Improving Our Salah: The Foundation of Worship

The Importance of Salah and How to Improve It

Once in a while, we need to take a step back from all the intricate, all the detailed aspects of different aspects of Islam. People may get confused, or they may focus too much on things that don't matter as much as the basics. So sometimes it's good to take a step back and re-evaluate ourselves at the basic level.

One of the most basic and most important aspects of a person's Islam is the Salah. We all know it is the second pillar of Islam. And what importance that the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba had given to it.

It is such a great thing that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned — somebody asked the Prophet ﷺ, which of the actions is most beloved to Allah? And the Prophet ﷺ said:

"The Salah at its appointed time."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 527; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 85)

And a more severe hadith which really emphasizes this importance is that the Prophet ﷺ said that between iman and shirk and kufr is his Salah — that this person who abandons his Salah is on his way to outside of the fold of Islam. And the person who genuinely does not believe that Salah is an action that is fard upon him, he is not a Muslim. So this is such a great aspect of a person's Islam. And we all know this.

But there are some aspects that sometimes we neglect or sometimes we forget. So today, insha'Allah, we'll try and take a step back, re-evaluate ourselves — myself first and foremost and all of us. We should look into our own Salah and see how we can improve it, how we can get it better.

And how do we know that this is something important for us to try and improve? The Prophet ﷺ was once in the masjid, and a person came and he prayed his Salah. This hadith some may have heard before. He came to the Prophet ﷺ and said salam. The Prophet ﷺ responded, and then he said:

"Go back and pray. You did not pray."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 757; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 397)

The person obviously did pray, but the Prophet ﷺ was saying: you didn't do it the way you're supposed to do it, so go back and do it again. The man went back and did this three times. Then after that, he told the Prophet ﷺ, "I don't know how to do it better than this." Then the Prophet ﷺ taught him how to pray.

Because this man was obviously following the normal arkan, the normal movements that we all know. But was he doing it the best way he was supposed to? Was he fulfilling all the different aspects of the Salah that are there for a person to fulfill? That's what he was lacking. So we understand that this is something we can all practice on and improve ourselves.

Point One: Wudu — The Foundation of Salah

First of all, the basics. What do you do before the Salah? Before anything is the wudu. When a person is making wudu, you should try to do ihsan in your wudu. The person who does his wudu properly, then goes to the masjid — every single step he takes to the masjid, he gets a reward for that, a sin is forgiven from him, and his rank is raised higher.

What is the importance of making sure that our wudu is proper? Well, obviously, if the wudu is not proper, then the Salah is not going to be proper. This is one aspect that many, many people neglect — even people who are students of knowledge, even people who may think they're religious. But they forget this one thing, and this is such a detrimental thing: you leave parts of your body dry, and then the wudu is invalid, and then the Salah is invalid. So we all have to make sure that when we do the wudu, we do it properly. We make sure that everything is wet. If we follow the sunnah way of doing wudu, everything will be wet and your wudu will be valid, and therefore your Salah will be valid.

The Prophet ﷺ saw a person who came for Salah, prayed his Salah, then was leaving. The Prophet ﷺ saw just a small amount of dryness on his foot — the amount of a nail was dry on his foot. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: go back, make your wudu, and then pray. The person repeated his Salah, and then it was valid after that. Such a small amount — but this is the importance of making sure our wudu is proper.

And in another hadith, Abdullah ibn Umar رضي الله عنه said that they were travelling with the Prophet ﷺ, and he mentioned that some of them went ahead quickly, rushed ahead, made their wudu, and finished their Salah. Then the Prophet ﷺ, in a loud voice, said:

"Woe to the ankles from the Fire."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 96; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 241)

This is talking about the fact that some of the people who prayed had made wudu very, very fast without paying attention to it, and their ankles were dry. Therefore the wudu was not complete, and therefore the Salah was not complete.

So this is important for us. We have to all think about — wherever a person's body is, those parts which are hard to access, sometimes behind the elbow, sometimes behind your ankles — just check, make sure it's wet, then keep going. There are two things: number one, make sure there are no dry spots before you move on. And when it comes to the feet especially, put your fingers between the toes. This is not some small aspect that doesn't have any importance in the deen. When you put your fingers inside the toes, you're getting that part wet for sure and fulfilling the sunnah of ikhlal, and your wudu is going to be complete.

But there's one more thing to consider here when it comes to wudu: do not let the waswas of Shaitan overcome your mind and make you think you didn't do what you did. When a person has to make wudu, they should follow the sunnah method — do everything properly, put the water where it needs to go, do it three times where it's three times, do it one time where it's one time, and move on. If you did it, you did it. Don't let Shaitan tell you that you didn't.

There is a report attributed to Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak rahimahullah, where he mentions that when it comes to wudu, there is a shaitan that comes to a person called walahan. He mentions: do not let him make your mind mixed up when it comes to wudu. If you did the wudu properly, you did it properly — move on. Don't think about it twice. You checked, you're good. Move on.

Point Two: Praying on Time

Another aspect which is really important when it comes to Salah is the timing of Salah. Every single person understands the different times of Salah. But sometimes, when a person is occupied with work, at home, with the family, whatever they're doing, they will sometimes forget the Salah time right up until the end. They'll rush quickly, make wudu, throw on their jubba — or for the women, throw on the hijab — and make the Salah really quickly. And then the Salah is lacking in many, many different aspects.

We should always try and pray exactly on the time when we're supposed to be praying. For the men, your place to pray is in the masjid — we'll talk about that in the next point. For the women, you pray at home. But don't pray in the last, last moment. Pray when the time is there and you have ample time, and you can pray with itmi'nan and with peace and tranquility in your Salah.

The importance of praying on time cannot be emphasized enough. But this one hadith of the Prophet ﷺ should make it very clear to us:

"The one who misses Salat al-'Asr — it is as if he has lost his entire family and all of his wealth."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 552; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 626)

This is a very strong statement. Just understand it for a moment. Imagine you are driving with your family — your wife, your children, your parents, whoever is with you — and you have a head-on collision. Somehow you got saved, but your whole entire family has passed away. Imagine the sadness that person would feel at that moment. Then the Salah has more importance than that. More importance than that.

You didn't care about your Salah, you didn't make any time for it, you didn't even set aside any time for it, and then it passed by you, and afterwards you say, "Oh, I had to pray. Let me just make up all my Salahs." People sometimes will make up all their Salahs at the end of the day, thinking that that's okay — that they didn't have time, they were at work. It's not about time, it's about priority. If you had a priority for it, you would have made time for it. Whatever you were doing at that time was more of a priority than the Salah for you.

So we have to really consider that. We should all try and make sure that we never ever let that happen — that we pray outside of the time. And the way we do that is by praying in the best time, making that the standard, and not letting ourselves get out of that.

Point Three: Praying in the Masjid in Jama'ah

For the man, the Salah is in the jama'ah, in the masjid. This is the place where the man prays. This is the standard. There's no habit that a person should have where they pray at home. If you live far, far from the masjid, it's a different story. But we know that many of us live close to a masjid — within 5 or 10 minutes. But we don't make it a priority to go to the masjid.

The person might try to be smart and calculate the time: "It takes me 7 minutes to get to the masjid, the Salah will be at least 10 minutes, and then 7 minutes home — that's 24, 25, even 30 minutes. That's too much time. I can't take all that time out of my day just to pray the Salah." Just think about the reward you're getting. Think about the purpose of a person's life — it is to worship Allah. If you're spending more time and more effort in worshipping Allah, don't you think that's the most worthwhile use of your time? Isn't that the best way you should be spending your time?

So we should all make it a priority that our Salah will be in the masjid as much as we can. It's not a fard, but it is important for us to understand what importance the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahaba had given to praying in the masjid.

One example we can understand is what Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه mentions:

"Whoever wishes to meet Allah tomorrow as a Muslim — on the Day of Qiyamah — then he should make sure that he prays all of his Salawat in the masjid."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 654)

And he was reminiscing about the time of the Sahaba and the time of the Prophet ﷺ. He mentions:

"At the time of the Prophet ﷺ, there would not be a single male praying at home or not praying in the masjid, except those few people who were the munafiqun, and everyone knew they were the munafiqun."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 654)

Meaning every Muslim was praying in the masjid. It was a societal environment where every single person would be praying in the masjid — no one prays at home. Even if you're sick, you still try to make it to the masjid. To the point that a person can barely walk — and of course this is not wajib on a person who is that sick to go to the masjid — but at the Sahaba's time, even at that level where they could barely walk, they would ask their companions to pick them up and take them to the masjid. That's how much importance they gave to praying in the masjid.

So we should not think of any small excuses and say, "This is going on, I don't have time, I can't make it to the masjid." Insha'Allah, we ask Allah to give us tawfiq to never, ever miss any Salah in the masjid. And I ask Allah to give me as well.

Point Four: Ensuring the Lips Move During Recitation

Another aspect, when it comes to improving our Salah, is that when you're praying and reciting the different adhkar, the takbirat, the surah — whatever you're reciting — the person should always be making sure that their lips are moving. You don't say it only in your mind; that's not sufficient and it won't count for your Salah. If you don't make any movement with your lips, then that's not recitation. Your recitation needs to have the movement of the lips.

So this is important for us all to reflect on in our Salah. In the last Salah I prayed — in my tashahhud — did I actually say the words, or did I just think of them? Did I say Allahu Akbar or did I just think about it?

Point Five: Following the Imam Properly

Similarly, another aspect we can all think about is when we're praying in the jama'ah behind the imam. One aspect is that we do not go ahead of the imam. Always make sure that you follow the imam — when he does something, then you do it afterwards. You follow him and never go ahead of him. The hadith of the Prophet ﷺ mentions:

"Does not one of you fear that when he raises his head before the imam, Allah will turn his head into the head of a donkey?"

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 691; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 427)

This is such a strong warning. The Prophet ﷺ is warning us of this transfiguration — or transmutation — that could happen to a person, that your head turns into the head of a donkey. Some scholars take this literally; some say it's figurative, meaning the person's intelligence will be taken away. Whatever it is, this is a very strong warning. So we should all make sure that we follow the imam in a proper way.

The reason why this can happen to a person is because he's going so fast, having so much isti'jal — rushing — and not following the imam, not having tuma'ninah in his Salah.

Point Six: Tuma'ninah — Composure and Stillness in Salah

When a person prays his Salah, he should have tuma'ninah — composure, calmness — and in each step, he should finish that thing fully before going to the next thing. Returning to the hadith we mentioned in the beginning about irji' fa salli fa innaka lam tu salli — when the person came to the masjid, the Prophet ﷺ taught him:

"When you stand to pray, say Allahu Akbar, then recite whatever is easy for you from the Quran, then go into ruku' until you have fully settled in ruku', then go into sujood until you have fully completed the sujood."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 757; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 397)

In every aspect, you fully do it. Don't just go up, down — as some people say, "kiss the ground, back to town." That's not how our Salah should be. Rather, we should practice our Salah.

How to Improve — Three Practical Steps

People might think: these are different aspects of our Salah that we need to improve on — how can we do this? There are three things I can say right now.

Number one: You actually take time out of your day to practice this. In your nafl Salah, you take time and you practice. Maybe after Isha Salah, pray two rak'ahs and try your best to make the most amount of focus as you can in that Salah, without getting your focus shifted at all. In each ruku', recite everything slowly — make sure you can hear yourself, obviously not loud, but to the point that it's actually audible. Say everything clearly and don't just mumble the words. Then go up, go down, make sure you're fully down, then get back up. Every single movement — try and make sure you are doing it with itmi'nan. Because you know who you're standing in front of in your Salah, who is watching you in your Salah. So we want to make sure that our Salah is worthy of being accepted by Allah.

Number two: Make dua to Allah to give us this quality, that we are able to pray a Salah like the Salah of the Sahaba.

Number three: We talk about it. We make it a conversation topic — that we talk about our Salah and how it is actually being improved. We are 10, 20, 30, 50 years old — whatever age we're at — and after all these years, if our Salah is the same as it was 10, 15, 20 years ago, then we are not making progress. And think about what aspect of your life this is. This is the most important amal. After iman, this is the most important thing that a person can do. And if you're not giving any importance to it, if you're not improving in it at all, then that's going to be a problem.

So ask Allah to give us all tawfiq, to have khushu' and khudu' in our Salah, to give us tuma'ninah in our Salah, and to make it such that Salah is something that will bring us closer to Allah, and for Him to accept our Salah.

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Du'a Requests

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