The optional prayers*

[iloveAllah]

The coolness of my eyes lies in Salah.

Often I'm reminded about this man.
He'd stand for hours on end, praying.
His feet would get swollen.
He'd cry so much and so heart-brokenly-
Yet he was the Prophet of Allah,
His Beloved.
His wife would ask him why- for his book of accounts was clear..
But he couldn't, wouldn't do without prayer.
It was his way of showing gratitude.
He would seize comfort in prayer.
Why don't we too?

.. One day, a follower of just this man began to cry. Cry in earnest. And you know why? Because he found out there would be no salah in Jannah. His only wish, his deepest desire was to just have a mussalah, a place to just go down in Sajda before his Lord. Tht was his idea of heaven.

You pray in war. You pray for rain. You pray when you need something, or can't make a decision (Istikhaara).

Prayer is coolness. A coolness of the eyes.

”.. On their faces are their marks, (being) the traces of their prostration.”
(Al-Fath 48: 29).

Allah SWT tells us about the excellence of voluntary prayers

“Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him.

The Prophet (pbuh) advises us:

“The first worship that the servant will be questioned about on the Day of Judgment is prayer. If his prayers are done properly, he will be saved. If not, he will be among the losers. If the obligatory prayers are not enough to save him, Allah will ask:
‘Are there optional prayers done by My servant so that they could complement the obligatory prayers?’
Other worship will be the same.” (Tirmizi, Salat, 188).

[iLoveAllah]

Ok so we could say- the fard prayers are enough. We don't need to do the sunnah. Or ok, we'll pray some Sunnah- but how many sunnah prayers are necessary?

In other words, what is the bare mininum I can do- and I'll be okay?

Just listen to this. We want the barest possible to be done- for what? For the greatest ever reward of Paradise.

Imagine walking up to your professor at college one day- and saying: Hey. I'm not that good at studies. I want to have my fun. Just tell me what is the least possible I can do to pass. If 50 marks are passing, I dont want a 51, not even a 50.5.. just a 50. Just tell me how I can do that- and that's it.

Your professor will think you are out of your mind.

And you wont even get that 50.

Don't we always have to try to aim for the top? Put in as much as we got, and then hope for Allah SWT's Mercy?

Tie the camel first. Then comes Tawakkul al Allah.

When people ask how much sunnah should we pray, Shaykh Kamaluddin tells us how to reply-

How GOOD a nabi was Rasul Allah (pbuh)?
As GOOD a nabi you consider him to be, you be that GOOD a follower of that nabi.

If you think he was a so-so nabi, do so-so sunnah.
If you think he was an awesome nabi, then do an awesome amount of sunnah.

Really, the choice is up to you.

How high in Jannah do you want to go?

[iLoveAllah]

Taqwa is going the extra mile, beyond the bare minimum.

People like to ask two questions:

-Is this Necessary? Is it absolutely required?
-If I do this, then really what is the harj in it? Does it really matter?

What is Allah's HAQQ?

Check out this link:

www.islamicspirituality.org/play/122

[iLoveAllah]

So what are these optional prayers?

Ar Rawaatib prayers:

There is not a Muslim servant who praysto Allah twelve Rakaat, other than the obligatory prayers, every day and in obedience to Him, except that Allah builds for him a house in Paradise; or a house will be built for him in Paraside.

These extra, recommended prayers are:

= 2 rakah before Fajr
= 4 rakah before Zuhr
= 2 rakah after Zuhr
= 2 rakah after Maghrib
= 2 rakah after Isha

My brother (/sister) in Islam- do you not yearn for a house in Paradise?

[ILoveAllah]

Salaah ad-Duhaa

In the human body, there are 360 joints.

In order to express gratitude for this blessing, charity is required to be given on behalf of every one of these joints daily, yet..

the full reward of this can be attained by praying 2 rakaah of ad duhaa:

Every morning, charity is due on every joint of a person- every tasbeeh is a charity, to enjoin good is a charity and to forbid evil is a charity. All of this is sufficed by two rakah prayed at ad-duhaa

Abu Hurairah RA said:

My friend (Muhammad pbuh) advised me to fast three days of every month.. pray two rakah of ad duaa and pray witre before lying down (to sleep).

The Time of Salah ad-Duhaa

Its time begins approximately 15 minutes after sunrise and
lasts until approximately 15 minutes before salah ad-zuhr

The best/preferred time to perform is at the time of intense heat.

How many rakaahs are there?

The minimum no. of rakaat is 2.
The maximum no. is 8.

However, it has also been said that there is no limit to the number.

[Ummati]

Tahiyyatul Wudu - 2 Raka'ahs Sunnah after doing Wudu (Ablution)

Abu Hurayrah (RA) reported the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) saying to Bilal (RA): “Tell me about the best of your deeds (i.e. one which you deem the most rewarding) since your embracing Islam because I heard your footsteps in front of me in Paradise.” Bilal (RA) replied: “I do not consider any act of mine more rewarding than that whenever I make ablution at any time of night or day, I perform Prayer for as much as was destined for me to do.” (Al-Bukhari & Muslim)”

Tahiyyatul Masjid- 2 Raka'ahs Sunnah after entering Masjid

Abu Qatadah (RA) narrated the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) as saying: “If any one of you enters a mosque, he should pray two rak`ahs before sitting.” (Al-Bukhari & Muslim)