Importance of Prayer III

Introduction | Definition | Importance of Prayer I | Importance of Prayer II | Importance of Prayer III

21) Prayer is a knight

Prayer will come as a knight in your grave and protect you from the punishment of the grave. This is similar to fasting which is also said to protect the believer in their grave. Without going too far off track I want to mention a handful of things that will either be a witness for your or against you when you have to answer for your deeds.

Witnesses Against You:

• Angels that write your deeds (Raqeeb & Ateed)
• People who were with you.
• Your book of deeds as verse 49 in the chapter of Al-Kahf (The Cave) discusses

And the record [of deeds] will be placed [open], and you will see the criminals fearful of that within it, and they will say, “Oh, woe to us! What is this book that leaves nothing small or great except that it has enumerated it?” And they will find what they did present [before them]. And your Lord does injustice to no one. (Al-Kahf 18:49)


• The Earth as stated in verse 4 in the chapter of Az-Zalzalah (The Earthquake):

That Day, it (the earth) will report its news (Az-Zalzalah 99:4)

• The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as mentioned in the chapter of Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage), verse 78:

…Allah named you “Muslims” before [in former scriptures] and in this [revelation] that the Messenger may be a witness over you and you may be witnesses over the people. So establish prayer and give zakah and hold fast to Allah. He is your protector; and excellent is the protector, and excellent is the helper. (Al-Hajj 22:78)

• Your body parts will witness against you and the proof for this is in

And they will say to their skins, “Why have you testified against us?” They will say, “We were made to speak by Allah, who has made everything speak; and He created you the first time, and to Him you are returned. (Fussilat 41:21)

Witnesses For You

• The Quran
• People affected by your good deeds
• Your Children
• The Angels
• The Earth
• Your Book of deeds
• Your worship, prayer and charity

22) Intercession

The Prayer will intercede for your on the Day of Judgment

23) Prayer is Eman (Faith)

The only act that Allah (swt) referred to as Eman in the Quran is Prayer. Again, this shows the importance of prayer.

24) Angels praying all the time

In every hand-span of the heavens and the earth, Allah (swt) has created angels that have done nothing but pray all day and all night since they were created, and will continue to do so until the last day. The point here is that these angels were created to worship Allah (swt) in the best possible manner, and of all acts of worship, prayer was chosen for them.

25) Utmost Peace in prayer

It was said that the Salaf (the people that came immediately after the messenger and the early generations of Muslims) would find complete peace and relaxation in prayer. This was so much so that some would not even notice arrows during battle because of prayer. Others were said to have had surgery performed on them while in prayer, and because of the extreme level of concentration they felt little or no pain. Lastly, Abdullah Ibn Omar would be flushed when the time for prayer approached because he knew he was going to meet Allah (swt).

26) Prayer is spiritual purification

Prayers wipe out our bad deeds just as if we were having a bath to wash away your sins, five times a day. How clean would you be then?

27) Prayer is ascendancy

The best and most knowledgeable become the leader (Imam) in prayer.

28) Can’t revolt against a leader that prays

We’ve been forbidden from rebelling against a khalifah (leader) that prays. ‘Ubadah bin Samit narrates:

the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) called us, so we gave him our covenant. Among the things that he took our oath upon was that we would not struggle to remove a man of authority from his position; he said unless you see from him a clear and open kufr, which will be a defense for you with Allah – Sahih Bukhari & Muslim

29) Fire for those who don’t pray

The Prophet (pbuh) wished to burn down the houses of those who do not attend the Prayer, but he didn’t because there were women and children in these homes. The emphasis here is on the fact that missing Prayer angered the Messenger (pbuh) so much that he wanted to destroy the home of the one who leaves it.

30) A valley in Jahannam

Allah (swt) has promised a special valley in Jahannam called “Ghayy” which is the depth of 70 years’ travel, for the ones who miss their Prayers. Allah (swt) says in verse 59 of the chapter of Maryam:

But there came after them successors who neglected prayer [until the time ran out] and pursued their desires; they will be thrown into the [valley of] Ghayy  (Maryam 19:59)

This is to say that missing a prayer intentionally is severely punishable, and we should remember that Qadaa or making up missed prayers, was made for people who genuinely forgot or couldn’t catch the time, not for laziness.

31) Angering Allah (swt)

It has been authentically narrated that Ibn Abbass that he said,

Whoever misses a Prayer intentionally will find Allah (swt) angry with him on the Day of Judgment

We should be extremely careful with this because the statement above says “a prayer” meaning just one is enough, so what about all the one’s we’ve missed? I ask Allah (swt) to forgive myself and all the Muslims. Another point about angering Allah (swt) is that in the chapter of Al-Maun the people who are careless about their Prayers are warned very strongly about praying at the last minute and being neglectful of Prayer:

So woe [the valley in Jahannam called Wayl] to those who pray – being careless in offering their prayers [by praying at their last times] (Al-Maun 107: 4-5)

32) Missing prayer nullifies all deeds

A person may do good deeds all his life, but if he leaves his Prayers intentionally, then he’s voiding all his good deeds. If he resumes his prayers after that and comes back to Islam, the scholars differ about whether he will get the rewards of those deeds back or not. (Allah knows best).

These points bring the section of the importance of prayer to a close. Inshallah in the next post we will cover the proof for the obligation of prayer.

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