The Virtue of Maintaining the Five Daily Prayers

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The Shaykh:
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon the leader of the white-ankled ones, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. Welcome, brothers and sisters, to a new session of the program Light on the Path. The guest of this session is the Honorable Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan, a member of the Committee of Senior Scholars and a member of the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta. Welcome, Honorable Shaykh, to this session with us.

The presenter:
May Allah greet you and bless you.

The questioner:
This questioner says: What is the virtue of being consistent and maintaining the five daily prayers, and what is the impact of maintaining them, whether in the mosque congregation or in urging fathers to have their children maintain them?

The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and all his Companions. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said:

Maintain with care the [obligatory] prayers and [in particular] the middle prayer and stand before Allah, devoutly obedient.

حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰ وَقُومُوا لِلَّهِ قَانِتِينَ

[Al-Baqarah 2:238]

. And He, Glorified is He, said:

⁽⁹⁾ And they who carefully maintain their prayers - ⁽¹⁰⁾ Those are the inheritors ⁽¹¹⁾ Who will inherit al-Firdaus. They will abide therein eternally.

وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَىٰ صَلَوَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْوَارِثُونَ الَّذِينَ يَرِثُونَ الْفِرْدَوْسَ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ

[Al-Mu'minun 23:9-11]

. The other verse: "And those who are constant in their prayer, those will be honored in Gardens." These are three verses regarding the command to be constant in the five prayers, and explaining the reward for being constant in them. Being constant means that a person persists in them for the duration of his life, in congregation, and at their prescribed times. This is what being constant in them entails, unlike the one who neglects the prayer, about whom Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:

⁽⁴⁾ So woe to those who pray ⁽⁵⁾ [But] who are heedless of their prayer -

فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ

[Al-Ma'un 107:4-5]

. And He, Glorified and Exalted is He, said:

But there came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires; so they are going to meet evil -

فَخَلَفَ مِن بَعْدِهِمْ خَلْفٌ أَضَاعُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَاتَّبَعُوا الشَّهَوَاتِ فَسَوْفَ يَلْقَوْنَ غَيًّا

[Maryam 19:59]

. Being constant in them means persisting in them so that he does not leave anything of them, he does not leave anything of them ever for the length of his life. However, he prays according to his condition. If he is sick, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

The sick person prays standing, and if he cannot, then sitting, and if he cannot, then on his side

يصلي المريض قائما فإن لم يستطع، فقاعدا فإن لم يستطع فعلى جنب

. Or if he is traveling, for Allah has granted the traveler a dispensation to shorten the prayer, but he does not leave the prayer; rather, he shortens the four-rak'ah prayer to two rak'ahs. Likewise, being constant in the time means that he performs every prayer in its time, as He, Mighty and Majestic, said: "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times." It is permissible for him to combine prayers if he needs to do so while traveling, which is the one who shortens the prayer. Traveling makes it permissible for him to combine, either bringing the first forward or delaying the second, according to what is easier for him. And if he is sick and it is difficult for him to perform every prayer in its time, he also combines between Dhuhr and 'Asr, and between Maghrib and 'Isha'. So if he shortens the prayer, it is permissible for him to combine.
And this is specifically in travel.

And when you travel throughout the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer

وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَن تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلَاةِ

[An-Nisa 4:101]

. "And striking the earth" means traveling. Likewise, combining the Maghrib and Isha in the case of rain that wets the clothes, or mud and clay on the way to the mosque. It is permissible for them to combine the Isha with the Maghrib. This is a concession for them in this situation. And other than that, he maintains the five daily prayers at their times, with the congregation, with the congregation of the Muslims in the mosques, and he does not be lax with them or neglect them. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you.

Source نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/023 — archive.org (0:27)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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