Virtues of Prayers (Salat) *
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Hadith – 1 Abu Zar RadiyAllahu `anhu narrates that once the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam came out of his house. It was autumn and the leaves were falling off the trees. He caught a branch of a tree and its leaves began to drop in large number. At this he remarked, 'O, Abu Zar! when a Muslim offers his salat to please Allah, his sins are shed away from him just as these leaves are falling off this tree. (Ahmad) Hadith – 2a Abu Huraira RadiyAllahu `anhu narrates that once the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam asked his companions, 'Do you think that dirt can remain on a person bathing 5 times a day in a brook running in front of his door?' 'No', replied the companions, 'No dirt can remain on his body.' The Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam remarked: 'So, exactly similar is the effect of salat offered 5 times a day. With the Grace of Allah, it washes away all the sins'.(Bukhari, Muslim) Hadith – 2b Jabir RadiyAllahu `anhu narrates that he heard the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam saying: The likeness of 5 times daily salat is as the likeness of a deep brook running in front of the door of a person who bathes therein 5 times a day.(Muslim) Hadith – 3 Huzaifa RadiyAllahu `anhu says that, whenever the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam happened to face any difficulty, he would at once resort to salat. (Ahmad, Abu Dawud) Hadith – 4 Abu Qatada bin Rabiy RadiyAllahu `anhu says he heard the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam saying, “Allah has said, "(O, Muhammad!) I have ordained 5 times daily salat for your followers. I have made a covenant with Myself that whoever is regular in performing his salat at its fixed hour, he shall be admitted into Paradise. Those of your followers, who do not guard their salat, are not included in this covenant." (Abu Dawud, Ibn Maja) Hadith - 5 Ibn Salman RadiyAllahu `anhu says that he heard one of the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam narrating, "When we had won the battle of Khaibar, we began to buy and sell among ourselves the booty that had fallen to our lot. One of us went to Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam and said, 'O, Prophet of Allah, no one else has earned so much profit as I have obtained in today's trade.' How much did you earn? Asked the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam. He replied, 'I kept on selling and buying till I earned a net profit of 300 Oqiya of silver.' The Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam said, "Shall I inform you of something better than that?" He exclaimed, 'Do tell me, O, Prophet of Allah!' The Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam remarked 'Two rakats nafl after (Fard) salat.(Abu Dawud) Hadith – 6 Ammar bin Yasir RadiyAllahu `anhu narrates that he heard the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam saying: "When a person finishes his salat, he gets 1/10th, 1/9th, 1/8th, 1/7th, 1/6th, 1/5th, 1/4th, 1/3rd or ½ of the maximum reward (according to the quality of salat performed by him)."(Abu Dawud, Nasai) Hadith – 7 Abu Huraira RadiyAllahu `anhu narrates, "We heard the Prophet Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam saying, 'The first deed of a person to be reckoned for on the Day of Judgment will be his salat. A person will succeed and attain his goal if his salat is accepted. He will fail and lose badly if it is rejected. If any deficiency is found in his Fard salat, Allah will say (to the angels): "Look for any Nafl salat in his account". Then the deficiency in his Fard salat will be made good by Nafl salat. The rest of the religious practices (viz. Fast, Zakat etc.) will then be reckoned for in the same manner." * The English translation describes the meaning of the Hadith. The scholarly reader is requested to refer to the original Arabic text in the books of Hadith referenced above. |