In my view no…
What I mean is, you will see many people in everyday life that have an opinion about Islam…Islam should be this, Islam should be that, Madrassahs should be this, Masjids hould be that e.t.c, but don’t pray…They have definite opinions about Mullahs and moulvis, but don;t pray Salat…Do they have a right to speak about Islam, in my view absolutely not…In my opinion, these ‘mod-Muslims’ are all wind and no movement…
The reason I thought about writing this is because I used to live with these couple of roommates…During a friendly get-together with a couple of other friends, the topic turned to Islam, and my room mate who never prayed (Except Jumaah), was the loudest of those condemning the Mullahs, condemning this and wanting change in that…
After the gathering, as we and my roommates were sitting down, I told him flat to his face that he can’t comment on anything about Islam…He doesn’t deserve the right to comment if he doesn’t practice it himself…Needless to say, he was upset but I got my point across and he got the message (Hopefully for the better)…Now you decide whether I was wrong or right…
Salat or Namaz, as it is called in Pakistan, is the strictest, most unchallengable and unbending tenet of Islam…I believe if I am mistaken there are three conditions for not having to pray:
- You are insane
- You are in a coma
- You are dead…
If you don’t fulfill these three conditions, you must pray…Come hell or high water, you must pray…There are no ifs, ands or buts about it, you have to pray…If you can’t pray standing, pray sitting, if you can’t pray sitting, pray lying down, but by jove, you MUST pray…Islam is unmoving, irreconciliable and absolutely uncompromising about this tenet…You have to pray…If you call yourself a Muslim, your soul and spirit must touch the floor five times a day…
So how about someone, who fails to faithfully carry out this unquestionable tenet, have the right to speak about Islam? How can he have the gall to speak about bringing change to Islam? How can he preach Islam when he himself is not practicing it? How can a non-practicing Muslim be a Muslim? How can he give Dawah, or speak to non-Muslims about the beauty of Islam when the person himself is unhappy about prostrating before his Lord? How can he muster the strength to smile and preach Islam to non-Muslims when he doesn’t follow what Islam is uncompromising about?..It’s like shivering in the snow and saying it’s really good to be warm…
If he still does speak about changes in Islam, and calls other Muslims names like Mullahs and Moulvis on the basis of his own limited understanding, then in my view he is nothing more than a hypocrite…And it is people like these who are the most vocal critics of Islam, other Muslims and their behaviours…
It is said, that to be a good salesman, you must first fall in love with the product yourself…This way your love for the product itself will bring life to your sales pitch…Otherwise if you yourself don’t like the product, how do you expect to convince others of its beauty and usefulness? If you don’t practice this pillar Islam, what kind of a Muslim are you?
Salat or Namaz, is a test…It is ripping yourself away from whatever you are doing and standing before your Lord 5 times day…No one promised it would be an exhilirating experience, but it is what your Lord, your Allah commands you to do…Whether you do it with a heavy heart, you do it with a miserable heart or you do it with a joyous heart, do, you must…You must stand before your Lord 5 times a day, and there is no compromise about it…You will be called about your prayers…There will be no lawyers for you to fight your case…Allah :swt: has laid down the command and you are responsible for carrying it out…Failure to do so would have very painful consequences for a long time…No joke…Pain means no pain like ever exprerienced by any person on Earth…Don’t you take this as a joke…
Once you become you used to Salat, you won’t be happy without it…Salat is like a drug once you become addicted to it…You won’t be able to sleep unless you have your fix…
Someone told a couple of weeks ago, that during the time of the Prophet :saw:, the person who missed the Fajr prayer, his Namaz-e-Janaza was not performed…
In another instance it was a British Jew general who once said, that as long as Muslims have the strength to wake up every morning to pray their morning prayers, nothing can overcome them…
How hard it is to leave a warm and cozy bed and go to the Mosque to pray everyday, without fail…What a sacrifice the Muslim must make every morning to leave his bed and go to the Masjid…How strong of willpower and faith this exercise would make a person…
May Allah :swt: make us Muslims tread His path to the best of our abilities and may Allah :swt: guide us all…Ameen, Summa Ameen…