Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
Ask our children:
- Which is the most important pillar of Islam after imaan?
- Where should men perform their salaah?
- When it is time to go to the musjid for salaah, what should we do?
- Is it correct to make our own jamaat at home when there is a musjid in our locality?
- What is the benefit of looking after salaah?
There was once a pious man named Saalih who was a shopkeeper. Saalih was not a haafiz of the Qur’aan Majeed, and he was not an Aalim of deen, but he had one outstanding quality in his life – he always tried his best to perform every salaah in the musjid with jamaat. In fact, Saalih showed so much of importance to salaah that he would go to the musjid early, to make sure that he could read his sunnats before salaah, and get the salaah with the Takbeer-e-Tahreemah (the first takbeer) in the first saff.
One day, Saalih was locking his shop, at the time of the zuhr azaan, so that he could go to the musjid for salaah. As he was locking his shop, a non-Muslim man came running to him and said, “Please open for me! I need to buy something!” Saalih said to the man, “I cannot sell you anything now. I will come back after thirty minutes, and I can sell to you whatever you need at that time.”
The man tried to convince Saalih to open his shop for him saying, “I have come to buy goods for R20 000! Do you know how much of money you will lose if you don’t sell to me?” Saalih pointed towards the musjid, and referring to the azaan, he said, “Can you hear that sound?” The man listened, and nodded when he heard the azaan. Saalih said, “My Allah is calling me, and what He is offering me is worth more than millions. I can lose some profit in my business, but I am not prepared to lose the reward my Allah has promised me.”
Saying this, Saalih politely excused himself and went to the musjid for salaah. Saalih knew that Allah Ta‘ala is the One who provides money – not his shop. He needed to obey Allah Ta‘ala, by going to the musjid for salaah, for then Allah Ta‘ala will provide him with whatever is meant for him, and Allah Ta‘ala will place barakah and blessings in it as well.
On coming to the musjid, Saalih made wudhu, stood in the first saff, and performed his four sunnats of zuhr. Then, he silently recited some tasbeeh until the time of salaah. After the fardh salaah was complete, he performed his two sunnah and two nafl rakaats, and then went back to his shop.
When Saalih reached his shop, he was surprised to find that the man was waiting patiently for him! The man said to him, “After you left me and went to the musjid, I went to three other shops, but nobody had what I am looking for! I had to come back to your shop and wait for you!”
Saalih praised Allah Ta‘ala, as Allah Ta‘ala had shown him that Allah Ta‘ala will look after him if he looks after his salaah.
One day, Saalih’s friend, Suhail, said to him, “Saalih! I am going deep-sea fishing tomorrow! Why don’t you join me?” Saalih said to him, “That sounds nice! What time are you going?” Suhail said, “We are leaving after maghrib. We will read esha at the harbour docks, and then we will get onto the boat and leave.”
Hearing this, Saalih said to Suhail, “But there is a musjid close to the harbour! Why are you reading salaah at the harbour docks?” Suhail replied, “The boat leaves at esha time. If we go to the musjid, we will miss the boat.” Saalih said to him, “I can miss the boat and I can miss the fishing, but I cannot miss my salaah with jamaat in the musjid! If we make our own jamaat and read salaah, despite the musjid being so close to us, then Allah Ta‘ala will not be pleased with us and we will not get the reward for our salaah!”
Unfortunately, Suhail did not want to change or cancel his fishing trip, despite Saalih advising him, so Saalih told him to carry on, as he would not be joining him.
It is said that how you live is how you will pass away. Saalih was a man who showed importance to salaah throughout his life. His whole life was shining with the noor of salaah, and so when it was time for him to leave this world, he was in the musjid, and the Angel of Death took out his soul while he was in salaah. What a wonderful ending! May Allah Ta‘ala make us all people of salaah, and may our ending also be blessed – ameen!
Lessons:
- Salaah is the most important pillar of Islam after imaan.
- Men should perform the five daily fardh salaah in the musjid with jamaat. We should come to the musjid early so that we can get place in the first saff, perform the sunnats before the fardh salaah, and get the salaah with the Takbeer-e-Tahreemah (the first takbeer).
- When it is time to go to the musjid for salaah, we should immediately stop what we are doing and get ready to go to the musjid. We should not be having a braai, or playing sports, or having fun at the time of salaah, where we leave out going to the musjid for salaah.
- When there is a musjid in the locality, we must go to the musjid for all our salaah. We must not perform salaah alone at home, or in the shop, or make our own jamaat and perform salaah at home or in the shop. If we do this, we will not get reward for our salaah.
- If we look after our salaah, by performing the five daily salaah with jamaat in the musjid, Allah Ta‘ala will look after us, protect us and make earning our livelihood easy for us.
