Levels of prayer

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

"And mankind, with regard to their performance of prayer are in five levels."

The First:

The level of the one who is negligent and wrongs his soul. He is the one who falls short in performing ablution properly, performing the prayer upon its time and within its specified limits, and in fulfilling its essential pillars.

The Second:

The one who guards his prayers upon their proper times and within their specified limits, fulfills their essential pillars and performs his ablution with care.

However, his striving is wasted due to whisperings in his prayer so he is taken away by thoughts and ideas.

The Third:

The one who guards his prayers within the specified limits, fulfills their essential pillars and strives with himself to repel the whisperings, thoughts and ideas.

He is busy struggling against his enemy (Shaitan) so that he does not steal from the prayer. On account of this he is engaged in (both) prayer and jihad.

The Fourth:

The one who stands for the prayer, completes and perfects its due rights, its essential pillars, performs it within its specified limits and his heart becomes engrossed in safeguarding its rights and specified limits, so that nothing is wasted from it.

His whole concern is directed towards its establishment, its completion and its perfection, as it should be. His heart is immersed in the prayer and in enslavement to his Lord, the Exalted.

The Fifth:

The one who stands for the prayer like the one mentioned above. However, on top of this, he has taken and placed his heart in front of his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, looking towards Him with his heart with anticipation, (his heart) filled with His love and His might, as if he sees and witnesses Allah.

The whisperings, thoughts and ideas have vanished and the coverings which are between him and his Lord are raised. What is between this person and others with respect to the prayer, is superior and greater than what is between the heavens and the earth.

This person is busy with his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, delighted with Him.

The first type will be punished;

the second type will be held to account;

the third will have his sins and shortcomings expiated;

the fourth will be rewarded;

the fifth will be close to his Lord,

 because he will receive the portion of the one 

who makes his prayer the delight and pleasure of his eye.

Whoever makes his prayer the delight and pleasure of his eye, will have the nearness to his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, made the delight and pleasure of his eye in the hereafter.

He will also be made a pleasure to the eye in this world since whoever makes Allah the pleasure of his eye in this world, every other eye will become delighted and pleased with him.

(From my mailbox)

I'tidal اعتدال

Sesudah selesai melakukan rukuk diteruskan dengan I`tidal iaitu bangkit berdiri tegak dengan mengangkat kedua tangan sampai ke telinga dengan jari-jari terbuka seperti ketika TAKBIRATULIHRAM seraya membaca TASMI’.

(After completion of the bow do I`tidal namely stood upright with both hands lifted to the ear with the fingers open just like when TAKBIRATULIHRAM while reading TASMI.)

Ketika berdiri tegak, mata tetap ditujukan ke arah sujud .(tempat sujud)

(When standing upright, the eyes must still be directed towards the prostrate. (Place of prostration))

Du’aa of Istikhaarah

(youtube by ummsuhayb : here )

Beautifully recited by Mishary Raashid al-'Afasy.

Here is the Arabic of the du'aa:

اللهم إني أستخيرك بعلمك ، واستقدرك بقدرتك ، وأسألك من فضلك العظيم ، فإنك تقدر ولا أقدر ، وتعلم ولا أعلم ، وأنت علام الغيوب . اللهم إن كنت تعلم أن هذا الأمر- ويسمي حاجته - خير لي في ديني ومعاشي وعاقبة أمري فاقدره لي ، ويسره لي ، ثم بارك لي فيه . وإن كنت تعلم أن هذا الأمر شر لي في ديني ومعاشي وعاقبة أمري فاصرفه عني واصرفني عنه واقدر لي الخير حيث كان ثم أرضني به

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Here is the English Transliteration of the du'aa:

[Allaahumma innee astakheeruka bi'ilmik, wa astaqdiruka biqudratik, wa as aluka min fadlikal 'atheem, fa innaka taqdiru wa laa aqdir, wa ta'lamu wa laa a'lam, wa anta 'allaamul ghuyoob. Allaahumma in kunta ta'lamu anna haathal amr. -here you mention your need-. Khayrun lee fee deeni wa ma'aashi wa 'aaqibati amree faqdirhu lee wa yassirhu lee, thumma baarik lee fee. Wa in kunta ta'lamu anna haathal amr sharrun lee fee deenee wa ma'aashi wa 'aaqibati amree fasrifhu annee wasrifni an waqdir li al-khayra haythu kaan thumma ardineebi.]

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And here is the English meaning:

O Allaah, I seek Your counsel by Your knowledge and by Your power I seek strength and I ask You from Your immense favour, for verily You are able while I am not and verily You know while I do not and You are the Knower of the unseen. O Allaah, if You know this affair -and here he mentions his need- to be good for me in relation to my religion, my life, and end, then decree and facilitate it for me, and bless me with it, and if You know this affair to be ill for me towards my religion, my life, and end, then remove it from me and remove me from it , and decree for me what is good wherever it be and make me satisfied with such.

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Jabir bin Abdullaah –RadhiAllaahu anhu- said 

"the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- used to teach us al-Istikharah (a prayer said for seeking blessings in carrying out a decision) for all matters, just like he used to teach us a chapter from the Qur’aan, he would say: If any of you intends to undertake a matter then he should pray two Rakah other than an obligatory prayer then he should say the Du'aa of Istikhaarah.

Ibn al-Qayyim -Rahimullaah- said:

‘So the purpose of al-Istikharah is to rely upon Allaah and entrustment to Him and the capability to fulfill the action with Allaah’s Capability, His knowledge. And that Allaah chooses good for His slave, and this is from those things which necessitate being pleased with Allaah as the Lord. As a person will not taste the flavour of Eemaan if he does not have these things (reliance, entrustment etc), and if he is pleased with destiny after al-Istikharah then that is a sign of happiness.’

[Taken from ‘Za’ad al-Ma’aad’ by Ibn al-Qayyim 2/443-445]

Shaykh Muhammad bin Umar Bazmool said:

‘That al-Istikharah is not done when a person is uncertain about the matter at hand; because the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- said: ‘If any of you intends to undertake a matter’ and that the whole of the Dua’ indicates to this point.

So if a Muslim is uncertain about a matter, and he intends to pray al-Istikharah , then he should make a choice between the two matters and then pray al-Istikharah , and then after al-Istikharah he executes that matter, and if it was good then Allaah will make it easy for him and bless him in that, and if it was not good for him, then Allaah turns it away from him and makes easy for him that in which there is good by the permission of Allaah -Subhanahu wa Ta’ala.

[Taken from: ‘Buggeeyat al-Mutattawa’ fee salat at-tattawa’ p.105]

Who passes in front of a praying person...

Abul-Juhaim `Abdullah bin Al-Harith
(May Allah be pleased with him) said:

The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said,

"If the person who passes in front of a praying person,
realizes the enormity of the sinfulness of this act,
it will have been better for him to wait
forty than to pass in front of him.''

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

[The narrator was not sure whether
the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said forty days, months or years.]


Commentary:


We learn from this Hadith that it is a great sin to pass before
a person who is offering Salat. People should also take care that
they do not offer Salat without placing a Sutrah in front of them.
A Sutrah refers to anything that a person sets up in front of him;
this could be a stick, another person praying in front of him or
even a line which he can draw on the ground. The distance between
the person offering his Salat and the Sutrah should not be more
than approximately one meter and a half. If the distance is longer
than this, then it is not unlawful to pass before someone offering Salat.

Mistakes Done In Sujud

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By: Mashhur Hasan Al Salman


(Source: The Clarified Ruling Of Mistakes Done In Salat)


While being in the State of Sujud, some muslims abandon the Sunnah of Tajafi which is to lift one’s belly up wards away from one’s thighs and one’s arms away from one’s sides as far as possible provided one does not cause inconvenience to the one next to him.


It also includes that one lifts one’s arms from the ground putting only his hands on it at the level of his shoulders or ears not at the knees.





However, a muslim must not exaggerate in doing Tajafi by straightening his back to an extent that he looks like the one lying on the ground. This is indeed a detested exaggeration.(3)


Tajafi must be done in a moderate manner; stretching not one’s back too much nor huddling oneself too much.




Some muslims behave like animals in their Salat the thing that indicates their sense of carelessness towards it.


Some of them may look here and there like a fox does, spread their arms on the ground like lions, do their Salat so quickly in the same manner a crow does when eating, stick to a certain place in which one does his Salat like a camel does regarding his resting place, sit on one’s buttocks spreading one’s feet like dogs do when they sit, or moving one’s hands to the left and to the right when reciting Taslim in the same manner horses move their tails.


Ibn Al-Qayyim said: ‘Our Shari‘ah prohibited that a muslim act in the same manner the Kuffar, animals, demons, bedouins or women [as for men] act. While being in Salat, we [muslims] are also forbidden to act in the same manner animals or the ignorants behave.(4)





’Anas (Radhi Allaahu Anhu) related that the prophet (Sallalahu Alahi wa Sallam) said: ‘Straighten your selves when doing Sujud; never spread your arms on the ground as dogs do’.(5)


Explaining this hadith, Imam An-Nawawi said: ‘The hadith means that when prostrating, a muslim must put his hands on the ground lifting his arms a way from it and totally a way from his sides that his armpits could be seen in case they were uncovered. This manner of doing Sujud is recommended by all ‘Ulamah, if it was abandoned one incurs a sin upon himself but his Salat is valid, Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) knows best.






The ‘Ulamah stated that the rationale behind such a manner of doing Sujud is to show complete submission [to Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala)] and it gives a sense of activity. On the other hand, spreading one’s arms on the ground -like dogs do when they sit- cast a sense of carelessness towards Salat and not being fully given to it’.(6)


It is of Sunnah that one’s feet be erected in Sujud, heels be close together and toes be directed to the Qiblah.(1) Unfortunately, this Sunnah has been abandoned by many muslims. I hope that these few lines get them to remember it and put it under application. May Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) guide us to follow his prophet’s (Sallalahu Alahi wa Sallam) Sunnah.


It is also a mistake to put one’s fists on the ground when doing Sujud as some people do and so is the case with putting one feet on the other.


May Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) guide us and them to the right.







(1) Narrated by Ibn Khuzaimah in his “Sahih” (vol. 1 / p. 322) (no. 638), through a good chain of narrators as is mentioned in “Sifat Salatun Naby” (p. 149).

(2) See: “Sifat Salatun Naby” (p. 149).

(3) See: The article titled “Tanbihat ‘Ala Ba’dil ’Akhta’ Allaty Yaf‘aluha Al-Musallin Fi Salatihim” by shaikh ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abdir Rahman Al-Jibrin, published by “Al- Mujtama’ magazine (issue no. 855).

(4) Al-Furusyyah (p. 10). See: “As- Salat wahukmu Tarikiha” (p. 143).

(5) Narrated by Al-Bukhari in his “Sahih” (vol. 2 / p. 301) (no. 822).

(6) “Sahih Muslim” Sharh An-Nawawi, (vol. 4 / p. 209).