Prayer is the First Question on Judgment Day | Hafiz Rehan Chishty

Respected brothers, sisters, and elders, as we often begin on a day like this of Jumu'ah, it is an important time for us to thank Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. There are millions, if not billions, on this planet that are deprived of this blessing, of this ni'mah that Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala has given us without us earning it, which is La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah. And no matter what happened with us between last week and this week, there are millions out there in the world that would pay any cost to take our problems because they view as our problems as such a an upgrade, a benefit, a success over their current state. And for this, we must make shukr to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala that for that our problems are so first world and trivial that there are people out outside of this country in the world that would say, "I would love to have this person's problems." That perspective, inshallah, will reinvigorate our deen and keep our heart and our spirituality in a healthy state, inshallah Wa Ta'ala. I want to touch upon just a reminder for myself first and foremost. And that is centered around the core tenants or the core pillars of our faith. Someone asked, one of our shuyukh, one of our scholars, they asked if a person goes their entire life without uttering La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah, but they believe it in their heart, is that enough? And the person and the scholar said, "Yes, like in theory, may Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala make us among those who frequently say the Shahada out loud, but in theory, yes, you can live your life believing in Allah, believing in the messenger of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala Alayhi Wasallam, but never actually vocalizing it. That's our first pillar. And now we can come to our third pillar, fasting, sawm, in which we are mandated to fast 30 days of the year, but there are exceptions. There are times when we don't have to fast. >> [snorts] >> Similarly for zakat, you have to be above the threshold. You have to be above the threshold to give zakat, otherwise zakat is not mandatory on you. And finally for Hajj, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't tell us to to make Hajj and go go into debt or go into disarray financially. It is do Hajj only if you can financially afford it. So in theory, to be Muslim, you can kind of be exempt to to some extent or the other for four of our pillars. But there is one pillar there is no exemption. This is the one that distinguishes us between Muslim as Muslims versus non-Muslims. This is the one pillar that there are there was an Imam I believe it was Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal rahmatullahi alayhi who held the opinion, and this is not to say that this is factual or this is how we should uphold it, but this is just to show the mindset of the people before us. His mindset was that if you intentionally miss a prayer without a valid excuse, you should recite your shahada again. You should recite your shahada again because this is an act of kufr. Again, this is not meant to make us fall inside of a a deep hole or something. It's just to help us understand the importance of salah in our life. Every single pillar of our deen came from Jibril alayhis salaam to Nabi Kareem Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam except one. There was one that required the miraculous journey of Isra and Mi'raj. There is one that required the ascending of heavens. There is one that required passing the boundary, Sidratul Muntaha, and receiving this gift of prayer from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala directly. It comes in Surah Taha, right? Inni an rabbuka fakhla' na'layk innaka bil-wadil muqaddasi Tuwa. This is when Musa alayhis salaam was instructed to take off his his slippers and Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was in a similar position when he was receiving the gift of prayer. And he kept his shoes on. That is why sometimes you see Muslims praying with their slippers and without their slippers outside. This is kind of one of the one of the tenets of how the scholars decide, "Hey, should we or should we not?" That's a whole different topic. Then Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam comes down with the prayer. But how many prayers in a 24-hour day? 50. That's more than two an hour in a 24-hour day. And we're not even talking about sleeping. And Musa alayhis salaam, you know, the main one of the main characters of the Quran, he's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. 50 is not going to work. You got to go back." And then Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam goes back. 45, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5. At 5, even Musa alayhis salaam is saying, "Go back." And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam at that point says that now I feel kind of shy to go back. I think five is good. We got a 90% reduction, alhamdulillah. The Sahabah Ikram radiyallahu anhum ajma'een, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with them, when they would pray in the masjid and they would say they would make the salaam and they would look around and they wouldn't see someone, they would visit the brother at their house. And they would ask if he wasn't there, they would ask the family or they would ask him directly, like, "Did something happen? Like, are you alive? Are you healthy? Like, we didn't see you in one of the prayers today." This was the Nizam of prayer. And for us, we've kind of turned it into something else. May Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala forgive us and accept us. When Ibrahim Alayhis Salam built the Kaaba, his first his first dua after building it with Ismail Alayhis Salam, the famous dua that inshallah we all make, Rabbi Ja'alni Muqima Salat Wa Min Dhurriyati that ya Allah help me establish the prayer and my descendants, Rabbana Wa Taqabbal Dua, and then accept my dua. One of my teachers, may Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala be pleased with him, he said, "And this statement, this simple statement from those that are close to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, you can talk for hours on this." He said, "Dua is the essence of your worship." Dua is the essence of your worship. But how can you have an essence when you don't have the worship? I'm making dua, Allah is not accepting my dua. Are you praying? One of our local um Alims, when a person would come to them for any issue or anything they were struggling through, the first question 90% of the time was, "What is the state of your prayer?" What is the state of your prayer? Nowadays, you know how we talk amongst ourselves when we meet our friends, our family members, our community members, "How's it going? How's the family? You know, how's job? How's life? School? Etc." When the Sahaba Ikram Radiyallahu Anhu Ajma'in used to meet with each other, they would ask each other, and the scholars of the past would meet with each other, they would ask, "How is the state of your Iman? How is the state of your prayer?" This is called the correct prioritization, respected listeners. And it is it is mentioned in the Quran, it is the promise of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, Inna Salata Tanha Anil Fahsha'i Wal Munkar, that the prayer will protect you from that which is immoral, which is wrong. And why is that? It comes in the Hadith of Rasul Allah Sallallahu alayhi wasallam in a sahih Hadith, I believe it was in Tirmidhi, where he is gathered with his companions and the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam is asking them. He is saying, "If you were to walk outside of your home and there is like a river or like a water water is falling outside your front door or and you're walking in and out of it five times a day, will you be dirty? Will you have any filth or dirt on you?" And the Sahaba Ikram radi Allahu anhu ajma'in, they responded to Sallallahu Rasul Allahu Sallallahu alayhi wasallam. They said, "Of course not. We'd be essentially bathing five times a day. There is no way we could be dirty." And he then Sallallahu alayhi wasallam mentions, "This is the prayer. Five times a day you are coming to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. It will protect you from that which is dirty and immoral because you are turning to him five times a day." There is a scholar, um, might be based in Dallas, might be based elsewhere. I don't want to misquote where he's based. He is in the United States, I know. Uh, Sheikh the Sheikh Mika'il Smith. Maybe we have seen him. He comes to the Bay Area sometimes, too. Um, he said something very beautiful. He said, "You know, when we talk about tawbah, asking forgiveness from Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, tawbah is not I'm no longer doing this action. That's not the literal definition of tawbah. The definition of tawbah is that you turn your attention to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. And that is when you know that your tawbah is accepted. Not in leaving the action that you're doing that is bad or the action you know that, man, I'm probably I'm I'm I'm in an addiction. May Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala protect me, but I'm and I know I'm going to do this tomorrow, but I'm asking Allah for forgiveness today. Just the act of turning to Allah is the tawbah. It's not leaving the action. It is turning your full attention to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. So, when we do that five times a day with our prayer, don't we expect the help, the mercy, and the happiness of our Lord, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala? Indeed, we do. Indeed, we do, but because it is the promise of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He mentions to us that on the day of judgement, when our book of deeds is in front of us, and we are standing before our Lord, and the first question we will be asked is what? What is What was the state, and what was the completeness of your prayer? If that is intact, all of our other deeds will be intact. But, if there are holes and deficiencies in our prayer, then similarly, there'll be holes and deficiencies in our other ibadat. May Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala protect us. May Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala make us among those who are under the arch of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, and make us among those who just as Ibrahim Alaihis Salaam made dua, that we establish the prayer, and our descendants establish the prayer, and Rabbana Wa Taqabbal Dua, and that he accepts our dua. Wa Akhiru Dawana, Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. >> [clears throat] >> Bismillah Rahman Raheem. Respected listeners, we know that what we just discussed is that salah is the line between disbelief and belief. It is the first thing we'll be asked about. It is arguably the the pillar that holds uh the most importance after the shahada. I do want to share just the importance of this a little bit more before we we conclude. There was a man narrate this this story is narrated by Talha ibn Ubaydullah. He narrates that a man came to Alayhi Wasallam, a man from the desert with unkempt hair. So, they're saying that this person was not from among them. He was from a far away place. And they came close to this person and they they could hear this person talking to Alayhi Wasallam. And he asked about Islam. And he said, "How do I be a good Muslim?" And the prophet said, "Five prayers during the day and night." The man asked, "Is there anything else upon me?" Alayhi Wasallam replied, he said, "No, unless you do so voluntarily, but nothing else is upon you." Then the prophet mentioned the fasting of Ramadan. This man asked, "Is there anything else upon me?" The prophet Alayhi Wasallam said, "No, unless you do so voluntarily." Then the man turned to leave saying, "By Allah, I will not add anything to this, nor will I fall short of it." And the prophet Alayhi Wasallam replied, "He has succeeded if he is truthful." So, two lessons here. Number one, he is saying that that's all you need. And number two, if he is truthful, meaning you will actually actually have to do it, inshallah. May Allah make us among those that pray and that establish the prayer and establish the fasting. Allah talks more in the Quran about Successful indeed are the believers. And the the the what comes right after believers, and those who are humbly focused in their prayer. It comes in another portion of the Quran. They the people of paradise in the day of judgement will ask the people of hellfire, why are you in the hellfire? The people of hellfire will scream out. We didn't pray. And nor did we help those that were less fortunate than us. This is important respected listeners. Because we've established the importance of prayer. But it is also important for us to realize that through the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala it is mentioned somewhere along the lines of that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala kept one mercy for this dunya and he has retained 99 mercies for the hereafter. So many of us inshallah through the mercy of Allah will enter paradise. Through the intercession of sal Allah alaihi wasallam, may we be accepted in that intercession will enter paradise. But if our character, if our hearts are not clean then there are many a Hadith that mention that Jannah is forbidden for those people. And a clue for us on how we should operate along with establishing the prayer is what is the lowest form of Iman. We've heard this maybe in Sunday school growing up. What is the lowest form of Iman? My grandmother taught me this and subhanallah toward the end of her life 30 years later I remember we came upon a situation where she explained to me what is the lowest form of Iman and it was right in front of us and I was able to perform it for her. And this was while we were performing Umrah. The lowest form of Iman respected listeners is removing an obstacle in the way of a believer. In the way of anyone actually, not just a believer. In the way of anybody removing an obstacle like a branch, something broken, what have you. The lesson a takeaway for us here is that to be Muslim is not just to sit in the masjid and perform worship in solitude. It's not a solo relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. To be a Muslim means you are a means for your community. To be a Muslim means you are making your community, your environment, your neighbors, your being your making just your presence as a Muslim is making things better around you. And that is why the lowest form of Iman is to remove that obstacle from the way of a person. May Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala allow us to have and emulate the noble character of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. For Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, if we study his Sira, we don't see that he debated people, he forced people to convert. The majority of the Sira focuses on when people saw him, they laid eyes upon him, they said La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah. Like I don't even know this person, but I can see this person how he's praying, how he's worshipping, how he's interacting with his community, and all the other details can be figured out. I want to be what this person is. That is why Abu Bakr Radiyallahu Anhu, when when Islam came, he said, "I believe you. I don't need to hear anything. I don't care if it's not feasible. Angel Jibril came to the cave I don't I All the details we can worry about, I believe you." May Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala make our character like this. When our character is fixed, our devotion is fixed, the help of Allah will come. The help of Allah will come in sha Allahu Ta'ala. It starts with us, respected listeners. If we can incorporate the mindset that this dunya, the problems it has, it starts with me, the world will become a better place. We will end with one final story. In the time of Musa Alaihis Salaam, there was sustenance was stopped by Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. Musa Alaihis Salaam asked Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, he says, "Why has sustenance stopped?" He said, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala replied to him, "There is a person among your ummah who, because of this person and the and the and the bad actions they may have committed, I have refrained sustenance for the for the for the community." Then Musa Alayhis Salam declares this and asks that person to stand up. The person heard this and felt so sad, so shameful, and in that moment in his heart, he asked Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala for forgiveness. And then the sustenance came. And then Musa Alayhis Salam asked Allah, he said, "Who was the person?" And And Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala said, "I'm not going to reveal the person now when they have made tawbah when I did not reveal them in their sin." This story is has an important takeaway. Along with our salah, along with our character, let us embody the mindset that maybe there is something I'm doing and that is why the ummah is suffering. Maybe Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala dislikes something I'm doing so much that the entire community is impacted. Or maybe there is a good action I'm not committing to and because of my reluctance to do so, the community is suffering. If we embody this mindset and make dua, inshallah, the help of Allah will come. The essence of dua The essence of worship is dua. Let us worship, let us make dua, and let us follow the noble character of our beloved Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, Khatamun Nabiyyin, Rahmatal Lil Alamin.