Continuation of the explanation of “... So I woke up and mentioned that to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said, ‘Did he not fast Ramadan after him and pray six thousand rak'ahs, and so on and so on’”

The Shaykh : His astonishment at this led him to mention the matter to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who explained the case to him until his astonishment was dispelled by his statement, “Did he not fast Ramadan after him,” meaning that he lived for a year and thereby gained the virtue of fasting this blessed month. Then, did he not also pray six thousand rak'ahs that the one who died a martyr did not pray? This is a great reward. In his statement (peace and blessings be upon him), “prayed six thousand rak'ahs,” he is referring to the number of rak'ahs of the five obligatory prayers that a Muslim must pray every day and night. His statement (peace and blessings be upon him), in addition to his statement “and so on and so on rak'ahs of voluntary prayer,” either means that this addition, namely “and so on and so on rak'ahs,” to the six thousand is the result of multiplying and adding the five prayers over three hundred and sixty-five days, and multiplying this result by the number of rak'ahs, which is seventeen, yielding six thousand, two hundred and five. So, either he means by “six thousand and so on and so on” this increase, or he means more than that, in that the Muslim is not supposed to limit himself to praying only the five obligatory prayers, but rather adds to them some of the recommended practices, especially the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib). This is a matter of precaution, as indicated by the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that a Muslim on the Day of Resurrection, when he is reckoned, the first thing he is reckoned for is his prayer. If his prayer is complete in quantity and quality, he has succeeded and prospered. But if it is deficient in quantity and quality, he has failed and lost. In this other case, our Lord (Mighty and Majestic), by His grace and mercy toward His servants, commands the angels to look into the record of this servant who has lost out due to a deficiency in his obligatory prayer, to see if he has any voluntary prayers (nafilah) to complete his obligatory prayer with. Therefore, a Muslim should not be content with the approach of that Bedouin who, when he asked the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) what Allah had made obligatory for him every day and night, and he answered that it was five prayers, said, “By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I will not add to them or subtract from them.” And although the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged this man to remain steadfast in his statement, “By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I will not add to them or subtract from them,” by saying, , this does not contradict a person taking precaution for his prayer and worship by increasing his voluntary prayers as much as he can, fearing that a deficiency might occur in his obligatory prayer, as mentioned earlier. So, his statement (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding this one who delayed his death and preceded in entering Paradise, , either means only the total number of rak'ahs of the obligatory prayers, or it means an additional increase from voluntary and supererogatory prayers, and this is better for every Muslim, especially in our time, where trials, harms, and destructive things of various kinds multiply upon a person, corrupting much of his worship and obedience. So, he must have some reserve of worship so that he may succeed on the Day of Resurrection, even if by making up for something he lost or was negligent in. Thus, this hadith clarifies to the Muslim how a long life for a Muslim, if he does good deeds, is better for him than a short life. And for that reason, hadiths will follow that forbid the Muslim to wish for death. And from this, it becomes clear how Islam treats the psychological diseases in its followers, the effects of which have become apparent in our era among people, despite the availability of all the means of material life and luxury, yet you find them in the most severe state of disturbance in
their lives, in accordance with the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) . So, a life of hardship is not in the passion for living, as many people of limited intellect and thought and deficient in religion imagine. Rather, hardship comes even if its owner is living in the most comfortable material life.
Islam, in such hadiths, reassures the Muslim that his long life is better for him as long as he does good deeds, even if his life is one of hardship from a material perspective. This life will turn into a life of luxury for him on the Day of Resurrection, in contrast to the life of the disbelievers in these lands. They are living in luxury now, but in the Hereafter, as you heard in the previous verse, to the end of the verse.