Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 59
59 When I direct you to be regular in Sal ā t , it does not mean that you should say four out of five prayers or thirty - five prayers in a week, or even one thousand, seven hundred and ninety - nine out of one thousand eight hundred prayers in a year. This is not c onsidered being regular in prayers. When I direct you to become regular in prayer, it means observing all one thousand eight hundred prayers in a year. A physical body can survive starvation , but the soul cannot survive it. Even after three days of starvation , your body will still possess some energy. Some people even survive ten to twelve days of starvation , b ut the soul is very delicate and cannot survive even one day of starvation. If you miss one Sal ā t in a year, even that is enough to kill your soul. Due to this reason, learned religious scholars have given the verdict that a n intentionally missed Sal ā t, cannot be offered at a late r time. For instance, if it is time for Zuhr prayer and you intentionally fail to observe it. If you missed your Sal ā t because you are sick, overslept, or due to some other constraint, then that is another matter ; but when it is time for prayer and you purposefully do not observe it , then it ca n never be made up again in your lifetime. In short, even one missed prayer can destroy your spirituality. Some people say that by the Grace of Allah we observe prayers , and yes, if sometimes a prayer is missed, then it is missed. Even though occasionally missing a Sal ā t is not considered Sal ā t. The Holy Prophet Muhammad sa laid so much emphasis on Sal ā t that even he , a kind and gracious person and completely immersed in his love , once said, “I t is my wish to make someone else an Imam [ the person who leads a congregation ’ s prayer service ] , have some men carry firewood on their heads for me, so I can set afire all those houses of the people who don’t offer their Fajr and ‘ Isha prayers in the m osque. ” The Holy Prophet Muhammad sa did not make these comments about those who don’t observe prayers, but this was said about those who observe prayers, and who in accordance to the Qa’ida , do no t come to the m osque to offer Sal ā t. He never acted up on it because there is no compulsion in religion. He said this out of repulsion, for otherwise he was the king and if he had wanted to do so, he could have. From this, we can see that he only said this out of repulsion. He said, “I would like to set fire to the homes of such people. They do not deserve to live in our cities. A child or the sick are allowed to say their prayers at home, but for other men who have no excuse for n ot saying their prayers in the m osque, it is a heavy sin. ”