Prayer is the most obligatory of the Five Pillars of Islam next to the Two Testifications of Faith (I bear witness that there is no deity (worthy of worship) but Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger), and it was ordained in the best and the most perfect way for an act of worship. Prayer includes many of the acts of worship, like the remembrance of Allah Almighty, the recitation of the Quran, standing humbly before Almighty Allah, bowing, prostration, supplication, and Takbeer (uttering the words ‘Allahu Akbar’).


Prayer is also the head of the physical acts of worship, of which none of the religions brought by any of Allah's messengers is void. Prayer, unlike all other acts of worship, was enjoined by Almighty Allah on His messenger, Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) the Seal of Messengers, on the night of Al-Mi’raj (the ascension of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention )). This is an indication of its greatness, a confirmation of its being obligatory, and a sign of its high status in the Sight of Allah. There are many hadeeths indicating the virtues of prayer and showing its being obligatory on all Muslim individuals. The fact that prayer is an obligatory act of worship is primarily known in Islam. So, whoever denies this fact is considered to be an apostate.


Linguistically, prayer means invocation; Allah, the Exalted Commands the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) to 'pray' for the believers, and Allah Says (what means): {…And invoke [Allah's blessings] upon them...} [Quran 9: 103]


According to the Sharee'ah (Islamic Jurisprudence), prayer is defined as a special kind of sayings and deeds beginning with takbeer and ending with tasleem (saying ‘assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah’). It is called 'prayer' because it includes invocation. During prayer, the worshipper is in a state of invocation through worshipping Almighty Allah, praising Him, or supplicating Him for something.


This is why it is called ‘prayer’. Prayer was decreed by Almighty Allah on the night of Al-Mi'raj before Hijrah, as five prayers to be performed every day and night at specified times by every legally accountable Muslim. Allah, the Exalted Says (what means): {...Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.} [Quran 4: 103]


Those prayer times are the times pointed out by Allah’s messenger  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) through his words or his deeds. Allah, the Exalted, Says (what means): {And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give Zakah. And that is the correct religion.} [Quran 98: 5]


In addition, through many verses of the Quran, Allah the Exalted Emphasized the importance to establish the Prayer. Let’s see some of the verses regarding with it.


Allah, The Exalted Says (what means):


{And establish prayer...} [Quran: 2: 43]


{[O Muhammad], tell My servants who have believed to establish prayer…} [Quran 14: 31)


{So Exalted is Allah when you reach the evening and when you reach the morning. And to Him is [due all] praise throughout the heavens and the earth. And (Exalted is He) at night and when you are at noon.} [Quran 30: 17-18]


Therefore, it is obligatory for whoever reaches one of the specified times of prayer, being adult and sane, to perform it, excluding women in a state of menstruation or postnatal bleeding. Scholars unanimously agree that it is not obligatory for women in the aforesaid two cases to perform prayer, nor to perform it later after purification. On the other hand, whoever is in a state of unconsciousness, as in sleeping, fainting, and the like, has to perform the prayer at the moment when they wake up or recover to the normal state. Allah, the Exalted, Says (what means): {...And establish prayer for My remembrance.} [Quran 20: 14]


In addition, the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) says: “Whoever misses a prayer out of oversleeping or forgetfulness, let him perform it once he remembers it.”


A guardian of a child has to command him to perform prayer when the child reaches the age of seven, though it is still not obligatory for him. But the purpose is to make the child interested in prayer and used to it. Thus, the child and his guardian will be rewarded when the former performs prayer, for Allah, the Exalted, Says (what means): {Whoever comes [on the Day of Judgment] with a good deed will have ten times the like thereof [to his credit] ...} [Quran 6: 160]


Moreover, when a woman showed the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) a young boy who was with her, saying: “Does this one have to perform Hajj (Pilgrimage), O Messenger of Allah?” He  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) replied, “Yes, and you will have a reward.”


So, a guardian has to teach his child how to perform prayer and how to perform ablution for it. A guardian has also to beat his child if the latter is ten years old and neglects prayer, for the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) said: “Command your children to perform prayer when they become seven years old, and beat them for (not performing) it (i.e. prayer) when they become ten years old; and arrange their beds (so that boys and girls sleep) separately.” [Ahmad, At-Tirmithi, Abu Dawood, and other compilers of hadeeths]


It is also impermissible to perform prayer later than its due time, for Allah, the Exalted Says (what means): {...Indeed prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.} [Quran 4: 103]


The meaning is that prayer has specified times at which it has to be performed. A prayer is impermissible to be deferred except for those who would like to combine it with the following prayer, provided that the said prayer can be combined with another, and that the case is among those in which combining two prayers is permissible as well as the person being one who is allowed to combine prayers in this way. As for delaying performing a night prayer until the morning, a day prayer until the night, or the Fajr (Dawn) Prayer until sunrise, it is by no means permissible, whether the reason is a state of major ritual impurity, minor ritual impurity, or anything else. Rather, one has to perform them at their specified times, regardless of one's state


A person might happen to be detained in hospital where he is confined to a bed that he cannot leave to pray, or cannot change the impure clothes he wears, or cannot find pure earth to perform tayammum (dry ablution) instead of ablution to pray. Some ignorant people in this case defer prayer on the pretext that they will perform it later when possible. In fact, this is a grave mistake and a means of missing prayer whose reason is unawareness and lack of juristic consultation. What they have to do is to perform prayer at its specified times regardless of their states. Their prayer will be sufficient, even if it is performed without tayammum or in impure clothes; Allah, the Exalted Says (what means): {So fear Allah as much as you are able...} [Quran 64: 16


Even if they pray without facing the Qibla (the direction of Qa'bah), provided they are unable to face it, their prayer is still valid


The prayer is the basic pillar of Islam, and the main difference between a Muslim and a disbeliever. So, whatever good deeds one might do are useless if one is negligent of prayer, we ask Almighty Allah for safety.


Allah Almighty Says  (what means): "And when you have completed the prayer, remember Allah standing, sitting, or [lying] on your sides. But when you become secure, re-establish [regular] prayer. Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times." [Quran 4:103


For forty consecutive years, Sa`eed Ibn Al-Musayyib  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him was to be found in the mosque before the Athaan (call to prayer) was made. `Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, became unconscious after he was stabbed, and according to Al-Miswar Ibn Makhramah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him it was said: "Nothing would wake him up except the call to prayer, if he is still alive." So people said to him: "The prayer has finished, O Chief of the Believers!" He therefore awoke and said: "The prayer! I swear by Allah that there is no share of Islam for whoever abandons the prayer." He then performed the prayer while his wound was bleeding.


After Ar-Rabee` Ibn Khaytham  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him became partially paralysed, he would go to the mosque helped by two men. He was told: "O Abu Yazeed! You have been given permission to pray at home." He replied: "You have said the truth, but I heard the caller say: 'Hayya `ala al-falah' (rush to success), and so I thought that whoever hears this call should answer it, even by crawling."


'Uday Ibn Haatim, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Every time the time for prayer arrives, it finds me eager and ready to perform it (i.e. in the state of ablution)."


Abu Bakr Ibn 'Abdullaah Al-Muzani  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "Who is like you, O son of Aadam? Whenever you desire, you use water and make ablution, go to the place of worship and thus enter the presence of your Lord (i.e. start praying) without a translator or barrier between you and Him!"


Abu Rajaa' Al-`Ataaridi  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said on his deathbed: "I am not grieved by leaving anything behind, except that I used to bow down on my face five times a day before my Lord, the Exalted and most Honoured."


Abul-'Aaliyah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "I would travel for days to meet a man and the first thing I would note about him would be his prayer. If he was one who established the prayer perfectly and on time, I would stay with him and hear the knowledge he had to impart. If I found him to be careless concerning the prayer, I would leave him and say to myself that for things other than the prayer, he would be even more careless."


When 'Ali Ibn Al-Husayn  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him would perform ablution, the colour of his face would change. His family asked him why this would always happen and he would reply: "Do you know before Whom I am about to stand (in prayer)?"


Yazeed Ibn 'Abdullaah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him was asked: "Should we make a roof for our mosque?" He replied: "Purify your hearts and your mosque (in its current state) will suffice you."


'Uday Ibn Haatim, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Ever since I became a Muslim, I always made sure to have ablution when the Athaan is called."


'Ubayd Ibn Ja`far  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "I never saw my uncle Bishr Ibn Mansoor miss the first Takbeer (that commences the congregational prayer in the mosque), and whenever any person stood up in our mosque to ask people for help, he would always give him something."


Ibn Sam`ah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "For forty years, I only missed the first Takbeer once, and that was when my mother died. If you know of a man's disinterest in being present in the mosque for the first Takbeer, then wash your hands of him (i.e. know that there is no good in him)."


Sufyaan Ibn `Uyaynah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "Honouring the prayer includes arriving before the Iqaamah (the call that establishes the prayer) is called."


Maymoon Ibn Mahraan  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him was once delayed from coming to the mosque on time. When he did eventually arrive, he was told that the people had already concluded the prayer: "We all belong to Allah and to Him shall be our return! I value the congregational prayer more than being made governor of Iraq," he lamented.


Yoonus Ibn 'Abdullaah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "What is the matter with me? If I lose a mere chicken I feel concerned, but when I miss a prayer in congregation it does not grieve me!"


`Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, once said while standing on the pulpit: "A man may have white hair in Islam (i.e. reach old age while being Muslim), but has not yet completed even a single prayer for Allah the Exalted!" He was asked: "Why is that?" He replied: "Because he does not perfect the prayer's required Khushoo` (solemness) and fails to be attentive to Allah with his heart."


Hammaad Ibn Salamah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "I have never stood up for prayer without imagining that the Hellfire is before my eyes."


Mu`aath Ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, advised his son saying: "My son! Pray the prayer of he who is just about to leave this world, and imagine that you may never be able to pray again. Know that the believer dies between two good deeds: one that he has just performed, and the other that he intended to perform next."


Bakr Al-Muzani  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "If you want your prayer to be of benefit to you then say to yourself prior to it that you may not have the chance to perform another prayer.'"


Shubrumah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "We once accompanied Qarz Al-Harithi on a journey; whenever we would camp down in an area, he would scan it with his eyes and when he found a good piece of land that he liked, he would go to it and pray there until it was time for us to leave."


Al-Qaasim Ibn Muhammad  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "Whenever I went out in the morning, I would visit (my aunt) `Aa'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, and greet her. One day, I found her performing the Al-Dhuha prayer (two unit of supererogatory prayer performs in between sunrise and forenoon) while crying and invoking Allah by reciting one verse from the Quran repeatedly. The verse of the Quran was (which means): "So Allah conferred favour upon us and protected us from the punishment of the Scorching Fire." [Quran 52:27] I stood there until I felt weary, then I left and went to the marketplace, telling myself that I would return to her when I finish. Later, when I did return to her, I found her still standing in prayer, reciting the same verse, and crying and invoking Allah.'"


Maymoon Ibn Hayyan  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "I never saw Muslim Ibn Yasar turn his head while praying, whether the prayer was short or long. Once, a part of the mosque collapsed while he was praying in the mosque and the noise caused people who were as far away as the market to be terrified, but he felt no fear whatsoever and continued praying without even moving his head." He  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him also said: "I accompanied `Ataa' Ibn Rabah for eighteen years. When he became old and weak, he would stand in prayer and read close to two hundred verses from Chapter Al-Baqarah while standing so firmly that no part of him would move."


Abu Bakr Ibn 'Ayyash  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "If you saw Habeeb Ibn Abu Thabit while in prostration, you would think that he was dead due to its extended length."


'Ali Ibn Al-Fudhayl  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "I saw Ath-Thawri go into prostration while praying, and I performed Tawaaf (circumambulation) around the House (i.e., the Ka'bah) seven times before he raised his head from prostration."


'Uthmaan Ibn Abi Dahrash  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "I never performed a prayer without invoking Allah afterwards to forgive me for falling into shortcomings in the way I performed it."


Mu`aawiyah Ibn Murrah  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "I lived among seventy of the companions of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) (may Allah exalt his mention) and had they lived among you today, they would not recognise any of your acts except the Athan!" He  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him also said: "If a man from our predecessors was resurrected among you today, the only thing he would recognise would be your Qiblah (prayer direction)."


When Haatim Al-Asamm  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him was asked about his prayer, he replied: "When the time for prayer draws near, I perform a perfect ablution, go to where I will pray and sit there until I am fully cognisant of what I am about to do. Then, I stand up and pray, imagining that the Ka`bah is in front of my eyes, Paradise to my right, Hell to my left and the Angel of Death behind me. I imagine that it is the last prayer I will ever perform; I stand up in hope of Allah, His Paradise and His rewards, and in fear of Allah's torment in the Hellfire. I then say the Takbeer (Allahu Akbar – Allah is the Greatest) while having full attention. I recite the Quran calmly, bow humbly, prostrate with humility and attentiveness and then sit on my left leg, with my left foot laid on the floor and the right foot raised up - all the while praying with sincerity. Afterwards, I have no certainty about whether that prayer was accepted from me or not."


One of our pious predecessors  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "O son of Aadam! You need your share of this life, but your need of the Hereafter is far greater. If you take care of your share of this life then you will lose your share of the Hereafter, and you will very soon lose your share of this life, too. But if you take care of your share of the Hereafter then you will also win your full share of this life with ease."


Talq Ibn Habeeb  may  Allah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "Allah's rights are greater than the slave's capacity and ability to fulfil them. Therefore, reach every morning in a state of repentance and every night also in a state of repentance."