Salah: The Coolness Of Our Eyes And Key To Divine Connection

Opening

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, and peace be upon His chosen servants, especially upon the Master of the Messengers and the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his family, his companions, and those who follow him.

O my Lord, open my heart and ease my affairs, and untie my tongue so that it may understand my speech.

Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

The Bounties of Allah and the Purpose of Life

My dear respected brothers and elders, Allah Ta'ala has blessed us immensely. Allah Ta'ala has given us so many blessings and bounties. Of these bounties, some of them are physical bounties, and some of them are spiritual bounties. The Shari'ah as a whole is a bounty from Allah Ta'ala. The Deen of Islam is a bounty from Allah Ta'ala. Salah is a bounty from Allah Ta'ala. It's not to make your life difficult. Rather, it's to make your life the way life is supposed to be.

Allah Ta'ala says:

I have not created the race of humans nor the jinns except that they can do my Ibadah, except that they can get my remembrance. So our whole purpose of life — Allah Ta'ala created us — is so that we can get His recognition, so we can live the life shown to us by Nabi ﷺ.

Salah: A Core Pillar of Islam

One of the core foundational things in Islam is Salah. Nabi ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 8; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 21)

That Islam has been built upon five pillars. Number one is a firm conviction and belief that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah Ta'ala, and that Nabi ﷺ is His last and final messenger. The second foundational pillar is the Salah — to establish and perfect the Salah. This is the foundational action of Islam.

Nabi ﷺ said in a hadith:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 3940; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 13722)

That the coolness of my eyes, the happiness I feel, has been placed in the performance of Salah.

The Story of Anas and the Power of Salah

And the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم felt the same way. They felt that the only way they can get their needs dealt with is through Salah. Mawlana Yusuf Sahib in Hayatus Sahabah mentions the story of Anas رضي الله عنه. This one time Anas رضي الله عنه was informed that his own crops and vegetation were not growing, and there was not enough water, there was not enough rain for the vegetation. So Anas رضي الله عنه tells his servant, "Go bring my wudu, bring the water of wudu for me." Then he performs his wudu, properly, slowly, as Nabi ﷺ taught him to. Then he performed two rakat Salah.

Then he turns around and asks his servant, "Do you see anything? Do you see any clouds?" He said, "No, I do not see any clouds." So he said, "Okay, pray two more rakat." He prayed two more rakat Salah. After he finishes those two rakat, he turns around: "Do you see anything?" He said, "No, I do not see anything." The third time he prays the Salah, he turns around: "Do you see anything?" He said, "I see something in the distance. It looks like the wings of birds." So he prayed again, another two rakat. And then he turns around, he says, "Do you see anything?" He saw a bunch of clouds coming. So he tells his servant, "Go on the horse and go see where is the water pouring." And SubhanAllah, the water is pouring directly on his own garden — not in the surrounding areas, just on his garden the water is pouring.

This comes from the concentration and devotion in Salah. Having a true connection to Allah Ta'ala such that you can access Allah Ta'ala's treasures. It's the same Allah Ta'ala that was then, that's now. It's the same Allah Ta'ala. It's the same قَادِر عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْء — the same one who is capable of doing anything and everything. And the same Salah that we have today, it's the very same Salah. But the ruh and the prerequisites are not done the same.

The Key to Jannah is Salah — and the Key to Salah is Wudu

Nabi ﷺ mentions in a hadith that the key to Jannah is Salah. And we all know that keys have specific patterns on them — one key doesn't fit every single door. Every key has a specific pattern. And Nabi ﷺ thereafter says, and the key to Salah is wudu.

Our ulema mention that the biggest factor of us not having khushu' — devotion, concentration — in our Salah is that our wudu is not correct. We do not have the proper etiquettes in wudu. We're not saying the proper du'as in wudu. The amount of focus and concentration you have in wudu — that this is an ibadah, I'm preparing for Salah — that's the amount of focus and dedication you'll have in your own Salah.

When preparing for Salah, the body has to be clean, your mind has to be clean, the area you're praying has to be clean. You have to be calm and collected. It shouldn't be that it's a rush and it's a burden — you run in and out.

Nabi ﷺ said in a hadith that the person who prays Salah correctly and perfects the wudu, perfects the ruku', perfects the sujood, then the Salah will be beneficial for him. As for the one who performs the Salah but does not perfect his wudu, and does not perfect his ruku' and sujood, as well as the positions in between — when he's in qawma, when he's in jalsa, between the ruku' and the sajda, and between the two sajdas — those are also wajib acts of the Salah. If those are not perfected, then the Salah gets wrapped up like a dirty ball. It gets taken up to Allah Ta'ala. Allah Ta'ala will send the Salah back into the person's face, thrown back at the person's face. And the Salah will say:

May Allah destroy you like how you have destroyed me.

So a person who is praying Salah and they're not performing it properly, it could be a means of destruction instead of benefit. Of course the faridah aspect of it will be taken care of — the faridah will be dropped on his behalf. But the reward will not be there. The connection to Allah Ta'ala will be absent. What you can gain from the connection between yourself and Allah Ta'ala will not be there.

Clothing Below the Ankles Invalidates Salah

Another thing that really disturbs our Salah is that we wear our trousers below our ankles — our pants go below our ankles. This one time, a sahabi was praying his Salah. And then after he finished Salah, Nabi ﷺ said:

Go back and pray because you have not prayed.

Then he prayed again, then he came back. Nabi ﷺ said the same thing to him: "Go back and pray because you have not prayed." The third time that happened, the person asked, "O Rasulullah, what am I doing wrong? What's wrong?" Then he said, "Your pants are below your ankles." And as Nabi ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 638)
Allah Ta'ala does not accept the Salah of a person whose garment — his thawb, or whatever it is he's wearing — is below his ankles.

Following the Sunnah in Salah

Following the Sunnah in our daily life is very integral, especially in Salah. The Sunnah method of holding your hands, the Mustahab place to look on the floor — all of these facilitate for us to pray Salah correctly, to pray the way Nabi ﷺ prayed. The way we make Wudu — if we don't make Wudu the way Nabi ﷺ made it, the Salah will be corrupted. The concentration and devotion in the Salah will not be there. The ruh of the Salah will not be there.

The Testimony of a Great Scholar

My teacher, Mawlana Khidr Rahman A'zami, Hafizahullah — for two years I spent with him, and I probably listened to about 15–20 bayans from him. And despite being such a humongous Sheikh of Hadith, having been teaching Bukhari for over 60 years, the one common topic that he always talks about is Salah. He says all of the mafasid and all the troubles we see in the Ummah, the tribulations in the Ummah, is because we do not perfect our Salah.

The Salah is so integral in our life, yet the most basic, foundational thing in our life, we're not perfecting it. We're not taking out time to go learn how to perform Salah properly. We have to attend the masajid, we have to attend the programs. Salah is the key for our life. Salah is the key for Jannah. And even if a single aspect of the key is off, how can you open the door? If even one small aspect of the key is off, how will you open the door?

Finding Connection in Salah Through Understanding

So from before Salah starts, to during the Salah — focusing on the meanings of the Qur'an, focusing on the meanings of اللَّهُ أَكْبَر — that Allah is truly the greatest. If you have these meanings in your mind, that Allah Ta'ala is the greatest:

All praise belongs to Allah Ta'ala, the Most Merciful, the Sovereign of the Day of Recompense — and you have this yaqeen that Allah Ta'ala is responding to me. حَمِدَنِي عَبْدِي وَمَجَّدَنِي عَبْدِي — Allah Ta'ala is having a conversation with us in Salah. When we're reading Surah Fatiha, Allah Ta'ala responds to every single ayah.

If we're just zooming through — الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ — without any care, just trying to finish the Surah, finish the Salah, how is that going to benefit us? How are we going to really feel the connection to Allah Ta'ala? The way to feel the connection with the ayat is learning the ayat, learning the ayat properly, and learning the translation of the ayat — learning with a teacher. These are just a few tips to how you can perfect your Salah.

Closing Du'a

I ask Allah Ta'ala that He grants all of us Tawfiq to realize the importance of Salah. And that Allah Ta'ala alleviates all the suffering of the Ummah. And that He allows all of us to unite upon the Salah.

Second Khutbah — Recitation of Surah Al-A'la (87) and Surah Al-Ghashiyah (88)