Categories Of The People Who Offer Salat

Salat is indeed the first thing that we will be asked about on the Day of Judgment. If we succeed in it, then the rest of our deeds would be looked into. But if the Salat is considered a secondary matter, then you should know right from now, that it is the loss in this world as well as in the Hereafter. My brothers, you shall draw a parallel between your Salat and the criteria described by Imam Ibn Qayyim.

He said: "People in the Salat have five categories:

1. Excessively unfair to himself i.e. the person who impairs it’s Wudu (ablution), timing, bounds and precepts.

2. Who upholds its superficial timing, bounds and precepts as well as its Wudu. But he fails to control devilish insinuations and gets obsessed with delusions and wicked thoughts.

3. Who upholds its bounds and precepts and strives hard to get rid of devilish insinuations and wicked thoughts. He is busy in battling his enemy, the Satan, to refrain him from stealing his Salat and is therefore in a Salat as well as in a struggle.

4. Who when gets up to offer Salat, duly completes its rights, precepts and bounds. His heart is wholly engaged with caring for its bounds and rights, so that nothing of it is lost. His utmost concern is to perform it perfectly and completely. His heart is preoccupied with Salat and worshipping his Lord, the Blessed and Exalted.

5. Who when gets up to offer Salat, performs it in the way of category 4. But in addition to that, his heart takes the right position before Allah, the Almighty. Looking to Him with his heart, filled with feelings of his love and sublimity as if he sees and witnesses Him. Those delusions and thoughts are terminated and the curtain between him and his Lord is lifted. His Salat as compared to others is as much greater and superb as the distance between the sky and the earth. He in his Salat is preoccupied by his Almighty Allah, as is liable to, and thus cooling his eyes with the Salat.

The first category is liable to be punished. The second will be called to account for. The third may be pardoned. The fourth will be recompensed and rewarded and the fifth is close to Allah, the Almighty. He shares the pleasure with those for whom the Salat is made a source of great delight. Who is delighted with his Salat in this world and he will have the pleasure of proximity to the Almighty Lord in the Hereafter. His eyes are privileged to envision Allah and become amiable to all eyes. And whose eyes are not cooled with the proximity of Allah, the Almighty, he sighs over the mundane pursuits with no avail. It is narrated that when the worshipper gets up to offer Salat, the Almighty Allah says:

“Lift up the curtains.” When he is heedless, He says, “Drop them”.

This heedlessness is interpreted as turning away of the heart from Allah, the Almighty to others. When it turns to others, the curtains are dropped. The Satan gets in and puts before him mundane things which are brought before his eyes as in a mirror. If his heart remains focused on Allah and does not turn away, Satan has no power to intervene between Allah and that heart. Satan can only enter when the curtain is dropped. If he reverts to Allah and his heart is heedful again, Satan runs away. When he is inattentive again, Satan comes back and so such situation persists between him and his enemy in the Salat.

My Muslim brother, you stand in one of the five categories.  It is upto you to choose in which category you would like to be.  After you complete your Salat, stay in your place and remember your Allah, the Almighty in serenity, humility and humbleness. Remember the saying of the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) when he passed by a grave. He said:  

“Whose grave is this?” They said, “Of so-and-so,” then he said, “Two Rak‘at were more preferable to this person than the rest of your world”. (Reported by At-Tabarani)

Did you see my brother and sister?  Two Rak‘at are more preferable to that deceased from the rest of the world. So what is the matter with us that we do not give that much importance to Salat?  And why do we run along with the rest of the world to view for this ephemeral world and we do not care if our food is from lawful or unlawful means? And remember, my Muslim brother, the Hadith of the seven types of people who will have Allah’s shade over them on the day when there will be no shade except His shade. And one of them is:

“...the man whose heart remains attached to the Mosques”. (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

He is rewarded so because he loves to live with Allah in His House. He recites His Qur’an, soothes his tongue with His Remembrance and wishes to meet Him, the Almighty.

So after the Salat, stay in your place and remember your Lord, Allah, the Almighty  with humility and humbleness to make sure that the recompense of the Salat is written for you, because you do not know whether it is accepted or not! For instance, if you wish to please your boss when you present him the task assigned to you. Don’t you show him that you have taken much pain to accomplish it perfectly and excellently? How would you feel when this job is rejected and thrown at your face? It indeed demands a constant self-appraisal when it comes to worship. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

 “When a person makes Wudu in a perfect manner, gets up to offer the Salat and perfectly performs Ruku‘, Sajdah and recitation; his Salat says to him, ‘Allah may protect you as you have protected me.’ Then his Salat ascends to the heaven and it has flashing light. The doors of the heaven are opened for it allowing it to get to Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, and it intercedes for the worshipper. But if he impairs the Wudu (ablution), Ruku‘, (bowing) Sajdah (prostration) and the recitation, the Salat says to him, ‘Allah may ruin you as you have ruined me.’ Then it ascends to the heavens and the doors of heavens are shut before it. Then it is folded just like a worn out garment and is thrown at the face of its owner”.