Purity Necessary for Prayer

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) does not accept the prayer which is performed without purity.” [Muslim]

The people of a suburb of Madeenah, Quba, were very particular in cleanliness for performance of prayers for which Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) praised them: “In it (the masjid of Quba) are people who like to observe purity; and Allah loves those observing purity.” [Quran: Surah Taubah, Ayat 108]

All the leading newspapers in India in 1975 carried the Hindu Prime Minister Mr Morarji Desai’s statement: “I drink my own urine every morning.” A certain Hindu sweetmeat seller sprinkles cow urine (considered holy) on his sweetmeats when he opens the shop for the day, in order to acquire abundance. Perhaps this is because in no single book on the Hindu religion is any mention made on the precepts of purity and cleanliness. So it is up to an individual’s sense of cleanliness and decency to live like a human being.

In a similar manner, the concept of purity and cleanliness in the Sikh religion can be gauged from the fact that if a Sikh shaves his head or removes hair from his armpit or below the navel, or undergoes circumcision, he is excluded from the religion.

All praise is to Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) who taught us through Islam how to stay clean and pure.

First Place Holders

The Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “The Mufarridoon have taken precedence.” [Mishkaat]

Mulla Ali Qari, in his commentary on Mishkaat entitled Mirqaat, states that Mufarridoon means: “Those who do not derive pleasure, except in the remembrance of Allah Ta’ala and do not enjoy bounties, except with gratitude to Him.”

The people who take first place in the Akhirah are those who do not derive pleasure in the world except in the remembrance of Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). They enjoy the company of their wives and children, food and drink, business and homes, only after they take Allah’s name. They only enjoy the blessings of the world together with obedience to Allah. They regard no blessing as a blessing until and unless they express gratitude for it to Allah Ta’ala.

Imam an-Nawawi in his commentary on Sahih Muslim while explaining this hadith cites another narration explaining that the Mufarridoon are “those who experience ecstasy while engaged in Dhikr.”

 

The Slave Who Taught Manners

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) taught us to say: “O Allah, I ask You for the good that Your slave and Prophet has asked You for, and I seek refuge with You from the evil from which Your slave and Prophet sought refuge.” [Ibn Majah]

While this is a short yet comprehensive Dua and part of a larger invocation it also tells us that regardless of the position any one of us holds with respect to any other human, in relation to Allah (subhana wa ta’ala), we are all His slaves. The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) was Allah’s slave and each human being is Allah’s slave, willing or unwilling!

Hasan Basri (rahimatullahu alaihi), a Tabiee who had the good fortune of having met a hundred and twenty Sahabah, bought a slave. He asked the slave, “O slave, what is your name?” The slave replied, “Sir! Slaves do not have a name except that by which their master addresses them.”

Hasan Basri (rahimatullahu alaihi) then asked him, “What do you prefer to eat?” The slave replied, “Sir, a slave has no preferences of food. Whatever the master provides, he eats. Whatever he feeds one, one eats.”

Hasan Basri (rahimatullahu alaihi) then asked, “What clothing do you prefer to wear?” To this, the slave replied, “Sir, slaves have no preferences pertaining to clothes. Whatever the master dresses them in, are their clothes. With whatever he clothes, one wears.”

On hearing this Hasan Basri (rahimatullahu alaihi) fell unconscious.

On regaining consciousness he said, “I have set you free.” The freed slave firstly thanked him by saying “JazakAllah” and then asked, “What was the basis of freeing me? Due to what happiness do I owe my freedom?” Hasan Basri (rahimatullahu alaihi) replied, “You have taught me the meaning of true servitude to Allah (subhana wa ta’ala).”

Thus, whatever Allah feeds one with, one must happily eat; whatever He clothes one with, one must happily wear; and the wife He grants one, be pleased with her.