Imaam Ibn Qayyim wrote:
The sign of respecting the obligations
of Allah is guarding their times and limits, inspecting their pillars, obligations
and perfection, eagerness to perform them during their times and hastening to
them at the time of their compulsion, and being sad, depressed and grieved when one of their rights is
missed. An example of this is a person who feels sad for missing the
congregational prayer and knows that his prayer will be accepted from him if he
prays alone, but he has missed twenty-seven rewards. If a
man who engages in buying and selling misses a single deal whose value is
twenty-seven dinars in his town without travelling or having any difficultly,
he would have bitten his fingers in regret and sorrow. So how about every
multiple that congregational prayer multiplies of good, which is better than a
thousand, a million or as Allah wills?
Hence, if a person misses
this gain - though most scholars are of the view that he has no prayer - and
his heart remains calm, devoid of this calamity without panicking because of
it, this shows lack of respect for Allah’s command in his heart. The same
applies if he misses the earliest period of the prayer, which is pleasing to Allah
the most High or misses the first row that Allah and His angels send Salaah
upon those on its right side; and if a person were to know its merit, he would
have fought with sword for it or draw a lot.
Similar to this is missing the
congregational Prayer that has several worshippers, the (reward of) the prayer
is multiplied by the abundance or fewness of the congregation; the larger a
congregation, the dearer it is to Allah. In addition, the more footsteps, the
better; one footstep will wipe away sin while the other will elevate in degree.
Another instance is the lack of humility in Prayer and the presence of heart in
front of Allah while performing it, which is the spirit and essence of the
prayer. A prayer without humility or presence of heart is like a dead body that
is bereft of soul. Would a servant not be shy to offer a dead slave boy or
slave girl to the Creator? What does this servant think will happen if such
gift is intended for a king, a leader or similar individual?
Likewise is the prayer that
is devoid of humility, presence of heart and devotion to Allah the most High,
it is similar to this dead slave that he intended to offer as a present to some
kings. For this reason, Allah will not accept it is from him and if he misses
an obligation from the rulings of the world, he will not be rewarded for it.
Hence, a person will not gain anything from his prayer except what he
comprehends from it as recorded in the Sunan and Musnad Imam Ahmad that the
Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said: “A
servant may offer a prayer and nothing will be written for him except half of
it, or one third of it or one fourth of it or one fifth of it until it reaches
one tenth of it.”[1]
Source: Al-Waabil as-Sayyib min
al-Kalim at-Tayyib, p. 23 by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may Allah have mercy on
him).
