The Key To Success, SALAH

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, and sufficient is the prayer. Peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.

We have revealed to them the good deeds, the prayer, the giving of zakah, and they were our worshippers.

O my Lord, make me a resident of the prayer, and of my progeny, our Lord, and accept my supplication.

And enjoin your family to pray, and be patient over it. We do not ask of you provision. We provide for you, and the end is for piety.

Sadaqallahul Azeem. Respected elders and brothers, mothers and sisters, and students, assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Almighty Allah, our creator, our nourisher, our provider, the giver of life, the giver of health, the giver of sickness, the giver of death, the one whom in front we have to stand soon when we leave this world.

Allah has given me, given all of us this opportunity to continuously connect ourselves with Him. Although we are so insignificant, our beginning is insignificant, our ending is insignificant. And Allah, in every sense of the word, is the most magnificent, the most pure, the most lofty, the most high.

And what is the connection between, how are we supposed to connect ourselves, our lowly selves with this great Allah, with this magnificent Allah. To Him belongs all the beautiful names.

And praise can never do justice. We can never praise Him properly. We cannot praise Him the way He praises Himself.

We can never truly praise Allah. Rather we say, the way the Prophet said, O Allah, You are the way You have praised Yourself. You are the way You have praised Yourself.

How am I supposed to, how is any human being supposed to benefit and take from Allah's treasures? Allah has given us the gift, a beautiful gift of Salah. And it is this Salah that allows us to, no matter how insignificant we are, to connect ourselves with Allah.

Allah says regarding Salah, that when the Qibla changed, and the Qibla came back to the Sacred Mosque and the Kaaba, Allah says that during the time that you are praying towards the other Qibla, don't think that your Salah has become void.

Wherever you turn, you will find Allah. That Allah who has made the Kaaba, the House of Allah, the Sacred Mosque, the Qibla, He had chosen for some time to make the Al-Aqsa Mosque the Qibla. And that is how it is.

Allah will not allow your faith to go to waste. Notice Allah uses the word Iman. And what is meant here? Salah. Allah is not going to waste your Salah. Allah is not going to allow your Salah to go to waste. But the word has been used as Iman.

Meaning that the Salah, the status Allah given to Salah is that of our faith. That there really is, this is the sign of a person's true faith in Allah when he finds himself praying. When we see in Surah Al-Baqarah when Allah speaks about who will benefit from this Qur'an.

Those who believe in the unseen and perform the Salah and establish, not just perform it. Establish it, Allah says, they will be the ones who will benefit.

Meaning, if I want to benefit from the words of the Qur'an and not simply speak to my co-workers about it. Not simply tell people that this is my Qur'an. But rather actually take the message to heart and bring a change in my life.

One of the things I have to do besides believing in the unseen is to be punctual on my prayers. The Prophet explained the relationship between a believer and Salah. He said:

(Sunan An-Nasa'i, Hadith 3939)

That the coolness of the eyes, the comfort of my eyes in Salah. When a person comes back and he says, home sweet home. When he comes and sees his spouse, when the wife sees her husband, when they see the children, or when you see your, when people earn the whole day they're standing there and working, working in their business. And at the end now they're counting the money.

And it's all there in front. And the teller counts it all up and says, this is how much profit you made. That's the comfort of the eyes.

There's happiness there. At the end of the year when you see the profits. At the end of the year when you see the accounts, etc. For us, that gives us a sigh of relief, comfort, happiness. My effort was paid off. The Prophet, subhanAllah, he would tell Bilal, "Can you please give the Adhan, we're waiting, we're waiting for you so that we can get some comfort."

I'm yearning to hear the Adhan. I'm yearning to, counting down the minutes that I can stand up in front of my Lord and speak to Him. The Prophet showed to us that his relationship with Salat was that of something of the most enjoyable thing that a person can have in his life.

Why will it be enjoyable? It's because a person knows that he's speaking to Allah. And he knows that Allah is also listening back to him. And is willing to most definitely give and grant whatever he's asking.

The Prophet mentioned another hadith. When he was instructing his ambassadors, when they go to different parts of the world and different parts of the Arabian Peninsula, that what should you do? So for example, once when he sent Mu'adh ibn Jabal, he mentioned:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1458)

That, oh Mu'adh ibn Jabal, when you go and you speak to the people and you meet in Yemen, you'll see people who are not of our faith. First thing is you invite them to Allah. Introduce Allah to them. Let them know who Allah is and how He should be worshipped. Once they have gained that faith in Allah and have become Muslims, the second thing that you need to invite them towards is five times daily salah that Allah has ordained for them in their morning and their evenings or throughout their day and their night.

This is the specific instructions given to the ambassador of the Prophet. When the Prophet would send ambassadors, this is how the dawah, when you're inviting people, non-Muslims towards Islam, first is ma'rifah of Allah, knowing who Allah is, and then immediately after that is salah. The Prophet's last words as he left this dunya, "Hold on to your salah and to those whom your right hands possess." "Hold on to your salah and to those whom your right hands possess."

He kept on repeating it until he breathed his last. Kept on repeating it until he could no longer be heard. And that is hold on to your salah, hold on to your salah and pay attention to your salah and take care of your zakah or take care of your subordinates.

These were the last parting words of the Prophet. The Prophet he taught this to his caliphs, his companions, the skills of leadership as well. So Umar ibn Khattab, most known as a very successful caliph from an administrative point of view as well, in selecting the right governors and the right people for various tasks. He mentions that Umar, his companion mentions that whenever he would write to his governors, he wrote a letter. He wrote a letter to his governors.

And he said, this is a governor of an entire state and this is the leader of the believers, the king, the president, the supreme authority over these people after Allah is writing a letter. What do you think he asks them to do? So he says:

(Recorded in Islamic sources regarding Umar ibn al-Khattab's governance)

Verily in my view the most important aspect that I want to see in you, oh my governor is as-salah is prayer. Before you hear tell me how many places you've conquered how much funds are coming in how much usher and zakat is being collected secondary.

The number one thing I want to see in you is how successful you are in establishing your salah. Then he said:

(Recorded in classical Islamic sources)

That whosoever protects his salah whosoever is regular in his salah and adheres to it regularly and properly then most definitely he will be able to protect his deen. His deen will remain intact his entire religion will remain intact whose religion? The one who is punctual on his prayers and does it properly then he will be able to ensure that Allah will protect his deen not just his salah, everything. However, if one is negligent regarding the salah, it is almost most certain that he will become more negligent in other matters.

If a person cannot keep the salah in order then you can't have much expectations that's the idea. As a governor I don't have expectations from you but if you cannot be punctual on something as basic and as simple and something as obvious and as mandatory as this how can I expect you to go beyond this? Brothers and sisters, this is a beautiful piece of advice that he is sharing with a governor we are not governors of large states we are household members we are maybe a leader of our household, we have a little business we have a little job, what not doesn't this rule apply to us? Doesn't it apply to me as well? That if I want to lead a successful household, if I want to lead a successful business, if I want to lead a successful company or what not, small or large I need to first see what is my relationship with my salah. If I have that in order every single day, properly and with concentration, with devotion making sure I'm giving my full into it, then inshallah what will come afterwards will be great and we are so indebted to the likes of Umar who made it very clear when you want to hire someone look at this, this is the aspect how punctual is that person in salah? If a person five times a day is really standing up in front of Allah focused then you know they have what it takes to fulfill your needs, most definitely if someone can be punctual five times a day and will cut themselves off from everything and go and zone out, then your paperwork and your pushing of papers and doing this and that how hard is that going to be? Very easy the training that salah gives us of being able to focus on our tasks at hand, no matter how busy we are, that we're stopping the car it's time for salah, no matter how busy we are, we're enjoying our meal maghrib salah, adhan or we're hungry or we're busy, whatever the case may be, a person says it's now time for salah, I'm focusing on that, that level of responsibility and istihad simply being awake because that's what salah teaches you, there's no such thing as I didn't check my watch a true Muslim, how could he not check his watch a person who's praying his salah, how could he be so lost in his work that he doesn't look at what time it is always he's looking at when's the next salah, especially in winter time, asr maghrib, dhuhr asr maghrib to come back to back, back to back so we're gonna basically be alert salah creates within us a level of awakefulness, a person who's ghafil, who is you know negligent and a person who is lost in his thought, lost in his dreams, daydreaming all day will not be able to be punctual in salah in order for you and I to be punctual, it requires awakefulness and that's what employers want, they want employees who are on top of their game, who are alert who are awake, they know what's happening, they are adjusting to the circumstances, nothing goes by the book, always certain things happen that are unexpected, you want someone who can handle the situation and make a split second decision and that's what salah teaches us that no matter where we are, I'm gonna always be alert about my surroundings where am I? subhanallah, the people who, if you travel with them too the way they will travel, they will set their trips, whether it's train, whether it's plane, whether it's bus every place it's all about my salah take a transit take a stop in a place where I can get down and be able to pray find out, look at the map, you're traveling by road, where are the gas stations or large rest areas I can stop it's a whole trip, it's scheduled around salah so that level of awakefulness which if created within us and realize that Allah is with me Allah is present with me, watching subhanallah, it will ensure that our dunya also will come right people will be happy with us it's mentioned regarding Umar that one day while performing salatul maghrib he got delayed, until two stars became apparent two stars, meaning he it was just a little bit later than his usual time of praying, and he became so upset with himself, why did I delay the salatul maghrib, that he said I need to do something to atone for the sin and he set two slaves free and said this is something which is obviously thousands of dirhams for the delay of my salatul maghrib.

Allah throughout the Quran mentions that this was a dua and an action of the prophets, the prophets all were linked up with salah Allah for example says regarding Ibrahim, Ishaq and Yaqub:

We inspired them to do good deeds and to establish salah and to pay zakat, this was something that we inspired the prophets. Allah speaks about Prophet Ibrahim's dua:

We all, those of us who are parents a day doesn't go by without us worrying about our kids a day doesn't go by of course without making dua for our kids, what is the dua of Khalilullah Ibrahim the bosom friend of Allah, Khalilullah Ibrahim what is his dua, O Allah, what I'm asking you is make me from amongst those who are steadfast in salah and my children as well, and the Prophet Khalilullah is worried about his salah, was he not praying but the idea is istiqam, steadfast is teaching us, Allah is allowing us to eavesdrop into his dua, and say this is what he spoke to me, so you need to learn from that, if this is what he was asking, where do you belong, where am I, where are you we need to be asking Allah that Ya Allah, myself and my children what we need, what we need is your karam and your love and your love, you show it and you express it by allowing us to be steadfast, driving a car or having a beautiful home etc, Allah gives to his biggest enemies, those who deny that he exists those who deny that he exists those ascribe partners to him, they have all the fancy things of this world, more than we do so that is a very clear proof that that is not the sign of Allah's love the sign of Allah's love is a person his heart beats and yearns towards meeting Allah speaking to Allah, standing in front of Allah.

Allah speaks about in the story of Musa when he spoke to Allah he says:

Indeed I am Allah, there is none who is worthy of worship, there is no one who is worthy of worship except for me so worship me, and establish prayer for my remembrance. So the essence of salah is to remember Allah when a person is continuously, five times a day, recharging himself or herself, then the remembrance of Allah is with us, when we are remembering Allah, then we will not be able to make blunders at work, we will not be able to make blunders in our financial transaction we will not make mistakes by hurting someone's feelings, we won't say that which we shouldn't say, we will be aware of our neighbors, Muslims and non-Muslims we will always be conscious that Allah is watching Allah is watching, Allah is watching at the end of the day it boils down to trust what is going to make us not breach the trust, it is the realization that Allah is with me, Allah mentions regarding Maryam, when he gifted her with, and tested her as well with the miraculous birth, Allah asks her to:

That you need, turn to me in worship turn to me in ibadah, and prostrate, and with those who are prostrating. So right now if you want to, in this difficult situation of people accusing you of what they did and you have this child in your hand, and you are saying, I haven't done anything wrong, Allah explains to her, how you should go about doing that, turn to salah, and salah will give you the comfort that is required to be able to handle the situation.

Nabi Luqman, the wise one, he mentions his according to the opinion, his more accepted opinion, that he was not a prophet he mentions some advice or rather his advice is mentioned in the Qur'an to his son:

Oh my dear son, the first advice I'm going to give you, is establish the salah number two:

Then whenever you see, invite people towards good, whatever good is there, invite people towards good, and prohibit from evil, create a good society:

And when you speak the truth, people are not going to like it when you tell people to do good and prohibit them from evil, people may not like that remain patient for that which befalls you because things will happen. First advice, establish the salah from every single prophet that we see, throughout the Qur'an Allah narrates their stories and speaks about how he ordered them and how they also asked Allah to do that.

Respected friends, along with the benefits of the akhira and Allah will give us benefits in this dunya as well. Allah says to the prophet:

Order your family to establish prayer and order your family to perform salah and you also remain steadfast upon it and then he explains the reward:

We will provide you sustenance we will provide you sustenance sustenance will come through salah along with our work, if we want to seal it off and we want Allah to grant us sustenance, this not can happen, many times it is, the Prophet mentioned many a times it is because of the people's sins that Allah blocks off sustenance Allah deprives them of provision Allah deprives them of barakah, because of our own sins, so if we are feeling tight at home, tight in the bank, tight in the pocket, the antidote to that the solution to that, is connect ourselves to salah, and we will see how Allah will inshallah remove that difficulty whether it be the difficulty in wealth or anything else.

Ibn Hajar, may Allah have mercy on him, in his in a commentary of Sahih Bukhari, he mentions beautiful statement, he says regarding the hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 527)

The Prophet was asked about which action is the most beloved to Allah, and the Prophet said to perform salah on time not just perform salah but to perform it on time, is something which is the most beloved action to Allah so he mentions that a person from who remains steadfast he says, most certainly the patience on the guarding of the five prayers and offering them on time and the kindness to one's parents are matters which are binding and continuous and none will have patience on watching the command of Allah except the truthful ones. He mentions that it is only the high level people amongst the truthful ones those who are truly are faithful to Allah who will have the ability to remain steadfast on the salah, and that hadith that talks about salah being the most beloved action, the thing that comes after that is kindness to parents, right being kind to one's mother or father or both so he said, in order to be consistently kind to your parents, and in order to be consistent with your prayers it requires a special type of tawfiq, a special type of Allah's acceptance and that is the part of the truthful ones.

The Prophet was once, was so happy with a companion and he made dua for him because he prepared for him he did his khidmah, served him and so the Prophet asked him ask whatever you want ask whatever you want, amazing the Prophet was so happy he said, ask whatever you want, I'll ask Allah to give it to you so he asks him he says, I want to be with you in paradise subhanallah, jackpot he didn't just ask for jannah he said, I'll be with you in jannah The Prophet, what does he say?

(Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2646)

Assist me in fulfilling this goal of yours I can make that dua, but I need your help for this do a lot of sajdah, meaning perform salah excessively perform salah a lot and inshallah, you'll get that. It's not simply about ask the sheikh for the dua the Prophet, he's asking the Prophet for the dua, but the Prophet is asking the companion for help. Sometimes we mistakenly think that let me just ask people for dua and the work will be done he's asking the Prophet for the dua, but the Prophet says, fine but look at how he says, assist me, can you please help me? help me out with performing salah, with excessive sujud so whether it's whether it is rizq in this world or whether it is being with the Prophet inshallah on the day of judgment, all of that comes with salah.

The Prophet mentioned because we know, we all make mistakes we are all sinners the Prophet mentioned:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 666)

That man whoever performs ablution and wudu and purifies himself in his house then he walks to one of the houses from the houses of Allah to fulfill a fard obligation from the obligations of Allah each and every one of his steps, as every we have step counters nowadays, everyone's counting their steps, let's think about it in this line, you're walking around the house and office at work it's definitely inshallah getting you loose calories which is, we all need that, but walking to the masjid keep that counter alive and look at that and see that, keep that counter on, the Prophet said for every single step that you take one sin will be forgiven, and the next step, a good deed is written when a person performs wudu at home and comes to the masjid to perform salah, the Prophet then says, now that you're in the masjid Alhamdulillah we're here, he says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 425)

That as long as you sit in your spot in which you prayed and you stay there, the angels constantly continue to pray for you, you cannot beat the dua of an angel the dua of an angel, he says O Allah forgive this person oh Allah have mercy upon this person:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 425)

And then he says, as long as you sit in your spot after salah, you have angels who are seeking forgiveness and mercy for you and then he says, if you are waiting, like we are waiting or we wait and before Fard salah we come a few minutes earlier, if you are waiting for salah, that in the books of Allah you're regarded as someone who is praying even if you're simply quietly sitting so these are the countless virtues that Allah has given, my brothers and sisters but with us we realize that along with all the performing of salah, it's not just that, it has to be done properly, it has to be done continuously and it has to be done in congregation, for the men it has to be done in jama'ah, there is something special.

Allah speaks about the masajid in the Quran:

He speaks about Allah's special mercy that descends on the houses these are the places that are being guarded by angels, the angels are blessing are constantly putting blessings upon these houses, when a person comes and performs salah in congregation we will see that not only the reward in the hereafter is multiplied immensely not once, twice exponentially, 27 times that same salah you prayed at home, you come and pray in the masjid in congregation 27 times, but besides that, what worldly benefits we get we are under the protection of Allah we pray fajr salah in the masjid, we are under the protection, everyone is worried nowadays everyone is worried, what's happening, there's so many sudden deaths, there's sudden sicknesses you perform salatul fajr with jama'a in the masjid, you are under Allah's protection, Allah's insurance, Allah's guarantee, no one will be able to harm you unless Allah wills that, this is the best means of protecting ourselves is coming for fajr salah.

The Prophet mentioned that the one who performs the isha salah in jama'a he will get the reward of standing up half of the night in prayer we are weak, we can't do that, but making this one commitment of performing isha salah in the masjid, will give us that reward my brothers and sisters, the masajid are Allah's forts these are the marakes, these are powerhouses if we want electricity in our home you have to be connected to the central power plant, otherwise you are not going to no matter what of a beautiful mansion you build but if you are not connected, there is going to be no lights there, if we want light in our home, we want peace in our home we want comfort in our home, we want happiness in our home we have to be connected to the powerhouse and that powerhouse is the house of Allah, all of these when we distance ourselves from the masjid and we stop frequent to the masjid what happens? shaytan finds within us a very easy target and that's why the Prophet instructed us to hold on to the jama'a, stay with the group, because when the wolf attacks he said when the wolf attacks he doesn't go for the middle of the pack, he looks for that straying sheep that fell behind that's an easy target so that muslim brother or sister that is not connected with the community on a regular basis is on the fringes very easily shaytan will be able to get their hands on them so let us not fall into the fringe, instead let us stay in the middle, the way, the protection if you are in the middle of the crowd with the crowd inshallah you will be protected and if you see people on the fringe who are not frequent in the masjid make it a point to help them out because we all need to look out for each other tomorrow I may be pushed away, today you may be pushed away, if we are constantly be looking for each others, if we are looking out for each others best interest, Allah inshallah you will unite the community our masjid people are always speaking about bolstering the security of masjid, and most definitely we are trying our best to do that and we expect your help your support in that, but my brothers along with all of that, if our fajr salah yesterday, well I'm telling you we had one saff fajr, one saff fajr, we're speaking about ahwal, everyone is saying things are getting bad things are getting bad, I'm worried is this the solution? is this the solution, to have one saff fajr from three saffs, from four saffs two saffs, in Ramadan inshallah we have 13, 10, 12 that's not the solution you and I know this very well, you and I know this very well, yesterday one brother was telling me in Palestine, he said he went, he was going to masjid al-aqsa in the morning he was telling me this story, I don't know if someone told him, personal story, he said he went to the door, and he was trying to get in for fajr salah and they stopped him, the police stopped him and said no, you don't have the paperwork, you don't have this, that, whatever, you're not allowed and he got really upset of course, that definitely does happen and he said, he got tired and started venting, he said, how long are you going to do this to us? and the person said, you know the answer we're going to be continuing to do this until your fajr doesn't become like your jummah crowd your fajr doesn't become like your jummah, you're never going to get anywhere you will always be the underdog you will always be suffering, when you start showing to Allah that you mean it, you want his help, Allah will give you that help, even the disbelievers know this very well and that's why history is so clear about this, that when the disbelievers stood up to the Muslims and they would see in the night what the Muslims are doing, they would send spies out to go see what is the Muslims doing in their camp and when they would see the Muslims standing up in salah, they said it's over, it's no point even taking the salah, let's retreat because it's gone, they have a whole different protection system my brothers and sisters, we need to connect ourselves with salah nowadays, more than ever before, we talked about dua last week now we're speaking about salah, we cannot expect the help of Allah for ourselves in this country and beyond, protection for Allah, success in exams wealth and health, all of that without ourselves proving to Allah, ya Allah, that the one thing you asked me to do, is pray and bow myself down to you a few times a day if I am being bakheel, and I'm being stingy with that, how can I expect as someone said so beautifully mashallah, that do not complain, why does Allah not accept your duas as quickly as you want them to be rather be grateful that Allah doesn't punish you for the sins as quickly as you should be punished, he said do not thank Allah, do not complain to Allah, why are my duas getting accepted as quickly as I want them but thank Allah that we're not getting punished right on the spot, for missing our salah.

I pray to almighty Allah that he makes myself, all of you, and our children, and our generations our spouses, from amongst the muqimeen of salah, from those who establish the prayer, and he allows it, not only pray it, but pray it with concentration, devotion fulfilling all its rights, we hope to almighty Allah that all our masajid can get packed with the musallis, like this and makes all of us pegs of the masjid say ameen, and may Allah allow us to enjoy our salah, may Allah allow us to fulfill the needs of dunya and akhira through our salah, ameen ya rabbal alameen.

Kindly inshallah fill up the saffs and perform the sunnah.