that people find difficult – had a heavy meal and
either praying it after the meal, or planning to go shopping and its
interrupting with their schedule, feeling lazy. Cure for that is in the way
you read zuhr. If you read it 5 mins before lunch, you are going to be
racing through it, so make sure when read zuhr you are relaxed and
don’t have any tension in your mind.

If you read zuhr in a relaxed way you will find that it gives you strength
and the rest and all the refreshment you needed during the day. If you
read your zuhr badly you will find that you are exhausted by the end of
the day

Asr – a salat many people miss as its so short. Sign of the hypocrite –
reads asr at the last possible moment.

Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wa Aalihi wa sallam said ‘Whoever misses

the salat of Asr, its as if his family and his wealth were all destroyed’.

We go through one loss, we lose one family member and we go

through hell. Miss some money from your bag and you can’t sleep at
night until you know what you’ve done with it. So for one person to
lose in one swoop everything- all your family and your wealth, what do
you have left? If you don’t have your children, your family or any
wealth, you have nothing left. These are the pillars we rely on in
dunya. So then we need to remember that to miss one asr that we talk
about so casually is like losing all your family and all your wealth –
need to tell people about this.

Maghrib – sunset. When day ending, when the day is ending, feeling of
sadness, feeling of depression, feeling of mournfulness. Soul feels
upset as you know this is another day that’s ending, another chance
gone by, another day of my life has just been chopped off. What did I
do today? A period where you’re upset, where you’re feeling disturbed.

So this is Allah’s love for us that at this point he says ‘come to me’.
When shaytaan is going to attack you with misgivings and doubts,
fears, anxiety and stress, come to me, come to me and unburden
yourself.

Isha – right before you go to sleep. That is the time you are meant to
read Isha – that is
the best time for reading isha. So symbolic that maybe this is the end
of my life, maybe
this is my last night, maybe this is my last isha ever so I need to pray it
well and I need to
pray it properly.
This is another prayer that many people either skip or they keep
delaying because they
are too sleepy. This is again a sign of hypocrisy.

Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wa Aalihi wa sallam warned us - The two

most difficult
prayers for the hypocrites are fajr and isha – this is a yardstick by
which we can measure
ourselves.

If we look at the timings of salat – see it is a perfect timetable designed

for our bodily
and emotional needs.

Salat not just a physical exercise – meeting with Allah swt. Before you
meet someone
special, before you meet some influential – prepare for that meeting. If
in one’s lounge
and hear some important visitors have arrived – first thing you do is
look in mirror, see
what needs to be done, and then go and do it.

Wudu – common complaint, ‘I can’t do wudu and if it wasn’t for wudu, I

would read all
the prayers’. Wudu is something we owe Allah swt after all he is the
King of all kings. So
if we can adorn ourselves for people who haven’t done anything for us,
nor are likely to,
then why are we not interested in adorning ourselves for Allah swt.

The psychological satisfaction of wudu. Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wa

Aalihi wa sallam
recommended wudu as a means of calming down your anger – it cools
you.

Story of Hadrat Umar RA and his conversion – his sister tells ‘you can’t
touch this
paper (the Qur’an) you’re not pure’ so he goes and bathes and the
water cools him
(down) and this is one of the reasons for wudu.

Another reason is for your psychological satisfaction - so you feel

keyed up to that
moment of meeting Allah swt rabbul aalameen.
We find that Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wa Aalihi wa sallam said
‘Shall I not tell you
something by which Allah swt effaces sins and elevates ranks in
Jannah. He said
performing the wudu thoroughly inspite of difficult circumstances.

Winter – people will be saying ‘it is so difficult to do wudu in the

morning for fajr’. But
remember the saying – to do wudu thoroughly inspite of difficult
circumstances is a
means of having your reward elevated.

After you have done wudu comes intention. Something many people
are confused
about. Many people have this little paragraph that Allah I am facing
towards the
kaaba my face is towards the Kaaba and my hands are towards you etc
etc – this is not
in the sunnah and this is something that people have invented. You
don’t need to
come up with this little paragraph every time you are praying. All you
need to do is
have an intention in your heart. Just as when you do wudu you have an
intention in
your heart (you don’t say Oh allah I am turning on the tap, O Allah the
water is
finished now), that intention is within your heart that is exactly what it
is in salat. You
are going to read your salat so just have the intention in your heart.

And Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wa Aalihi wa sallam warned us that

whoever prays to
show off he has committed shirk

You might think I don’t pray to show off but think of a situation or a
gathering where
you realise that your religious friend is standing beside you and
instinctively your
sajda’s become longer and your talawat becomes more fervent – be
careful because
Allah swt doesn’t need adulterated ibadah.

Then we come to the first words of salat. The most beautiful words in
the language.
Allahu Akbar – Allah is the greatest. And your hands are open when we
say it. And this
signifies that Allah we come before you empty handed as your slaves.
We have
nothing. Only you have everything.

Now we see this so many times in salat. But what happens when we
get off the prayer
mat? When we are confronted with choices that declare either Allah is
the greatest or
my nafs is the greatest, either Allah is the greatest or my wealth is the
greatest. What
do we do then? Do we remember Allahu Akbar or does it go right out of
our
minds?

Allah speaks of people who are in a constant state of prayer – doesn’t

mean you are
on the prayer mat all day long – it means when you get off the prayer
mat you take
those concepts with you. You’re still living according to Allahu Akbar –
it wasn’t just
words.

Then we have the opening dua after Allahu Akbar– subhanakallah

humma wa bi
hamdihka wa ta bara kasmuka wa ta aala jadduka wa lailaaha ghayruk

Should know the translation – tragedy of our ummah that many don’t
know the
translation of salat, and then they complain salat is boring. We have to
know what we
are saying before Allah otherwise it is like we’ve mugged up some
foreign words and
we are reciting them before Him. We must know the translation of
salat.

So the words mean - you are perfect Allah with your praise, blessed is
your name and
exalted is your status, and there is no God but You.

You are perfect – we say it but do we mean it?

With your praise – when we serve Allah, whose praise is it that we want
– Allah’s or out
own.
Ali RA once said that the sign of a show-off is this, that when he is
praised, he
increases his good actions, but when he is criticised, he decreases his
good actions. This
is a sign that you are only doing it for people. That if someone praises
you, you will keep
on doing it but if someone criticises you then you will stop doing it.

The mu’min is actuated every moment of his life by love of Allah and
nothing else.

Then the words ta’aala jadduka – Allah you are exalted – again a
negation of the ego, a
negation of arrogance because if you think about it, all discord in
relationships is caused
by ‘I’ – ‘I didn’t deserve this’, ‘I was upset’, ‘I’m angry’, ‘I’m not going
to take this’, ‘I’m
not going to stand for this’. So Allah swt teaches us ta aala jadduka –
say it, and mean it,
and live your life by it. Only Allah swt is exalted.

There is a second dua, which some people know and many are
unaware of but this is an
even more beautiful dua and this was also read by Rasoolullah
sallallahu alayhi wa Aalihi wa sallam.

Allaahumma baa’id bayni wa bayna khataayaaya kama baa’adta bayna al-mashriqi

wa’l-maghrib.

Allah – place the distance of the east and the west between me and my
sins

The frightening thing about sins is that they are right here with us. We
can’t get rid of
them. When we lie it has been recorded. Its part of me now. And I will
pay for it in
dunya and I will pay for it in akhirah. I might not be able to see it in
dunya but I will
certainly see it in akhirah. So Allah swt reminds us to ask for
forgiveness whist those sins
can still be deleted.

Wa naqinni minal khataaya bil maai wa salji wal barad

And purify me from errors, from my sins by water and snow and hail.
Wa naqqini min khataayaaya kama yunaqqa al-thawb al-abyad min al-
danas.

And cleanse me from my sins the way white cloth is cleansed from filth
–
advertisements on detergent always have the white cloth – sight of the
spotless white
cloth is very beautiful. So this is what Allah swt is telling us to aim for –
a heart that is
sparkling, a heart that is clear from all these impurities.

We can read either one of these or both. And if you read both that’s
great.

Then you read Aaoodho billah hi minashaytan nirajeem – this is

something we do every
time we open the Qur’an aswell. Seeking Allah swt’s protection from
shaytaan. You will
have seen the way shaytaan is determined to spoil our salat,
whispering in our mind,
distracting us, making us fidget, making us yawn, reminding us of
things we should have
been doing or things we could have been doing.

Aaoodho billah hi minashaytan nirajeem – read it with conviction so

Allah swt answers
this dua.

Bismillah al-rahman al-raheem – in the name of Allah swt, the most

merciful, the
repeatedly tender hearted.

Then comes Fatiha. Why is it that Fatiha is the only constant?

Sometime you read
another surah, sometimes you don’t. Depends upon the rakah you’re in
and whether
you’re reading fard or sunnah. But whether its fard, whether its
sunnah, whether its nafl
you cannot leave Fatiha – in every rakah you’re reading it. Why?

Because it is a summary of everything we believe. It’s the essence of

the Qur’an.

Alhamdu lillahi rabbil Aaalameen – is the most basic truth there is. And
also we ask Allah
swt for guidance
Alhumdulillah – all praises are for Allah.

Think of the situation when the mu’min prays. The mu’min prays in
sickness and health.
In poverty and wealth. On the battlefield and in the comfort of his own
home. In rain,
snow or sunshine. The mu’min is not supposed to give up prayer at any
stage and this is
the way he addresses Allah swt no matter what is happening to him.
Alhumdulillah –
thank you Allah. All praises belong to you. All merit belongs to you.

Why? Rabbil Aalameen – because you are nourishing everything. You

are nurturing
everything. You are the sublime being you brought out a human being
from one
despicable drop? You created a stately, tall, beautiful tree from a tiny
seed.
Alhumdulillah. Only Allah swt can do this.

Now you think of tremendous power and you feel scared. So instantly
Allah swt
reassures you

Alrrahman alrraheem – this tremendous power, combined with

tremendous love.
Tremendous power combined with inconceivable mercy.

Alrrahman – a love more than 70 mothers.

Alrraheem – the one who gives us chances…when no-one else would

have given us
another chance.

Now you read Alrrahman alrraheem and you think I can do whatever I
want so Allah swt
Says:

Maliki yawmi ddeen

The flow in the verses is so awesome.

Maliki yawmi ddeen - Remember – don’t be deluded by Alrrahman

alrraheem into
thinking you can do whatever you want with impunity. No. Allah swt
has kept a day of
reckoning and this is the day of judgment. The day in which I will see
every word I
uttered, good or bad, foul or fair, before me in a tangible form. A day
when our inward
will become our outward.

Hypocrites will appear with two faces. People who used to backbite will
appear with the
faces of dogs. People who used to criticise others will appear with the
faces of dogs.
Everyone’s inward will become his outward on that day. If there was
inward darkness
then on that day there will be no more secrets. Everything will be
exposed. And
everything will be placed before us. Which is why Hadrat Aisha RA was
warned by
Prophet Muhammad pbuh

‘Aisha, avoid the small sins’ because this is the way shaytaan gets us.
Avoid the small
sins because they accumulate upon a man until they destroy him.
When you see that
vast mountain of small sins you will know they are no longer small.

Three verses we praise Allah swt and then we come to the crux of
Fatiha.

What about us. What is our role in this relationship?

Iyyaka naAAbudu wa-iyyaka nastaAAeen – you alone do we worship,

you alone do we
ask for help. Every day in every rakah we are standing there with our
hands on our
heart. An attitude of complete sincerity and glibly we are reciting these
words and when
we get up from the prayer mat, what do we do then? Do we follow
Iyyaka naAAbudu –
is it Allah swt alone that we follow or is it our own desires? Or is it the
desires of people?

iyyaka nastaAAeen – Allah you alone do we rely upon. This doesn’t

mean you can’t ask anyone else for help. It simply means that
you cannot think that any human being can help you by means
of supernatural powers as in you go to someone’s grave and you
 think he can help you. How can he help you if he is dead? He is
going to grant you a child, or wealth or whatever it is you want.

So remember Iyyaka naAAbudu wa-iyyaka nastaAAeen gives you the

core of La ilaaha ilallah and whats the most important help that
we need from Allah swt?

Ihdinas siratal mustaqeem - Guide us to the straight path.

Sirata allatheena anAAamta AAalayhim ghayri almaghdoobi AAalayhim

wala alddalleen
- the path of those whom you blessed. Not the path of those who
incurred your anger.
Nor of those who went astray.

Ask yourself – what have we given Allah swt up til now. We gave him a
few words of
praise and then we started up on our demands. I want guidance. And
as you will see
throughout salat we are asking asking asking asking Allah swt
throughout salat and then
we act like we have done Him a great favour.

Now after Fatiha we read aameen we recite a passage from the

Qur’an. If you want your
salat to be interesting and stimulating learn another surah other than
surah Al-Ikhlas
and Surah Al-Kauthar. These are the favourite surahs. Everyone’s
favourite surahs. If you
love this surah because it tells you about Allah swt that’s great but if
you love it because
its because its short, then that’s not such a good thing.

Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wa Aalihi wa sallam said envy is not

allowed except with
regard to two. A man to whom Allah swt has granted the Quran so that
he stands in
prayer reading it throughout the night and day and the man to whom
Allah swt has
given wealth and who gives it in charity day and night.

If you don’t know more surahs, learn then. Add some variety to your
salat so that it
becomes exciting and stimulating for you. If you look at the surahs
Rasoolullah sallallahu
alayhi wa Aalihi wa sallam used to read they were very simple surahs
and they are
surahs we should also be reading in our salat.

When we go down into ruku, when we bow down we are saying

Subhanarabiyal
adheem – glorified or pure is Allah the exalted.

Would also recite another dua instead SubhanakAlla humma Rabbana

wa
bi hamdika, Allahummagh fir liy

That Allah, with your praise, and you are perfect. Allah forgive me.

So you find that when you straighten up again, Allah swt has taught us
a line which gives us reassurance even whilst you are still on the
prayer mat.

Sami 'allahu liman hamidah - Allah has heard the one who has praised
him.

Why didn’t this line come right at the end? We are still halfway through
salat. This is
Allah swt’s way of holding out a helping hand, of carrying us the rest of
the way. Don’t
give up, don’t despair, Allah swt has heard the one who has praised
him. Not ‘will’, Allah
‘has’ heard the one who has praised him.

Story of the man when salat was read and this man heard these words
of love, his heart
just brimmed over with gratitude to Allah and spontaneously he just
called out

Rabbana lakal Hamd: Hamdan kathiran tayyiban moubarakan fih Allah

you are so
amazing. All praise is for you. All praises blessed, abundant and pure
praises.

Think of how honoured this man was. This one moment of love, that
outpouring of love, pure love from his heart and Allah swt rewarded
him by preserving his words until the end of time. Because Allah is
shakirun aleem – Allah is appreciate and he doesn’t waste a single tear
we shed in His path 