Remembrance of Allah — Page 60
60 Naw a fil [pl. of Nafl— supererogatory Prayers]. Most show indo- lence in offering them. What must be remembered concerning the Sunnan [plural of Sunnah ] is that they have been prescribed so that whatever shortcomings may have been left in the offering of the Far d may thereby be made up because Allah the Exalted does not accept an imperfect S al a t, but rather accepts only the S al a t that is perfect. Thus, if there are deficiencies, then the Sunnan may make up for them. For example, if someone offered S al a t but he failed to main- tain his attention in one of the rak‘ a t [units of Prayer] and various and sundry types of whisperings kept on developing so that that rak‘ a t was not accepted, the Sunnah will replace them so that the S al a t may be completed. As the Holy Prophet s as was very aware of the state of man’s heart and understood these things, it was for this reason that he attached the Sunnah with the obligatory Prayers from himself so that they may compensate for the defi- ciencies in the offering of the obligatory Prayers. And this was a very great favour of the Holy Prophet s as on his Ummah. The Philosophy of Naw a fil Then there are Naw a fil. These are means of attaining nearness to God Almighty. In other words, they take a person beyond just Nij a t [deliverance from sin] and become the means for attaining loftier stations. Thus, anyone desiring nearness of Allah should give special attention to Naw a fil. Then Naw a fil are also of many types. Some are offered during the day; others during the night.