The Importance Of Nafl Prayers - Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed

The Importance of Nafl Prayers

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Master of the Messengers and the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his family, the pious and the pure, and those who follow them with goodness, and call upon them to the Day of Recompense. And after.

My respected brothers and sisters, respected elders and young students, Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

The Chapter on the Signs of Allah's Love

Imam al-Nawawi, rahmatullah alayh, in his monumental and widely acclaimed and accepted book — beloved to Allah and to the people — Riyadus Saliheen, he has a chapter where he discusses بَابُ عَلَامَاتِ حُبِّ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى لِلْعَبْدِ — the chapter on the signs and indicators that Allah loves a servant of His.

What are those signs that if we find those signs, then they indicate that this person is beloved to Allah, is Mahbub Indallah? And encouragement to adopt those signs, so that we can also become beloved to Allah, and how we can strive to acquire them. So, as is his habit, he begins the chapter with a few ayahs of the Quran, and then he brings different ahadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to back up that chapter heading and prove that point.

The First Sign: Following the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ

The first ayah that he brings is a very well-known ayah, verse 31 of Surah Ali 'Imran. Allah says:

Say, O Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — inform the Ummah, this is an order from Allah to Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the Quran — that إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ, if you claim that you love Allah, if you profess that you are a loyal slave and servant of Allah, then فَاتَّبِعُونِي — then follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Follow the Sunnah in the way of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the best way, the most noble way, the most beloved way to Allah.

As a result, what is the promise from Allah? The promise from Allah is يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ — in turn, Allah Himself will love you. This is the reason why this ayah was quoted here. This chapter is about all of those attributes whereby which we can earn the love of Allah.

How can Allah love us? So over here is mentioned فَاتَّبِعُونِي — follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. As a result, يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ — Allah will love you. وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ — and Allah will forgive your sins.

So a very simple formula is given here to us. How we can earn the love of Allah? How can we become deserving that we become beloved to Allah? Is that we follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. In every aspect of our lives, the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is not limited to when we perform Salah, we perform the Sunnah of our Salah. When we perform Wudu, we perform the Sunnah of the Wudu as well. Or when we go for Hajj and Umrah, we perform it in the Sunnah manner. But even when it comes to our marriages, when it comes to our dealings, when it comes to our clothing, our food, when it comes to all these mundane aspects of our life as well, we find guidelines from the Seerah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, from the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

And we find how the Sahaba radiallahu anhum ajma'een — if you look in the books of Hadith, you'll be astounded how each minute aspect of his life has been recorded and has been transmitted to us safely and soundly throughout the generations and centuries that have passed. Those of his af'al, those actions that he did, ikhtiyariyyah that he chose, those are recorded. Those that are ghair ikhtiyariyyah, those are part of his Shama'il, meaning his natural attributes — how he looked and how he walked. All of those aspects have been recorded for us.

And it depends on how much we are seeking the love of Allah — the more we follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the more we color ourselves in the color of Rasulullah, the more we will become beloved to Allah. This is the message from this ayah: فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ — follow me, Allah will love you.

The Second Sign: The Qualities of the Beloved of Allah

The second one — Allah ta'ala also says: O those who believe, whoever becomes a murtadd from amongst you, meaning becomes an apostate and abandons the Deen, then he will not be hurting Allah in the least. Don't think that you will be hurting Allah by leaving the Deen of Allah. It doesn't make a difference. Allah ta'ala says, Allah doesn't need you; He can replace you with another people. How are these people going to be? These are such people that Allah loves them, and they love Allah.

So again, we see that these are people beloved to Allah. The point of mentioning this ayah is — what are the qualities of these people that are going to be mentioned as follows? If we hope to become beloved to Allah, we have to work hard on adopting these qualities.

Number one, these people are very kind and soft and very humble with the believers. Those who are beloved to Allah are those that are kind to the believers, and soft to the believers, loving and caring to the believers. The best of the people are those who benefit others. They benefit other people, they remove harm from the path of other people. They are always willing to assist other people in whatever way possible. They are not only concerned about "me, myself and I." They are worried about the society, the people at large. They have the genuine concern for the welfare of society.

But in their kindness and their softness, it doesn't mean that they are pleased with kufr and disbelief in Allah as well. No, they draw a red line when it comes to disobedience of Allah. Just like they love for the sake of Allah, they also hate for the sake of Allah. Just like they become happy for the sake of Allah, they also express anger for the sake of Allah. Those who openly defile the orders of Allah, deny the orders of Allah, and are rejecting Allah — then they will speak out against falsehood. They will speak out against batil, speak out against injustice, tyranny, oppression. That is the quality of those who are beloved to Allah.

They strive in the path of Allah with their lives, with their wealth, with their property, with their talents. Whatever Allah has given them, they strive in the path of Allah. They work for the upliftment of the Deen, for the cause of Allah. That is their primary objective in their lives. And moreover, they do not fear, when it comes to the matter of Allah, those who cast blame. They do not fear the criticism of those who criticize, the blame of those who cast blame. Those who object, those who criticize, those who attack — that does not make them give up hope, and they don't become silent because of the fear of criticism. Rather, they speak the truth at all times, at all costs.

The best form of striving in the path of Allah is that a person speaks the truth in the face of a tyrant king. So we have to develop that courage for the sake of Allah. This courage will come if we have that conviction and belief in ourselves first — in the truth of the message of Allah, in His existence, in His being, in His attributes, in His Deen, in His religion. And we have a clear understanding of our purpose — why we are sent in this world, where we came from, where we are going, what is our objective in life. Once these issues have become clear for us, and we have that conviction, we have basira, we have wisdom, then we will be able to have this courage that is required not to be swayed by those who attack. This is the bounty of Allah. He grants it to whomever He wishes. Allah is the one whose knowledge is all-surrounding, all-knowing.

So these are some other attributes whereby which we can gain the love of Allah. Have love and mercy for the believers. Be stern and be strong against those who defy the orders of Allah — when they are spewing out that falsehood, then we do not remain silent, but rather we raise our voice and reject that. The mere minimum is that we leave that gathering.

Allah says in the Quran:

And if you see people who are denying My verses, then you must leave that gathering, turn away from them, until the topic of the discussion changes and they start talking about something else. And if Shaytan makes you forget to leave, as soon as you recall — "Oh, what am I doing? What am I saying? What are they talking about?" — then after you remember, do not continue to sit in the company of those people who are the zalimeen, those who are the oppressors.

And unfortunately, the way circumstances are, we have many opportunities where people might be speaking against Islam. So this is our responsibility to speak up on such occasions. Or at least leave — but it is not permissible for us to remain silent and continue to sit in such a gathering.

The Hadith Qudsi: The Path to Becoming Beloved to Allah

Then moving forward, the first hadith that Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullah alayh mentions, on the authority of Abu Hurairah radiallahu anhu, that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6502)

That whoever harbors enmity and 'adawah, hatred towards a friend of mine, then I have declared war against such a person. This shows the lofty status of being a friend of Allah. The one who becomes a true friend of Allah, a beloved to Allah — that Allah will defend that person, will avenge that person from his enemies.

The Primacy of the Obligatory Acts

وَمَا تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ عَبْدِي بِشَيْءٍ أَحَبَّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا افْتَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهِ — how do we become the beloved of Allah? This is a very well-known and beautiful hadith. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is mentioning this hadith. It is a Hadith Qudsi, on behalf of Allah — he is narrating the words of Allah. Allah says that no one can draw near to Him with anything more dear to Him than carrying out what He has made obligatory upon us.

مِمَّا افْتَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهِ — we sometimes do not realize the value of our fard obligations. Our fard Hajj, our fard Zakah, fard Siyam, fard Salah. All the fard that we have — the obligations — they are so beloved to Allah. Their status is so high in the court of Allah that a long performance of multiple nafl salah can never equal performing two rakat of fard salah. The status of the fard salah is far higher than the nafl salah. The status of the fard zakah is higher than the nafl sadaqah. The status of the fard Hajj is much higher than the nafl Hajj or nafl Umrah that may be performed.

So sometimes we make this mistake that we are negligent in fulfilling the fard and then we focus on the nawafil. And we think we are doing something great. This is a great deception. The first and most important thing as we see in this hadith is that we can never draw closer to Allah with anything more dear to Him compared to the obligatory actions. But at the same time, if we truly desire to be amongst the beloved ones of Allah, we cannot suffice with the obligatory ones either. We cannot regard it to be sufficient — that I fulfill my obligations, my fard, that's it.

The Role of Nawafil in Drawing Close to Allah

Moving forward, in this Hadith Qudsi, Allah revealed to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he is speaking on Allah's behalf:

وَمَا يَزَالُ عَبْدِي يَتَقَرَّبُ إِلَيَّ بِالنَّوَافِلِ حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ — that my slave continues to draw nearer unto me through excessive voluntary acts until I begin to love him. فَإِذَا أَحْبَبْتُهُ — and then when I declare my love for him and I begin to love this slave of mine, كُنْتُ سَمْعَهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِ — then I become his ears by which he hears. وَبَصَرَهُ الَّذِي يُبْصِرُ بِهِ — I become his eyes by which he sees. وَيَدَهُ الَّذِي يَبْطِشُ بِهَا — I become his hands by which he grabs. وَرِجْلَهُ الَّذِي يَمْشِي بِهَا — and I become his feet by which he walks. وَإِنْ سَأَلَنِي أَعْطَيْتُهُ — if he asks anything from me, then I will grant him what he asks. وَلَئِنِ اسْتَعَاذَنِي لَأُعِيذَنَّهُ — and if he seeks refuge and protection from me, I will grant him protection.

This is narrated by Bukhari. So after fulfilling the fara'id, how to draw close to Allah is that we must have nawafil. We must have some nawafil to our credit.

Our Urgent Need for Nawafil

We have to look into our lives — what is the status of our nawafil? In fact, unfortunately, our fara'id have huge gaping holes. We hardly have any time to focus towards nawafil. And we have the concept that "that's just for very righteous people, they need nawafil." In reality, those of us who have deficiencies in the performance of our fard actions are in greater need for nawafil.

As it comes in the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — on the Day of Qiyamah, Allah will take an account of the deeds. And if there is any deficiency in the performance of the fard actions:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 864; also narrated in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 413)

The first action that will be taken into account is Salah, for example. Now in the performance of the Salah, if there is deficiency, then it will be said: انْظُرُوا هَلْ لَهُمْ مِنَ النَّوَافِلِ — look, does he have any additional prayers to his credit? If he has any additional nawafil to his credit, that can be used to fill the gap and make up the deficiency in the fara'id.

How much deficiency do we have in the fara'id? There is a hadith in Abu Dawud:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 796)

A man, he performs the Salah, and he gets up — وَمَا يُكْتَبُ لَهُ مِنَ الْأَجْرِ — and he has no reward to his credit. Only he gets half; some people get half, some people get one-third, some people get one-fourth, some people get one-fifth, one-sixth, one-seventh, one-eighth, one-ninth, some people get one-tenth. Some people get a very minute percentage, some people get absolutely no reward, some people the salah is flung back on their faces like a dirty rag, and for some people they get the full reward.

Now where do we lie in that? Everyone can make muhasabah of his own nafs, and look into his own condition of his Salah. With respect to the external performance of the Salah, with respect to the internal condition of the Salah. With respect to the khushu' of the body parts — are they in line? And the khushu' of the heart — where is the condition of our Salah? So we absolutely are in great need of nawafil. We should have certain nawafil to our credit.

The Secret Nawafil: A Backup Plan for the Day of Judgment

Because one of our mashayikh and elders, he was addressing the students of knowledge and ulama, and he was saying: all of your practices that you do are zahir and apparent to the people. If you are preaching to the people, you are teaching the people, you are giving fatwa, you are writing books, you are leading the congregation — all of these a'mal are apparent. So what if Allah rejects all of it due to there being riya'?

مَنْ صَلَّى يُرَائِي فَقَدْ أَشْرَكَ — the one who performs salah to show others has committed minor shirk. What if everything is rejected? You should have some backup plan. You have to have some backup plan, and the backup plan you need to have in reserve to save you on that day — some nawafil that you perform, and that is a hidden secret between you and Allah. Your nearest and dearest loved ones also don't have to know about it. It should be between you and Allah. Even your beloved family, it's not necessary that they know about it. Even your beloved spouse, beloved children, parents — whatever the case may be. This should be a secret between you and Allah.

On a daily basis, there should be some nawafil action. Whether it's some nafl sadaqah you are giving, whether it's some certain nafl prayer, two rakat — even if it is two rakat, وَلَوْ رَكْعَتَيْنِ — even if it's two rakat, even a few sajdahs, even a few moments of meditation and remembrance of Allah. Anything that is a secret between you and Allah — it is necessary to have that, so that we can climb, insha'Allah, the levels of love of Allah and حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ, become the beloved of Allah.

What Does It Mean that Allah Becomes His Ears, Eyes, Hands and Feet?

What does it mean when Allah becomes the ears, eyes, hands and feet? Allah is above and beyond any of His creation. It means that Allah protects all of these limbs from committing haram. That is one meaning. That Allah ta'ala protects the eye now from looking at haram, protects the ears from listening, protects the mouth from speaking or tasting, protects the feet from walking towards haram, protects the limbs of His servant from acts of disobedience, and ensures that the limbs are used in His obedience. So this is a protection from Allah Himself.

Another meaning is that Allah helps and assists the servant. Just like these body organs are helping us, they are our tools whereby which we fulfill our needs — just like the various parts of the body assist us, Allah will be assisting us. A third meaning some scholars say is that Allah will be quicker to respond to our needs than the reflexes of these body parts. Just like these body parts immediately come to attention whenever Allah has given us His brain and the neural impulses reach the body parts and they move into action — likewise Allah will move into action in defense of, and in fulfilling the needs of, this beloved slave of His.

And at the end, how beautiful is it? وَإِنْ سَأَلَنِي أَعْطَيْتُهُ — whatever he asks from me, I will grant him. Meaning Allah ta'ala will not reject the du'a of His beloved one, and whenever he seeks refuge, then Allah will protect him.

The Beloved of Allah: Loved in the Heavens and the Earth

The next hadith Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullah alayh mentions is:

Whenever Allah ta'ala loves a particular servant of His, then Allah ta'ala calls out — verily Allah ta'ala loves so and so — and Allah ta'ala proclaims His love and He commands Jibreel alayhi salam that you love him. So Jibreel alayhi salam loves this servant of Allah. Then Jibreel alayhi salam, the Sayyidul Mala'ik, the leader of all the angels, he calls out in the heavens: O dwellers of the sky, verily Allah ta'ala loves so and so, so you all also love him. So now all the angels in the sky begin to love this servant of Allah. Then for him acceptance in the hearts of the beloved ones of Allah is spread throughout the earth. So that even all of the people of Allah and the beloved ones of Allah, they start falling in love with this servant of Allah.

Another narration, in Muslim, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2637)

On the other hand, when Allah hates a servant of His, then He calls Jibreel alayhi salam and says: Verily I hate so and so. Then Jibreel alayhi salam begins to hate him as well. Then he calls out to the dwellers of the sky: Verily Allah hates so and so, so therefore you must all hate him as well. Then for him hatred is spread in the hearts of the people on earth.

So this hadith is proven from an ayah in the Quran where Allah says in Surah Maryam:

Those who believe in Allah and they do righteous deeds — then Allah is guaranteeing that He will place their love in the hearts of people. This is the promise of Allah. Allah decrees goodness for that person, guidance for him, showers him with His favours and mercy. All the dwellers in the sky and the dwellers in the earth love him.

So we see the beloved ones of Allah. Now, of course, you might say that the people of the dunya — they don't even know these beloved ones, they don't even know the Awliya of Allah, much less do they love them. So that means that this is referring to the love and the hatred of those whom Allah loves and those who have iman, those that are beloved of Allah. Those who are rejecters of Allah, those who are the kafireen — Allah doesn't even care about their love, nor does Allah care about their hate, nor does their love and hate make any difference.

Because you might find the opposite — there are those who disobey Allah and yet are loved by millions. They have so many fans, and they are flagrantly transgressing the order of Allah. And there may be beloved ones of Allah that are relatively unknown. And you might say, how do you explain that in light of this hadith? That means that all of these fans loving someone doesn't have any value in the eyes of Allah. And the fact that these people don't know a beloved of Allah doesn't make any difference in the status of that person.

What counts is that the people of Allah — those whom they love and those whom they dislike. So those who are beloved to Allah, the people of Allah will love them. The ahlullah will love the ahl of Allah. The beloved of Allah will love the one who is beloved to Allah. And those that are the enemies of Allah — the people who are of Allah, they will dislike the enemies of Allah. So we should not be going after or become influenced by the love and hatred of the people of the dunya.

Conclusion and Summary

And there are other hadiths that are mentioned in this chapter. But to recap — I start off by reminding the audience that alhamdulillah, this was a chapter from Riyad al-Salihin. Imam al-Nawawi rahmatullah alayh, he titled this chapter بَابُ عَلَامَاتِ حُبِّ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى — the chapter on the signs that indicate that a slave is beloved to Allah — so that we can strive to achieve those characteristics.

The first is the ayah of Allah:

If you love, if you want the love of Allah, follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The second — يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ — Allah will love those people who have softness for the believers, who are kind to the believers, and stern against the enemies of Allah when they express their enmity. They strive in the path of Allah. وَلَا يَخَافُونَ فِي اللَّهِ لَوْمَةَ لَائِمٍ — and they do not fear the criticism of those who criticize.

And the final attribute — beyond fulfilling the obligations — we learned in the last hadith that Allah places their love in the hearts of the dwellers of the sky as well as the dwellers of the earth.

Now in conclusion, it's up to us, insha'Allah, to take these points to heart. Make the intention, insha'Allah, that we will follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah. فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ. And make the intention, insha'Allah, that we will become أَذِلَّةً عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ — have kindness and love and compassion for the believers. Be helpful for others.

خَيْرُ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَنْفَعُ النَّاسَ — benefit other people. And be stern against kufr and against falsehood. And speak out against all forms of evil and oppression in any form. أَعِزَّةً عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ. And strive in the path of Allah with whatever He has given us. And in this path, when we face criticism, then we do not deter from that. We continue. وَلَا يَخَافُونَ فِي اللَّهِ لَوْمَةَ لَائِمٍ.

May Allah make us amongst those who fulfill our obligations and are also punctual in nawafil. And we finally reach that level where Allah protects our eyes, our ears, protects our hands and our feet and our tongue from all forms of disobedience. Continues to guide us in His obedience. And Allah grants acceptance for us in the sky and acceptance for us in the earth. These are the signs of the beloved of Allah. We ask Allah to make us all amongst His beloved.