Sulaimaan and the Sunnah Salaah

Ask our children:

1. How many rakaats are sunnah mu’akkadah to perform with the five daily fardh salaah?
2. What is the meaning of sunnah mu’akkadah?
3. What is the virtue of performing these sunnah mu’akkadah rakaats?

Now tell them the story:

Sulaimaan was a boy who would always perform his five daily salaah on time. In fact, since he was nine years old, he would make sure that he went with his father to the musjid for every salaah. When performing the fardh salaah in the musjid, he would stand with the other boys, behind the row of the adult men, and perform his salaah properly, without playing or talking in salaah like some of the other children who were naughty and playful.

However, Sulaimaan had one weakness – he was lazy to perform the sunnah mu’akkadah rakaats before and after the fardh salaah. Instead of performing the sunnah rakaats before the fardh salaah, he would chat to his friends outside the musjid in the car park, and after the fardh salaah as well, he would go with his friends to the car park and chat to them.

One day, Sulaimaan went to the home of his friend, Mus’ab, for the first time. When he got to Mus’ab’s home, he was amazed at how big and fancy it was! The garden was beautiful, and the house had everything a person could want! It even had a swimming pool! Sulaimaan spent the afternoon with Mus’ab, after which they went together to the musjid for the asr salaah.

After asr, Sulaimaan sat in the hifz class, but he was too distracted to learn anything! He sat in his place, behind his desk, daydreaming about Mus’ab’s big and beautiful home! After a few minutes, Moulana Muhammed noticed that Sulaimaan was daydreaming and asked him, “Sulaimaan! What are you thinking about?”

Sulaimaan got a shock and realized that he had been daydreaming instead of learning his work! He felt bad, because it was disrespectful to sit in front of the Qur’aan Majeed and daydream, thinking about other things. He answered Moulana’s question and spoke the truth. He said, “Moulana, I was thinking about Mus’ab’s house! His house is so big and beautiful!”

Moulana asked him, “Sulaimaan! Would you like to have a house like Mus’ab’s house?” Sulaimaan replied, “Jee! Definitely!” Moulana then said, “Sulaimaan, that house is a house of the dunya. If you ask Mus’ab and his father, they will tell you that something in the house is always troubling. Something always needs fixing, something always needs painting, and something always needs to be changed because it is broken. The houses of this world are not worth us running behind them. As long as Allah Ta‘ala has kept us comfortable, we should be happy. Let me tell you about a far better home than any home you can find in this world!”

Moulana Muhammed then said, “The best home for you to get for yourself is a palace in Jannah! The palaces in Jannah never break, never get old, never need any fixing and never ever give any trouble. The bricks of these palaces are from gold and silver. The palaces in Jannah will never ever have cockroaches, rats, mosquitoes or bed bugs in them. They will never need to be cleaned, vacuumed, dusted, swept or mopped because they never become dirty. They are so beautiful that you will never tire of looking at them, and they will never lose their beauty. The palaces of Jannah are far bigger and far more comfortable than the houses of this world – and the best part is that you do not need any money to buy a palace in Jannah!”

As Moulana spoke, all the children in the hifz class were picturing the beautiful and amazing palaces of Jannah, and were wondering how they could get these palaces for themselves! Sulaimaan could not contain himself and asked, “Please tell me Moulana! How can I get this palace for myself?”

Moulana replied, “In the blessed Hadith, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said that the person who performs the twelve rakaats of sunnah mu’akkadah salaah everyday – Allah Ta‘ala will build for him a palace in Jannah.” As soon as he heard this, Sulaimaan felt guilty – he knew that he was lazy, and now he realized how much he was losing out by not performing these sunnah rakaats!

Next, Moulana Muhammed asked the class, “Who can tell me when these twelve rakaats are performed?” Mus’ab put his hand up and said, “I know Moulana! They are two rakaats before Fajr, four rakaats before Zuhr, two rakaats after Zuhr, two rakaats after Maghrib, and two rakaats after Esha, before the witr.”

Moulana Muhammed was pleased and said, “Masha Allah! Well done!” Then, Moulana said, “If a person makes a habit of not reading these rakaats of sunnah mu’akkadah salaah, and he has no excuse, then he will become sinful. These sunnah mu’akkadah rakaats are important, as Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) would be particular about performing these rakaats.”

Finally, Moulana Muhammed smiled and said, “That means that instead of chatting to our friends in the car park before and after salaah, and making a noise that disturbs all the other people in the musjid who are performing salaah, we should take out the time to perform the sunnah mu’akkadah salaah.”

Sulaimaan smiled and knew that though Moulana Muhammed was speaking to the whole class, this message was for him. Sulaimaan was happy that Moulana Muhammed had spoken to them and corrected his weakness, because now he knew how to be a good Muslim, and how to get a palace in Jannah!

From that day on, Sulaimaan made sure that he always performed all his sunnah mu’akkadah salaah and never left it out.

Lessons:

1. There are twelve rakaats of sunnah mu’akkadah salaah to perform every day. Besides these rakaats, there are also other rakaats which are sunnah ghair mu’akkadah and nafl. We should also try to perform these rakaats so that we can receive more reward from Allah Ta‘ala.
2. Sunnah mu’akkadah means that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) was very particular about these actions. Sunnah mu’akkadah is very important for a Muslim, and a Muslim should not leave it out without an excuse.
3. The person who performs the twelve rakaats of sunnah mu’akkadah salaah every day, Allah Ta‘ala will build for him a palace in Jannah.