Pray As He Prayed ﷺ | Jumu'ah Khutbah | Dr. AbdulRazzak Junaid
By Dr. AbdulRazzak Junaid | 2026-06-05T11:13:10.443202+00:00 | Topic: Prayer
And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. Exalted is He above all that they associate with Him. And I bear witness that our Master Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, and His advisor and His friend, and the best of His creation, and His trustee in His revelation. His Lord has sent him as a mercy to the worlds, and as a proof for all people. And Allah has guided him out of error, and has made him see out of ignorance, and has made him multiply after the few, and has made him gather after the many, and has made him secure after the fear, and has made him rich after poverty. May Allah's prayers and peace be upon him, and upon his pure, good family, and all the companions, and those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment.
All praise is due to Allah, our Creator, the originator and designer of the heavens and the earth. And upon the best of creation, Muhammad, peace be upon him, we send our salutations upon him, his family, his companions, and all those that follow them in goodness till the end of times. May Allah make us of them.
Pray As He Prayed ﷺ
Pray as you have seen me pray. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 631)
The hadith of the Prophet ﷺ that we often hear, "Pray as you have seen me pray." And when we think about this hadith, what usually occurs to our mind? Raising your hand, not raising your hand, doing ameen out loud, not doing it out loud, the finger up and down, or is it just gonna stay, the arkan, the wajibah, the different actions of the prayer.
But this hadith does not mean to just follow the Prophet ﷺ when it comes to the fiqh of salah, but to follow him in how he prayed, how he stood before Allah with love, how he stood before Allah and he trembled, how he stood before Allah and he was in tears, and how he stood in front of the one he loved most, Allah. That is what it means, صَلُّوا كَمَا رَأَيْتُمُونِي أُصَلِّي
How Many Ramadans Must Pass?
How many Ramadans my dear brothers and sisters have passed, اللهُمَّ بَلِّغْنَا رَمَضَان How many Ramadans have passed, but our attitude towards salah has not changed. How many Ramadans must pass further for us to not change our habits when it comes to salah.
Oh human, how long does the dunya have to betray you? How many times must you be let down by the dunya, by people, your heart feeling left empty with all of the stresses and all of the problems and all of the troubles that the Muslim ummah is constantly going through. May Allah make it easy for all of them, Ya Rabb.
For how long, oh human, must you turn to other than your Creator?
When the Prophet ﷺ Was Distressed
When the Prophet ﷺ was distressed by anything, he ran to prayer. (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1319)
If the Prophet ﷺ was distressed by anything, anything saddened him, anything brought trouble to him, he ran to Allah. He ran to salah. فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ
"And we certainly know that your chest tightens from what they say." Is there anyone here that has been insulted more than the Prophet ﷺ? Who carries more responsibilities than the Prophet ﷺ? Who shoulders more of a burden than the Prophet ﷺ? None of us can say this.
And when he ﷺ, his chest would be tight, Allah tells him to do four things:
To do Tasbeeh and to do Tahmeed. To glorify Allah and to praise Him. سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ
"And be from those that do Sajdah." He said to be from those that do Sajdah meaning to be from those that pray.
The fourth, "to worship Allah until certainty comes to you." What is certainty? Death.
This is what Isa عليه السلام said, "So long as I am alive, I have been commanded to pray and give zakah."
Musa عليه السلام in his grave, the Prophet ﷺ said on the journey of Isra and Mi'raj. On Isra, he saw Musa قَائِمًا يُصَلِّي فِي قَبْرِهِ. He was standing praying in the life of the Barzakh. The Barzakh is not a place of responsibility. There is no obligation in the Barzakh. He is doing this out of love. He is honored with salah.
If a person worships Allah in the dunya and truly loves it, they will be busy and occupied with those things in the world of Barzakh. I ask Allah to make our lives of the Barzakh رَوْضَةً مِنْ رِيَاضِ الْجَنَّةِ. A garden from the gardens of paradise.
What Do We Do Instead?
So what do we do? How strange it is for us to go through troubles, to go through anxiety, to struggle with our families, to struggle with work. And there's so much on our plates. There's so much that is happening in the ummah. And we turn to everything else other than Allah. We'll turn to friends. We'll turn to social media. We'll turn to YouTube. We'll turn to Netflix. We'll turn to the media. We'll turn to the news outlets. We'll turn to everything but our Creator.
How strange it is that when the cure is right in front of us, we don't take it. وَمِنَ الْعَجَائِبِ وَالْعَجَائِبُ جَمَّةٌ قُرْبُ الشِّفَاءِ وَمَا إِلَيْهِ وُصُولُ How strange it is, how strange it is that the cure is right in front of us but we're not taking the pathway to it.
We ask Allah to make us people of salah.
Your Salah Is Your Relationship with Allah
My dear brothers and sisters, your salah is your relationship with Allah. If your salah is weak, your relationship with your Creator is weak. If your salah is strong, your relationship with Allah is strong.
When those that mocked Shu'aib عليه السلام came to him, they said, "O Shu'aib, does your salah command you that we leave what our forefathers worshipped?" Even the disbelievers knew the importance of the salah. They said to Shu'aib عليه السلام, "Does your salah command you?" What they mean is, does your religion command you? Does your deen command you? But they correlated the deen of Shu'aib عليه السلام and his salah. Because your deen is your salah. Without your salah, where is your deen? Where is the knowledge? Where is the benefit?
Your iman is your salah.
Allah said, that Allah will never waste away your iman. Your iman, as the scholars mentioned here, is talking about the salah that the Sahaba did towards Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, Baytul Maqdis. That Allah will not waste away your salah. You will still get the reward of the salah that you had towards the other Qibla. If your salah is weak, your iman is weak.
Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal said, إِذَا أَرَدْتَ أَنْ تَعْرِفَ قَدْرَ الْإِيمَانِ فِي قَلْبِكَ فَانْظُرْ إِلَى قَدْرِ الصَّلَاةِ فِي قَلْبِكَ "If you want to know the status of your faith, of your iman in your heart, then look at the status of your salah in your heart."
Look at the status of your salah. If you don't enjoy the salah, there's something wrong. If you don't love the salah, something is wrong, something is not clicking.
The Example of Rasulullah ﷺ
And when we look at the example of Rasulullah ﷺ and how he used to pray, it makes us realize we're not praying as we're supposed to be praying.
The Prophet ﷺ would be in the company of his family. He would speak to them. They would speak to him. He would be assisting his family. Salah time comes. كَأَنَّهُ لَمْ يَعْرِفْنَا وَلَمْ نَعْرِفْهُ It's as though he didn't know us and we didn't know him. Salah time comes, nothing, absolutely nothing is more important than my relationship with Allah. Nothing is more important than my relationship with my Creator. I was just with my family. Salah time is salah time.
Once Aisha saw the Prophet ﷺ standing so long in prayer حَتَّى تَفَطَّرَ قَدَمَاهُ until his feet were swollen. And she said to him, لِمَ تَصْنَعُ هَذَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ "Why do you do this?" If the sinners did this, it would make sense. If people that have shortcomings did this, it would make sense. You ya Rasulullah! You, the one who is protected from sin, who people, they want to be granted Jannah, being in your company is Jannah. You ya Rasulullah!
And his response, أَفَلَا أَكُونُ عَبْدًا شَكُورًا "Should I not be a grateful servant?"
Why is it that we look at salah as a chore, something I just want to get done with, rather than this is my relationship with Allah, the one who loves me, created me, and do it from a place of gratitude and love, rather than a place of responsibility and burden. May Allah forgive us, Ya Rabb al-alameen.
The Length of His Prayer
The Prophet ﷺ would pray so long, with so much love and affection with Allah. That Ibn Mas'ud once entered into the Qiyam of Rasulullah ﷺ. And he said, اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ and he started to read Surah Al-Baqarah.
And he says to himself that يَرْكَعُ عِنْدَ الْمِئَةِ "He's going to go to ruku' at 100 ayahs." He kept going, he kept going. يَرْكَعُ عِنْدَ الْمِئَتَيْنِ "Maybe 200 ayahs he'll stop, go to ruku'."
The Prayer of the Prophet ﷺ
And he continues until he finishes Surah Al-Baqarah. And then he continues and then he reads Surah An-Nisa. And then he continues and then he reads Surah Ali'Imran. Over 5 hours the Prophet ﷺ read. And then he did ruku' as long as his standing. Then he stood up as long as his ruku'. Then he did sajda as long as his standing. This is how Rasulullah ﷺ prayed.
And when he prayed every time he'd pass by an ayah of تخويف, he would seek refuge. He wouldn't read empty words. We want to just go through the motions of taraweeh. But he would feel the taraweeh, feel the qiyam. He ﷺ, an ayah of punishment - his heart would tremble. He would ask Allah for protection. An ayah of Jannah, he would ask Allah to grant him Jannah. This is how we must be when taraweeh comes around. This is how we must be in the nights of Ramadan.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1121)
And the Prophet ﷺ, the sahaba described him, you heard - the Prophet ﷺ, the sahaba described the noise that came out of his chest that came from him like the sound of a boiling pot. A sound of someone weeping before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
My dear brothers and sisters, when we come to Ramadan, let us try to pray like Rasulullah ﷺ. Let us not make this another Ramadan where we leave it and our salah has not changed. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us from those that pray in the month of Ramadan.
The Gates of Ramadan
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1899)
The Prophet ﷺ said: "When Ramadan comes, the gates of Jannah are open and the gates of hellfire are closed and the shayateen are locked up."
And a caller calls out in the night. A caller calls out:
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1642)
"O doer of good, come, come to Allah! Come forward with your Salah! Come forward with your Qiyam! Come to Allah, come to the Masjid! It's never too late. Now is the time to be motivated and get ready for the month of Ramadan. O doer of evil, it's enough! Isn't it time that you do tawbah? Isn't it time that you leave behind your sins?"
The Brightness of the Believers
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 136)
The Prophet ﷺ told us: "That my Ummah will be called on the Day of Judgment and they will be bright and radiant." May Allah make us bright and radiant on the Day of Judgment. Why? Why will they be bright and radiant? What will be that Noor? Because of the Wudu that they used to do.
When we think of Salah, we think of the first action of Salah being when we start it. The first action of Salah is when we prepare for it. When you purify yourself. When you do that Wudu. And when you realize that the sins are literally dripping out of you.
Preparing for Allah
Why is it my dear brothers and sisters that when we come to our bosses and when we go to people that we respect and admire in the world, we would never see ourselves coming in pajamas? But when we come to the Masjid or we stand before Allah, it's okay? Isn't that shameful? That the one we're supposed to love most, the one we're supposed to respect most, the one we should honor most, the one who has given us everything in life - that we can't prepare for our meeting with him?
You know one of the great scholars of the last century, Sheikh Abdullah Sirajuddin, he would have a special garment. You know like in Eid, people have that one garment that they save year round, they just want to wear it for Eid? Sheikh Abdullah he had a garment and an imam that he would only wear in private tahajjud because he loved Allah more than others. Why is it that when we stand before Allah we don't have that dedication, that same level of preparation?
The Meaning of Allahu Akbar
And then when you come to Salah and you say الله أكبر - Allah is greater. Greater than what? When we say these words, do we feel it? When we're going to stand in Salah now, are we really feeling it? Or do we say in our hearts the dunya is greater, my work is greater, my family is greater, the responsibilities I have are greater, making money is greater, paying off my home is greater?
When we come to Salah we should say الله أكبر, Allah is greater than anything. Allah is greater than everything. And I must give him my full focus and my full attention. And then build our relationship with Allah.
Du'a for Transformation
I ask Allah to put the love of Salah in our hearts. I ask Allah to make us from those that establish the prayer. I ask Allah to make this a Ramadan that changes our relationship forever with Salah. I ask Allah to forgive us for the Salawat we've missed. I ask Allah to make us from those that pray Isha and Fajr in jama'ah. I ask Allah to make us from those whose hearts are attached to the masjid. I ask Allah to make our children people of Salah. I ask Allah to make our great great great grandchildren people of Salah. I ask Allah to unite us all with our Beloved messenger Muhammad ﷺ and that he sees us bright and radiant.