Do You Pray?

This may come as a shock and most people will answer with "duh! of course I do!" But do you really pray? Looking critically at how Muslims really live their lives and observe their Ibadah, you will agree with me that most things are observed merely as rituals - because they are required! Why and How to actual do things are out of the question. When you ask a person why he or she performs a particular Ibadah, most people will simply answer, "because this is how I saw it done." 
Salaah (Islamic Prayer) is the foremost and most important aspect of a Muslim's life - it distinguishes between the Muslim and the Kafir and will be the first act to be checked on the day in which you have no chance to make corrections.



It was narrated form Jabir bin Abdullah in Sahih Muslim: Kitab ul Iman: Book 001, Number 0147, that the Prophet (Sallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said,"The difference between a man (Muslim) and shirk and kufr is the abandoning of salaah." Ibn Majah reported a similar hadith with slight variation of words in Sahih Jami'ul Sagheer part 2 pg 95, Sanad: Sahih, Minhaaj ul Muslimeen pg. 80.
The Holy Prophet (SAW) was also reported to have said, "On the day of judgement the first action that a man will be asked about is Salaah. If it is fulfilled he will succeed but if it is incomplete, he will be disappointed and will be in loss" (Kanz-ul-Ummal, V7, P115, Hadith 18883, Dar-ul-kutubul ilmiyyah, Beirut)
It was also reported by Altabarani that,"The first matter that the slave will be brought to account for on the day of judgement is the prayer. If it is sound, then the rest of his deeds will be sound. And if it is bad, then the rest of his deeds will be bad."


Judging from only these ahadith, we know that Prayer is very important, not to mention that Allah (SWT) mentioned it in the Qur'an 67 times. Hence, the importance of Salaah cannot be over emphasised by any standard. However, Muslims take it lightly and only have a heresay knowledge of this very important Ibadah. 


The hadith of Abu Huraira where he mentioned that, "a man entered the masjid, wherein the messenger of Allah (SAW) was sitting. He prayed two rakaat and then came to the Prophet (SAW) and said salaam. The Prophet (SAW) answered his salaam and then said, “Go back and pray for you have not prayed.” So the man went back, prayed (two rakaat) like he did the first time and then came back and repeated the salaam. The Prophet (SAW) answered the salaam and then said, “Go back and pray for you have not prayed.” So the man went back, prayed (two rakaat) like he did the first time and then came back and repeated the salaam. The Prophet (SAW) answered his salaam once again and once again said, “Go back and pray for you have not prayed.” He said this three times until, after this third time the man said, “By He who sent you with the truth O Messenger of Allah, I do not know any better than this. Teach me.” 
The Prophet (SAW) then said, “If you stand up for salah say ‘Allahu Akbar.’ Then read what comes easy for you from the Qur'an. Then, bow until you are comfortable in your ruku’. Then, stand up until you are standing up straight. Then, prostrate until you are comfortable in your sujood. Then, sit until you are comfortable in your juloos. Then, prostrate until you are comfortable in your sujood. And do this in your entire salah.” Reported by Bukhari and Muslim


The man in this hadith lived with the Prophet (SAW), and we all know how the people of that time are - always eager to learn and abide strictly by the Prophet (SAW)'s instructions. Now examine yourself and find out if you really do pray. Ask yourself if you really do concentrate in your prayer or whether you are doing it correctly - do you stand, sit, do ruku' and sujood according to Sharia'h or simply the way you saw it being performed while you were growing up?
It is our duty, as Muslims, to learn how to perform Salaah and any other act of Ibadah. We go to lengths at school to obtain our diplomas and degrees, which are mainly for worldly benefits, why not take the time to learn how to pray?


There's an article in IslamQA which explains the salaah in details. Go through it and see where you can improve on the most important aspect of your life.