Salah And The Human Desires

                                              

     

Today Without been told, by mere looking at the activities of Mankind.

You will know that Man is Restlessly searching for happiness and joy in the materialistic world. He is disturbing him self-day and night trying toacquire peace and tranquility.

The Modern Technology, latest innovation, luxurious mansions, flashy cars and even profitable Business have not fetched him any

peace rather they are only adding to his tension. 

Why Because we have turned our backs against the orders of the supreme creator and decided to follow our own evil ways and desires.

MAN is lost in a maze of which there is no exit. while these disturbances, confusion, and tension, what is the solution to these problems?

The path of success is only illuminated when a person recognizes the Central place

of God(Allah) in his life and strive to develop his relationship with his Lord(Allah).

Allah the solver of all problems have prepared a remedy for us that will anguish all

the flames of problems in our lives. In Surah Al-Ra'ad(The Thunder) Allah says

: "It is in the remembrance of Allah alone that the heart finds peace"(Q13:28).

The heart is mentioned in the above verse because it serves as the center for all actions. To believe, to disbelieve, to Understand, to comprehend to have tranquility, to feel confused or to feel happiness etc are all functions of the heart.

Shaykul'islam Ibn Taymiyyah(RA) said that many doctors and philosophers have said the mind is in the brain, so we think and understand with our brains and not with our hearts. He then said that the center is the actually the heart. Ibn Katheer(RA) said: The arrogant philosophers say that the minds is in the brain.(Tafsir ibn Kathir vol.4 p.508)

And also the Qur'an says: " They have hearts wherewith to understand"(Q7:179).

Problems are generated from desires.We are warned severally in Qur'an not to follow our own evil desires because it will only lead to our destruction. " So follow not the Lusts(of your heart)''(Q4;135) And equally the Qur'an give Glad tidings to those who do not follow their evil desires "And restrain himself from evil desires, then Garden(of bliss) shall surely be (his permanent)abode.(Q79:40-41) 

 

We are taught in school that the work of the heart is to pump out blood, but what we are not taught in school is that it does not only pump out blood but as it pumps out blood it also pumps out desires. So if you are a type that commits sins regularly, your heart will pump out with its evil desires and vice-versa.

Desires can be classified into two, The natural Desire such like "when you thirsty for water" while the other one is the Desire which the Satan whispers into our heart and we seek refuge from that.

How does the devil get us to commit sin? he does not say to You go and commit Zina and you go ahead and commit Zina, he whispers to Your heart directly because if the heart Accept it, the chances for you to abstain from it becomes limited/few.

And I pause here to ask a question? How do You talk to Your wives, How do You talk to Husbands

or How do You talk to your children when they do something wrong or people in general?

Do You shout at them while speaking to them? Now, wait, the philosophers have said when you talk gently to a person you are speaking directly to his heart(Agreed upon). when you talk gently to a person the chances for him not to do what you want are few.

And this is the method the Shaytan uses to get us to commit sins. Allah said "who whispers into the heart" the word "Whisper" according to the word-web dictionary it means " speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords" Now we can see that the Satan uses the methodology of speaking softly to us when he wants us to commit sins, why? because when you talk softly or gently to a person the chances for him to accept are greater than when you shout on the person.

how comes you don't talk softly to your wives, children, your family? But rather you prefer to use a hard tone and words of command, let me tell you even Iblis does not use words of command against us but rather he pets you with his gentle words until your heart accept his invitation to commit sins.

when you talk harshly to a person the chances for him/her to do what you want are few and even if he does it, it is either he delays it or does it the wrong way, why because the hearts love to be treated gently. It is said in the Hausa language that the heart loves everything that is good towards him(heart) and hates everything that hurts him(heart).

  

It is time for Change, let's change our ways to that of good. 

Now back to previous. How can the heart be at peace? only in the remembrance of Allah(swt).

there are various ways to Indulge iZikirullah(Remembrance of Allah) such as Tilawatul Qur'an (Recitation of the Qur'an)etc. But we are going to look at the best act of remembrance of Allah(swt), which is Salat.

Allah states in Hadith Qudsi: ''Out of all the ways through which my servant gets closer to me, Salat is the dearest to me"(Bukhari). Salah is a gift from Allah to us it as a lot of benefits.

Allah says: ''And establish Salah, Verily salah prevent obscenity and evil"(Q29:4)

in the Above verse, Allah mentions a great benefit of salah which can be enjoyed by the person who performs it. But it is obvious today that after performing Salah five times a day only a few of us benefit from this Gift(Salah), why because we didn't perform it the way it supposed to be performed.

If After regular observance of salah you remained Unmoved, your morals remain corrupt and your conduct remains unaffected positively, then you may question your Conscious on how you have performed your Salah.

First of all, what is your Outlook on salah? why do you pray? because you have to do it

or because others do I, so you have to do it, or because you want it out of your way?

Before you can enjoy the sweetness of salah, then you have to change your telescope from the vantage point to have a better view about why.Salah is important in the lives of every believer.

You must learn to start to "love" to pray not because "you have to" and also nature this in your kids "not because they have to" but because they love it and because it is an act of worship.

A heart at peace is a heart that is able to restrain some of the evil desires and from unleashing the force that aids him to commit sins through the of remembrance of Allah(swt).

Salah is a special Armor to us from Allah anybody who wears it correctly(performs it correctly) then

it will protect him from the strike of the Shyateens.

Allah(swt) said " seek assistance through patience and Salah" and this the sunnah of our Habib Rasulullah(saw). it is recorded in the book of sunnah that the prophet(pbuh) hasten to prayer whenever an affair disturbed him.

how comes we don't practice this sunnah? rather we got to the soothsayers to solve our problems

while they themselves are not free from problems. whenever you have something disturbing you

perform ablution and pray wallah you will see changes in your lives.

Ibn Al-Qayyim(RA) in his excellent book Zaad Al-Ma'aad(provision for the hereafter v4/304-305) he mentioned

18 benefit of Salah Amongst them are:

1.It Causes one to receive sustenance.

2.It safeguards one's physical health.

3.It keeps away harmful things.

4.It cast away illnesses.                            

5.It strengthens the heart.

6.It Brightens one's countenance.                                                                       

7.it delight the soul.                                                                           

8. Its gets rid of laziness.                                                                            

9. It makes the limbs active.                                                                            

10.It increases one's physical strength                                                                         

11.It expands the chest(making one at ease and giving him insight)                                                                                 

12.It Nourishes the heart.                                                                               

13.It Illuminates the heart.                                                                                        

14.It safeguards one's blessings

15.It Repels catastrophes.            

16.It brings blessings.

17.It keeps away Shaytaan

18.It draws one close to Ar-Rahaman(Allah, the most merciful).

I don't think any of you is ready to lose these bunch of blessings. so we must strive to perform salah with khusoo, don't say it is hard, that is another trick of the devil, say to yourself that I will do it by the help of Allah. 

I want you to go the mirror and say to Yourself.

Say to Your self that your life need change and the change will start now.

Say to Yourself that You will die one day and that day might be today! Say To yourself that You love Jannah and you Gonna strives for it "In sha Allah".

I leave you with the Motivational words of instruction of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab(RA) to his governors:

"Indeed salah is the most important of your duties in my opinion.whoever safeguards it and is punctual

upon it, has safeguarded his deed. whoever destroys his salah will destroy the rest of his Deen to a greater extent(Mu'atta Imam Malik)

"Successful indeed are the believers. Those who perform their Salat(prayers) with solemnity and full submissiveness"(Q23:1-2)

May Allah makes from Amongst those who are steadfast about their salat and may he unite us all In Jannahtul Firdaus.