Since Adam alaihis-salam, there was namaz once a day in every religion. All that had been performed were brought together and were made fard (commandment) for those who believe in Muhammad ’alaihis-salam. Although performing namaz is not one of the principles of iman, it is essential for iman to believe that namaz is fard.
In Islam, namaz is the first command after having iman. Allahu ta’ala made namaz fard so that His slaves would worship only Him. Allahu ta’âlâ commands “Perform namaz!” in more than one hundred verses of the Qur’an al-karim. In a hadith-i sherif, it is declared that “Allahu ta’ala commanded to perform namaz five times every day. Allahu ta’ala has promised that He shall put in Paradise the person who performs namaz respectfully and observing the conditions five times every day.”
Namaz is the most valuable of worships commanded in our religion. A hadîth-i sherif declares: “A Person who does not perform namâz has not had a share from Islam.” In another hadith-i sherif, it was stated: “It is namaz which distinguishes the Muslim from the disbeliever,” that is, the Believer performs namaz, and the disbeliever does not. Munafiqs (hypocrites), however, sometimes perform it and sometimes do not. Munafiqs will undergo very bitter torment in Hell. Rasulullah “sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam” said, “Those who do not perform namaz will find Allahu ta’ala angry on the Day of Resurrection.”
To perform namaz is to consider the greatness of Allahu ta’ala and to realize one’s own inferiority before Him. A person who realizes this will always do good things. He will never do evil things. If a person intends to be in the presence of his Rabb (Allah) five times every day, his heart will be filled with ikhlas (sincerity). Every act commanded to be done in namaz gives various benefits to the heart and the body.
Performing namaz in jama’at in mosques will attach Muslims’ hearts to one another. It will bring about love between them. They will realize that they are brothers. The seniors will be affable with the juniors. And the juniors will be respectful to the seniors. The rich will be helpful to the poor, and the powerful to the weak. The healthy will visit the sick in their homes as they will miss them in the mosque. For being blessed with the glad tidings given in the hadîth-i sherif, “Allah is the helper of a person who runs to help
his brother-in-Islam,” they will race one another.
Namaz prevents people from doing nasty, bad and forbidden things. It becomes atonement for sins. In a hadith-i sherif it is declared, “The five daily prayers are like a river which runs before your house. If one washed himself in that river five times every day, there would be no dirt left on him. Likewise, minor sins of those who perform the five daily prayers are forgiven.”
After having faith in Allahu ta’ala and His Messenger ’alaihissalam, namaz is superior to all other deeds and worships. Therefore, it is necessary to perform it by observing its fards, wajibs, sunnats and mustahabs. Our Prophet “sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam” declared in one of his hadith-i sherifs, “O my Umma (Community) and my Companions! A namaz performed by observing its rules completely is the most superior of all the deeds that Allahu ta’ala loves. It is a sunnat of the Prophets. It is loved by Angels. It is the light of ma’rifa, the earth and the skies (Ma’rifa: Knowledge pertaining to Allahu ta’ala’s Dhat [Person] and Attributes). It is the power of the body. It is the abundance of the sustenance. It causes prayers to be accepted. It is an intercessor against the Angel of Death. It is a light in the grave. It is an answer to Munkar and Nakir (Questioning Angels in the grave). It is a shade over one in the Day of Rising. It is a trench between oneself and the fire of Hell. It makes one pass over the Sirat Bridge like lightning. It is the key to Paradise. It is one’s crown in Paradise. Allahu ta’ala has not given anything more important than namaz to the Believers. He would bestow upon the Believers any other worship first if there were a superior one. For, some of the angels are constantly in the qiyam, some in the ruku’, some in the sajda, some in the tashahhud. He gathered all of these in one rak’at of namaz and gave them as a present to the Believers. For, namaz is the head of iman, the pillar of the religion, the word of Islam and the mi’raj of the Believers. It is the light of the sky. It is the rescuer from Hell.
One day, Hadrat Ali could not perform the late afternoon prayer in its due time. Out of his agony, he threw himself to the ground. Moaning, he wept and cried. When our Prophet Muhammad Mustafa “sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam” learned of the situation, with his Companions, he went to Hadrat Ali “radiAllahu ’anh.” When he saw his state, our Prophet, the Master of the worlds, “sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam,” began to weep. He invoked Allahu ta’ala. The sun re-appeared. Our Master Rasulullah “sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam” told Hadrat Ali, “O Ali! Raise your head. The sun is still visible.” Hadrat Ali “radi-Allahu ’anh” greatly rejoiced. He performed his namaz.
One night, Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddiq “radi-Allahu ’anh” had worshipped much and fell asleep towards the end of the night. The time of witr prayer expired. In the morning prayer, he followed our Master, the Prophet. He came to the gate of the masjid, and he cried. He begged, “O Rasulallah! Help me, the time of my witr namaz has lapsed.” Our Master Rasulullah started weeping too. Upon this, Jabrail ’alaihis-salam came and said, “O Rasulullah! Tell Siddiq that Allahu ta’ala has forgiven him.”
One night Hadrat Bayazid-i Bistami “quddisa sirruh,” a great wali, could not wake up for the morning prayer. He wept and moaned so much that he heard a voice, “O Bayazid! I have forgiven this fault of yours. I have given you the rewards of seventy thousand namazes due to your weeping.” Several months later, he was overwhelmed with sleep again. The Satan came and awoke him by holding his blessed foot. He said, “Get up, the time of your namaz is about to lapse!” Hadrat Bayazid-i Bistami asked, “O accursed! How can you do such a thing? You want everyone not to perform his prayer in its due time. Why have you awakened me?” The Satan answered, “You attained the thawab of seventy thousand namazes by weeping on the day you missed the morning prayer. Considering this, I woke you up so that you will attain the
thawab of only one namaz, not seventy thousand namazes!”
Hadrat Junayd-i Baghdadi, a great wali, said, “An hour of this worldly life is better than one thousand years on the Day of Judgement. For, in this one hour, one can do a pious and accepted deed; however, it is impossible to make anything in those one thousand years.” Rasulullah “sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam” said, “Allahu ta’ala will keep a person, who performs a namaz after its time is over, in Hell for eighty hukbas.” One hukba is equal to eighty years of the Hereafter. One day of the Hereafter equals one
thousand worldly years.
Therefore, O my brother in religion! Do not waste your time with useless things. Appreciate the value of your time. Pass your time doing the best things. Our beloved Prophet ’alaihis-salâm said, “The greatest affliction is to pass the time with useless things!” Perform your namazes in their due times so that you will not be sorry on the Judgement Day and you will attain many rewards! In a hadîth-i sherif, it is declared, “Seventy thousand trenches will be opened to a person who has not performed one of the daily prayers in its due time and passed away before making qadâ of it. He will be tormented (in his grave) until the Last Day.” A person who does not perform a namaz within its prescribed time intentionally; that is, if he is not sorry for not performing a namaz while its prescribed time is ending, will become a kafir or he will lose his iman while he dies. What will become of those who do not remember namaz or see namaz as a duty? The scholars of the four Madhhabs unanimously declared that anyone who slights namaz, who does not accept it as a duty will be a murtadd, that is, disbeliever. Also, Hadrat Abdulghani Nablusi stated in his book “Hadiqatun Nadiyya”, in the chapter titled “The afflictions of the tongue” that a person who does not perform namaz knowingly and who does not want to make qada of it and who does not fear that he will be tormented for this reason will be a murtadd, that is disbeliever.
Hadrat Imam Rabbani states as follows in the two hundred and seventy-fifth (275) letter in the first volume of his book Maktubat: You have attained that blessing by teaching Islamic knowledge and promulgating the rules of Fiqh. Ignorance was established and bid’ats were rife in those places. Allahu ta’âlâ has blessed you with affection towards His beloved ones. He has made you a means of spreading Islam. Then, do your utmost to teach religious knowledge and to spread the rules of Fiqh. These two are foremost for achieving happiness, as a means of promotion to higher grades and being causes of salvation. Endeavour! Come forward as a man of religion! Perform amr-i-ma’ruf and nahy-i-munkar and guide the people living there to the right path! In the nineteenth ayat of the Muzammil Sura, it is declared, “For those who want to attain the consent of their Rabb, this is certainly an advice.”