The Magnificent Journey Part 6

In the previous post, we stopped at the meeting of Rasulullah with Musa a.s. at the 6th heaven on his way down. Musa a.s. asked him what command did he receive from his Lord. Rasulullah SAW said the command of prayer, 50 times in a day. Musa, having lots of experience with a large ummah told Rasulullah that his ummah will NEVER be able to achieve such a feat daily. He tells Rasulullah to go back up to meet Allah and ask for a discount. Rasulullah was hesitant, given his shy nature, and so he turned to Jibril a.s. Jibril nodded in approval of Musa's suggestion, and so Rasulullah went up again to meet Allah Jalla wa 'ala to ask for a discount. Here the reports differ as to how many times he went up and down. Some say 9 times with a discount of 5 prayers each time, some say it was 10 prayers for 4 rounds and 5 for the last. It doesn't matter really, because the end result is 5 prayers(salah) in a day. When Rasulullah SAW came down with 5 prayers, Musa continued to persuade him to ask for a further discount because he said even 5 the ummah will not be able to fulfill, and how right was he?! But Rasulullah said he was too shy to go up to ask for anymore discounts, and upon saying this, Allah said, "I have confirmed my decree, and have made it light for my servant. It shall be five, but rewarded as 50." Subhanallah!

Let us now discuss a few things about salah. Was there no salah before al-Isra'? There was but there is very little information about it in the books of hadith or seerah. Some scholars say it was 2 rakaah twice a day. Certainly the Prophet SAW prayed more especially at night because it was obligatory for him as per the ayaah in surah al-muzzammil. The night prayer was obligatory upon all believers at the beginning, but that prayer was later made optional. After the mi'raj of course, the 5 prayers became mandatory for all believers.

Some may ask, why is it that Rasulullah had to go up and down so many times to get discount? Did Allah not know he was going to ask for a discount? Why not just legislate 5 if that was going to be the end result of the negotiation anyway? Well, the reason for this is perhaps Allah wanted to show us the importance of salah and remind us the reason we were created, i.e. only to worship Him as He says in surah az-zariyaat:


"And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me."

Notice that Allah constructs the verse in a negative form to emphasise strongly that the ONLY reason we were created was to worship Him. Otherwise we would not have been created at all.

And what better way to worship than by performing salah. That's why it  was 50 at first, just to remind us that if Allah had willed, we would probably be praying every half an hour, for that was the reason we were created. However, Allah in His infinite wisdom and mercy reduced it to 5, so we may live our lives properly without too many interruptions. It is only right then, that we perform the 5 obligatory prayers as properly as possible (e.g. men should strive to perform their obligatory prayers in congregation), with full of khusyu', and make the rest of our actions outside of salah, a form of ibadah, by doing them for Allah and in accordance with the sunnah. 

The other important lesson from this incident is the status of salah. All other commandments were sent to the Prophet on earth. In contrast, he was lifted in to the presence of Allah to receive the command of salah. Just stop and think about it for a second. He was raised to a point where even Jirbil could not follow, in the presence of Allah the Most High to receive the command of salah. THAT is how important it is. Salah is indeed the divine link between us and Allah. It is like a string from the sky the prevents us from drowning in the sea of the world. The moment we sever the link, we fall in the depths of the ocean, and continue to sink until we are completely consumed by this world, never able to rise again, wal'iyazubillah. Of course the doors of repentance are always open, and that perhaps a whale might come and carry us back to the surface for us to grab onto the rope of Allah again, as Allah saved Dhun-Noon, but we cannot afford to let go of that string, lest we perish. A beautiful verse in surah maryam speaks about this. This verse comes after a series of verses describing the righteouesness of the previous Prophets and generations.
 
"But there came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires; so they are going to meet evil." Maryam 19:59

The word 'adha'oo' in the verse does not just mean those who abandon prayer completely, but those who let it go to waste which I'm afraid includes many many of us who remember Allah only a little in prayer, who delay it, who pray with laziness, and ultimately abandon it completely.

May Allah save us from being amongst those who let their prayer go to waste. As with all things, dua' is important for we cannot will unless Allah wills. So let us say the dua' of our father Ibrahim a.s., so Allah may guide us to be of those who establish prayer. 
 
"O my Lord! Make me one who performs As-Salât (Iqâmat-as-Salât), and (also) from my offspring, our Lord! And accept my invocation." Ibrahim 14:40

Ameen ya rabb. 

To be continued...