The book Durr-ul-mukhtār, at the
beginning of its discourse on the subject about namāz, and Ibni Ābidīn, while explaining it on the two hundred
and thirty-fourth page of the book Radd-ul-muhtār,
state:
Since Ādam (alaihissalām), there was namāz once a day in every
sharīat. All that had been performed were brought together and were made fard
for us. Although performing namāz is not a pillar of īmān, it is a pillar of
īmān to believe that namāz is fard. Namāz means duā. The ibādat that is
commanded by the Sharīat and which we all know was named namāz (salāt).
Performing the five daily prayers of namāz is fard-i
ayn for every Muslim who has reached the age of puberty. That it is
fard is openly stated in the Qurān and
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Muhammad bin Abī Bakr 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā
'alaih', (d. 573 [1178 A.D.].) Its
commentary was written by Ya'qūb bin Sayyid 'Alī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih (d.
931 [1525 A.D.],) and was published in
hadīths. Five daily prayers of namāz became a
commandment on the Mirāj night. The Mirāj happened on the twenty-seventh
night of the month of Rajab a year before the Hegira. Before the Mirāj, only
the morning and afternoon prayers were performed.
A child must be ordered to perform namāz at the age of seven, and
should be beaten if it does not perform it at the age of ten. The teacher at
the school, too, may beat the student three times with his hands for the
purpose of making the student study. He cannot beat him more than that. Nor can
he beat him with a stick. [There cannot be bastinados in Islamic schools.
Cudgelling may have taken place in a police station or in a jail. It will be a
slander against Islam for the enemies of Islam, for the purpose of estranging
the younger generations from Islam, to represent Muslim teachers (hodjas) as
inflicting bastinado on students, in theatres and movies, and to say that the youth
were saved from bastinado and cudgelling by the abolition of Islamic lessons
and schools. It is openly written in Islamic books that Islam forbids beating
the student with a stick. Our Prophet strictly
prohibited even beating more than three times with the hand.] It is also
necessary to teach other ibādats to children at this age, to accustom them to
doing them, and to prevent them from sins.
For the purpose of showing the importance of fard namāz, Muhammad
Rabhāmī (rahmatullahi alaih) wrote the Persian book Riyād-un-nāsihīn,
a collection from four hundred and forty-four books, in India in
In the two fundamental books of Islam called Sahīhayn[1] [Bukhārī and
Muslim], Rasūlullah (sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam) asked in a hadīth-i sherīf reported
by Jābir bin Abdullah (radiyallahu anh): If there
were a river in front of ones house and if he washed himself in this river
five times every day, would there be any dirt left on him? We
[Jābir ibn Abdullah and other Sahābīs
---------------------------------
[1] Two great books of hadīth-i-sherīfs. Bukhāri-i-sherīf was
writi Bukhārī Muhammad bin Ismā'īl 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (194 [810 A.D.],
Bukhāra - 256 [870 A.D.], Semerkand); Sahīh-i-Muslim was written by
Abul-Husayn Muslim bin Hajjāj Qouraishī, (206 [821 A.D.] - 261 [875 A.D.] - Nīshāpūr.)
The two great scholars met at Nīshāpūr.
present there] said, No, o Rasūlallah. The Prophet said, Likewise,
minor sins of those who perform the five daily prayers are forgiven.
[Some ignorant people, upon hearing this hadīth, say, Then, I will both
perform namāz and amuse myself as I wish. My sins will be forgiven anyhow.
This thought is not correct, because a namāz that is performed observing its
conditions and ādāb and is accepted will cancel sins. In fact, even if minor
sins are forgiven, continuing to commit or insisting on minor sins will become
grave sins. And insisting on committing grave sins will cause kufr
(disbelief.)] Ibn Jawzī wrote in his tafsīr Elmugnī:
Abū Bakr-i Siddīq (radiyallāhu anh) said that, when the time of a daily prayer
of namāz comes, angels say, O the sons of Ādam, stand up! Extinguish the fire
prepared to burn human beings by performing namāz. In a hadīth-i sherīf, it was said, The difference between the Believer and the unbeliever is
namāz, that is, the Believer performs namāz, and the unbeliever
does not. Munāfiqs, however, sometimes perform it and sometimes do not.
Munāfiqs will undergo very bitter torment in Hell. Abdullah ibn Abbās
(radiyallāhu anh), the leader of mufessirs, said that he heard Rasūlullah say,
Those who do not perform namāz will find Allāhu
taālā angry on the Day of Resurrection.
The imāms of hadīth unanimously said, A person who does not perform a
namāz in its due time intentionally, that is, if he is not sorry for not performing
a namāz while its due time is ending, will become a kāfir or will lose his īmān
during his death. What will become of those who do not remember namāz or see
namāz as a duty? The Ahl as-Sunnat savants unanimously said, Ibādāt are not a
part of īmān. But there was not a unanimity concerning namāz. The fiqh imāms
Imām Ahmed Ibn Hanbel, Ishāq ibn Raheweyh, Abdullah ibn Mubārak, Ibrāhīm
Nehāī, Hakem ibn Huteyba, Ayyūb Sahtiyānī, Dāwūd Tāī, Abū Bakr ibn Shayba and
Zubeyr ibn Harb and many other great savants said that one who does not perform
a namāz intentionally becomes a kāfir. Then, o Muslim Brother, do not miss any
namāz and do not be slack; perform it with love! If Allahu taālā punishes
according to the ijtihād of these savants on the Day of Judgement, what will
you do? Tafsīr-i Mugnī says, One of the
superiors asked the devil what he should do to become damned like him. The
devil was pleased and said, If you want to be like me, do not pay attention to
namāz and take an oath on everything right or wrong, that is take an oath very
much! That person said, I will never neglect
namāz and will not take any oath from now on. In the Hanbalī Madhhab, a
Muslim who does not perform a namāz without an excuse will be put to death like
a murtad, and his corpse will not be washed or shrouded, nor will his janāza
namāz be performed. He will not be buried in Muslims cemetery, and his grave
will not be made distinguishable. He will be put in a hollow on the mountain.
In the Shāfiī Madhhab, one who persists in not performing namāz does not
become a murtad, but the punishment will be death. That the Mālikī Madhhab is
the same as the Shāfiī in this respect is written in Ibni Ābidīn and on the sixty-third page of the
translation of Milal-nihāl. And in the
Hanafī Madhhab, he is imprisoned until he begins namāz or beaten until
bleeding. [However, he who attaches no importance to namāz or who does not know
it as a duty will be a kāfir in all the four Madhhabs. It is written in the
subject of the afflictions incurred by the tongue in Al-hadīqa that he becomes a kāfir according to the Hanafī
Madhhab, too, if he neglects namāz intentionally and does not think of
performing its qadā and does not fear that he will be tormented for this.]
Allahu taālā did not order non-Muslims to perform namāz or to fast. They are
not honoured with the commandments of Allahu taālā. They are not punished for
not performing namāz or for not fasting. They only deserve Hell, which is the
punishment for kufr. In the book Zād-ul-muqwīn,
it is said: Early savants wrote that he who does not do five things is
deprived of five things:
1) He who does not give the zakāt of his property does not get any
benefit from his property.
2) In the land and earning of a person who does not give his ushr, there is no abundance left.
3) Health is absent in the body of a person who does not give alms.
4) Person who does not pray will not attain to his wish.
5) Person who does not want to perform a namāz when its time comes
cannot say the kalima-i shahādat at his
last breath. A person who does not perform namāz because of laziness although
he believes that it is the first duty, is a fāsiq. He is not the peer of a sāliha[1] girl, that is, he does not deserve and is not
suitable for her.
---------------------------------
[1] Feminine equivalent for
the word 'sālih', which in turn is defined in a footnote within the tenth chapter.
As it is seen, not performing the fard namāz causes one to die without
īmān. Continuing to perform namāz causes the enlightenment of the heart and the
attainment of endless bliss. Our Prophet
(sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam) declared, Namāz is
nūr, that is, it brightens the heart in the world and illuminates
the Sirāt in the next world. Do you know
what happens to Allahs beloved ones in namāz and how they attain to their
wishes in namāz?
Story: Abdullah Ibn Tāhir, the Governor of Khurasan, was very just. His
gendarmes captured some thieves and reported them to the Governor. One of the
thieves escaped. A blacksmith from Hirat was caught on his way back from
Nishapur at night. He was brought to the presence of the Governor with the
thieves. The Governor said, Imprison them! The blacksmith performed an
ablution and namāz. He stretched his hands and supplicated, O my Allah! You
alone know that I am innocent. Only You can free me from this jail. O my Allah!
Protect me! That night, the Governor woke up just as four strong men were
about to turn his throne upside-down in his dream. He immediately performed an
ablution and two rakats of namāz. He went to sleep again. He again woke up
upon dreaming that those four men were about to pull his throne down. He
realized that he oppressed someone. As a matter of fact, the poem says:
Thousands of cannons and rifles can never make,
What the tears have made at the time of dawn,
The bayonets that make the enemy flee,
Are usually made into dust by a Believers prayer.
O Allah! Only You are Great! You are so great that superiors and
inferiors, when in trouble, entreat only You. Those who entreat only You can
attain their wish.
The Governor immediately called the director of the jail at that night
and asked him whether there was a prisoner kept unjustly. When the director
said, I cannot know him. But there is someone who performs namāz, prays much
and sheds tears. The blacksmith was brought to the presence of the Governor,
who asked him questions, realized that he was innocent, begged his pardon and
said, Please forgive me for having done an injustice to you, accept my gift of
one thousand silver coins and come to me whenever you have a wish! The
blacksmith said, I forgive you and accept your gift. But I cannot come to ask
my affairs or
wish from you. When he was asked its reason, he
said, Does it befit a slave like me, a humble person, to take my wishes to
someone other than my Proprietor who several times overturned the throne of a
Sultan like you? He made me attain so many wishes of mine. How could I take
refuge in someone else? While my Rabb has opened the door of His Treasure of
Endless Mercy and spread His Table of Infinite Endowment for everybody, how can
I have recourse to others? Who has asked and He has not given? Who has come to
Him and returned empty-handed? One cannot attain if one does not know how to
ask. If one does not enter His Presence with proper manners, one cannot attain
His Mercy. Poem:
Whoever puts his head on the threshold of worship one night;
The Darlings Kindness certainly opens thousands of doors for him.
Rābiat-ul-Adwiyya rahmatullāhi alaihā, one of the great awliyā, heard
a man pray, O Allah! Open Your Door of Mercy! She said to him, O you
ignorant person! Has Allahu taālās Door of Mercy been closed up to now so
that you want it to be opened now? [Though the source of Mercy is always open,
the hearts, the receivers, are not open in everybody. We should pray so that
they may open!]
O Allah! You, alone, are the One who relieves everybody from distress.
Do not leave us in distress in this world and the next! Only You are the One
who sends everything to the needy! Send auspicious, useful things to us in this
world and the next! Do not leave us in need of anybody in this world and the
next! Āmīn. Translation from Riyād-un-nāsihīn
is completed here.
While beginning its subject about namāz, the book Kitāb-ul-fiqh alal-madhāhib-il-arbaa says:
Namāz is the most important of the arch-stones of Islam. Allahu taālā made
namāz fard so that His slaves would worship Him only. The hundred and third
āyat of Sūrat an-Nisā purports that namāz became fard, the times of which are
definite, for the Believers. A hadīth-i sherīf
declares, Allahu taālā has made it fard to
perform namāz five times every day. Allahu taālā has promised that He will
send to Paradise a person who performs namāz five times every day esteeming it
highly and observing its conditions. Namāz is the most valuable of
worships. A hadīth declares, He who does not
perform namāz has no share from Islam! A hadīth-i
sherīf quoted in Mishkāt, and in Kunūz-ud-daqāiq, and in Sahīhayn, and in Halabī
declares, Difference between man and
disbelief is to
give up namāz! It does not mean, Men and disbelief are two
separate beings. Between them lies not to perform namāz. When not to perform
namāz goes away from between them, that is, when a person performs namāz, the
connection between him and disbelief goes up, the two can not be united, and
man will not be a disbeliever. But it means, Disbelief is a property. It does
not exist alone. It exists with some people. People who have disbelief have
(not performing namāz). But people who do not have disbelief do not have
(not performing namāz). Difference between a person who has disbelief and one
who does not have disbelief is not performing or performing namāz. This hadīth-i sherīf is like the saying, Difference
between man and death is not to breathe. A person who has death does not
breathe. But a person who does not have death, does not have (the property)
not breathing. When a person does not breathe, it will be understood that he
is dead. This hadīth vehemently threatens those who are lazy in performing
namāz. To perform namāz is to realize ones inferiority before Allahu taālā, thinking
of His greatness. A person who realizes this always does what is good. He can
never do evils. The namāz which is performed by a person who follows his nafs
is fruitless, even if it may be accepted. The heart of a person who intends
that he is in the Audience of his Rabb five times each day gets filled with
ikhlās. Every action that one has been commanded to do in namāz provides uses
for ones heart and body. Performing namāz in jamāat in mosques attaches
Muslims hearts to one another. It provides love between them. Thus they
realize that they are brethren. The elder become merciful towards the younger.
And the younger become respectful towards the elder. The rich become helpers
for the poor and the powerful for the weak. The healthy, not seeing the sick in
the mosque, visit them in their homes. They race with one another for attaining
the glad tidings in the hadith, Allahu taālā is
the helper of a person who runs to the aid of his brother in Islam.
A hadīth-i sherīf, quoted in the book Qurratuluyūn, declares, If a person does not perform namāz though he has no good
excuse, Allahu taālā will give him fifteen kinds of plague. Six of them will
come in the world, three will come at the time of death, three will come in the
grave, and three will come when rising from the grave. The six plagues in the
world are:
1 - Person who does not perform namāz will not have barakat
2 - He will not have the beauty, the lovableness peculiar to
those who are loved by Allahu taālā.
3 - He will not be given thawāb for any good he does. [This hādīth-i sherīf shows that the sunnats of
those who do not perform the fard prayers in time are not acceptable. That is,
they will not be given thawāb for their sunnats].
4 - His prayers (duās) will not be
accepted.
5 - No one will like him.
6 - Blessings that (other) Muslims
invoked on him will do him no good.
Kinds of torment he will suffer when dying are:
1 - He will expire in an abhorrent, unsightly, repugnant
manner.
2 - He will die hungry.
3 - Much water as he may have, he will die with painful
thirst.
Kinds of torment he will suffer in the grave are:
1 - The grave will squeeze him. His bones will intertwine.
2 - His grave will be filled with fire, which will scorch
him day and night.
3 - Allahu taālā will send a huge serpent to his grave. It
is not like terrestrial serpents. It will sting him at every prayer time each
day. It will never leave him alone any moment.
Kinds of torment he will suffer after rising are:
1 - Angels of torment that will drag him to Hell will never
leave him alone.
2 - Allahu taālā will meet him with wrath.
3 - His account will be settled in a very vehement manner,
and he will be flung into Hell.