Guidelines to help
you Observe Fajr Prayer
Most surely all praise belongs to
Allah, we praise Him and we seek His Aid and Forgiveness. We seek
refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the evils of
our actions. Whomsoever Allah guides there is none to misguides and
whomsoever He misguides their is none to guide. I send prayers and
blessing upon our leader Muhammad with the best of prayers and the
most complete submission.
One of the ill-seeming phenomena and most serious precedents boding
impending danger and punishment, giving reason to fear and calling
for most urgent consideration on our part requiring immediate
investigation into its causes and treatment of its symptoms is the
fact that a growing number of observers of prayer deliberately shun
Fajr prayer in congregation and only perform it at times other than
its lawful time.
It may be the case that this is due to their wasting away long hours
at night engaged in idle and leisure pursuits. Our ancestors not
very long ago used to make a point of going to bed early, to lock
their doors after Ishaa prayer and to make their dinner light so as
to be able to wake up for Fajr prayer in an energetic state. That is
why they led a happy, peaceful and healthy life experiencing the
real taste of life.
The advent of modern civilisation spoiled both our religious
observances and our worldly arrangements. As a result, we have
fallen into laziness and inertia; our bodies grew fat and flabby; we
move about less frequently whilst showing a greater readiness to
sleep and a marked inability to perform the most trivial of manual
actions.
The present paper attempts therefore to suggest ways which may be of
help in inducing us to wake up for Fajr Prayer; for instance:
ONE
To make sure to go to bed early as the Prophet (SAW) used to
discourage sleep before performing Ishaa prayer and especially
engaging in conversation after it. Certain cases were excepted, some
of which are enumerated by Imam Nawawi in his explanation of
Muslim's account. Nawawi(rh) says:
The reason why conversation after it is discouraged is the fear lest
it leads to staying awake for long , which might induce drowsiness
and difficulty with observing night prayers or Subh [dawn] prayer in
their permitted, preferred or best times. The topics covered by this
restriction are all fulfilling no good useful purpose. However, as
to useful verbal activities, such as the pursuit of knowledge,
listening to the wise tales of righteous people, talking to one's
guest or bride, or members of one's family for the sake of company,
interacting with travellers with a view to protect themselves and
their goods, embarking on talks designed to conciliate between
people or intercede before them in a good cause or to enjoin good
and forbid evil and admonish people by pointing to a beneficial
course of action to follow etc... there are no such restrictions.
TWO
To be assiduous in observing the Aadaab [good manners prescribed in
Islam] as to what to do before sleep such as making Du'aa
[supplication], bringing one's palms together, very mildly spitting
into them and reciting the last three soorah's of the Qur'aan into
them and then wiping them over one's face, head and body, being
physically and religiously pure and performing a two rakah voluntary
prayer after wudhoo [ablution]. A Muslim has to ask his wife,
parents, relatives or neighbours to help waking him up. Once waken
up, he should not linger lazily for long in bed, lest he acquires
the vices of the hypocrites who come to prayer showing ample signs
of laziness and lack of enthusiasm.
THREE
To fill one's heart with faith and good deeds. Once faith is alive
in the heart, it induces the person to do good deeds and strive
unremittingly hard. Faith is like a tree which only yields good
fruit when irrigated from the streamlets of good deeds, thus
bringing about an improvement both in personal conduct and at the
interactional level with society at large. The lack of such
streamlets or water supplies proportionately causes faith to wither
and wilt. The heart is highly sensitive to external hardening
stimuli, such as excess food or drink or aberrations in watching or
listening (letting your eyes and ears loose to what is unlawful for
them). You should therefore protect your heart from such external
allurements.
FOUR
To keep away from Ma'aasi [acts of disobedience to Allah] by
protecting the eyes, the tongue, the hearing and all the senses from
indulging in the perception of objects that Allah has made unlawful
for us. As an alternative, one should concern himself with matters
pertaining to the worship of Allah, such as devoting one's sight to
the reading of Allah's Book, meditating over the creatures that
Allah has created in this universe, reading books of knowledge etc.
One member of the rightly guided early generations was asked about
the reason why people found it difficult to uphold voluntary prayers
at night. He answered: "Your sins have shackled you". No doubt sins
can be a major cause for a persons inability to enjoy the blessings
of piety. As Imaam Ibn ul-Qayyim said, sins are wounds and some
wounds can be fatal.
FIVE
To bear in mind the great reward for attending Fajr prayer in
congregation on time, and the strong rebuke for him to fails to
observe it and to satisfy its conditions. Uthmaan ibn 'Affaan(RA)
related:
I heard Allah's Messenger (SAW) say: "He who prays Ishaa in Jamaa'ah
[congregation] is as if he has prayed for half the night . As to him
who (also) prays Fajr in congregation, it is as if he has prayed all
night." [Muslim]
Similarly, Bukhari and Muslim and An-Nasaaee related on the
authority of Ibn Mas'ud (RA) that he said: The case of a man who
slept all the night up to sunrise (without waking up for Fajr) was
related to the Prophet (SAW) whereupon he said: "That was a man in
whose ear Shaytaan has urinated", or he said "in both his ears".
The urinating is literally true, as Imaam Qurtubi says, since
Shaytaan urinates and has sexual intercourse and procreates in a
manner that Allah alone knows (Fath-ul-Baari 3/28). To ascertain for
yourself the truth of this assertion, look at the faces of those who
come to deal in their daily business without having prayed Fajr in
congregation at due time; look at their faces at working hours. You
will surely ask Allah for refuge from a lot as miserable as theirs.
But, after all what do you expect from a person in whose heart
Shaytaan has urinated!!!
SIX
To realise the bad effects resulting from one's failure to pray Fajr,
such as the melancholic and depressive state of mind and the loss of
many religious and worldly benefits, and the good effects resulting
from managing to perform it. In this respect the Prophet (SAW) said:
"Shaytaan ties three knots on the crown of any one of you in your
sleep. He says upon each knot that he ties: "You have a long night
before you, therefore sleep". But if you wake up and mention Allah,
Most Exalted in remembrance one knot will be untied. If you then
make ablution another knot will be undone. If you then proceed to
pray the last knot will be disentangled. Thus, you will feel in the
morning energetic and in good spirits. Otherwise you will feel in a
despicable state, lazy". [Bukhaaree, Muslim and Abu Dawood]
The time following Fajr prayer is full of goodness and blessings.
Imam Tirmidhi narrated upon the authority of Al Ghamdi that the
Prophet (SAW) said: "O Allah bless my Ummah in its early rising!"
and whenever he dispatched an expedition or army he sent them early
at the beginning of the day. Sakhr was a merchant who always sent
his merchandise early in morning thus, becoming wealthy (Tirmidhi).
That is why we find the craftsmen and traders are particular about
making good use of this time. Those who sleep up to the late morning
have denied themselves the blessings of this early hour.
There are many benefits to the health derived from waking up for
Fajr prayer. For instance, the highest proportion of ozone gas (O3)
in the atmosphere is registered at dawn. It then gradually fades
away until complete disappearance by sunrise. This gas has a very
beneficial effect on the nervous system as it vivifies the brain and
energises the muscles such that when a person inhales the beautiful
breeze of the dawn, known as the sabaa wind, he will experience a
pleasure that is unparalleled at any other time of the day or night.
SEVEN
To lose no time to categorically clear yourself from the stigma of
hypocrisy. Because of the difficulty of waking for this time,
praying Fajr in congregation provides evidence that a person has
firm faith and is free from hypocrisy. That is why in a hadeeth
narrated by Bukhaaree and Muslim, the Prophet (SAW) said:
"Indeed, the most difficult of prayers to bear, for the hypocrites,
are Ishaa [night] and Fajr prayers. If only they knew what they are
missing , they would sooner come, even if crawling on their knees".
The most worthy companion, Abdullaah and Ibn Mas'ood (RA) asserts
"The only one indeed who misses them [i.e. Ishaa and Fajr prayers]
is a confirmed hypocrite" (Muslim). Ibn Umar (RA) said "When we find
a man missing from the Ishaa and Fajr prayers we nurture suspicions
about him".
If you want a criterion for evaluating a person's degree of faith
and truthfulness monitor his observance of Fajr prayer. If he passes
the test, that should be taken as a sign indicating the strength of
his Eeman [belief, faith]. Let us then testify to his truthfulness
since he managed to achieve the greatest victory over himself and to
be superior to the pleasure of sleeping in bed. If he fails the
test, this is an index to his weakness in faith, a hardness in his
heart, an indulgence in self-gratification and a defeat against his
own whims.
How is it then that he who indulges in sleep and misses prayer
should conceivably feel comfortable while people are delighting in
the mosques in the company of the Qur'aan, listening rapturously to
Allah's message, and basking happily in His gardens. He who prefers
the pleasures of the bed to the pleasure of the communion with Allah
is the real loser.
These are a few suggestions to help you wake up for Fajr prayer. May
Allah make them useful. Glory be to Allah, Most Exalted over any
false attributions and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of all Beings.
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(prayer)
Times and units of
salaah (prayer)
27
reasons to pray in congregation (jamaat)
Guidelines to help your
observe fajr
The Importance of Yawm ul
Jumuah(Friday)
Abandoning prayer - a major
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