I think this issue ties very closely into a person’s belief and understanding of the hereafter. If they dont believe that they will die and be brought back and called to account for everything they did, then its easy to brush a matter like prayer under the rug and say its not very important. If they do believe in consequences of actions and that Paradise will not merely be gived on a silver platter to everyone who just runs around saying “Jesus loves me”, then they will see that what we do in this life does have value and significance and that it matters, it matters alot
Everyone who said they know people who pray and yet were horrible people and others who dont pray and are good people --this doesnt show that there is something wrong with the salah itself, it shows there is something wrong with that particular person and their prayer. If we are truly praying, sincerely from our heart, we are coming to stand before God 5 times a day, seeking to make a connection with Him with our hearts, asking for His Guidance and Forgiveness. It gives you a sense of consciousness that God is always with you, always seeing what you do. It should help uplift you, in all your relations, to be a better person, to do the best you can. If you are able to pray and still abuse the rights of others, then you are obviously not fulfilling the Right of Allah in the correct way
Im not saying that everyone who prays is a saint and can never do any wrong. Im not saying that whoever doesnt pray has absolutely no good qualities in them and is an automatic monster. All Im saying, are we really so willing to settle for such a mediocre person to spend our life with? How come when it comes to worldly things, its so easy for us to set such high standards of what we expect in a spouse, whether its in terms of intellect, beauty, riches, status, lineage etc. We are not willing to settle for anything less than the best, whatever we see as being the best. Yet when it comes to the religion, we make our standards so low and what is praying 5 times a day, its a big deal to suddenly even pray 5 times a year
Yes people pray for different reasons, but thats why its God Who judges their intentions and actions, not us. That doesnt mean that we shouldnt encourage others to pray or think that encouraging them to pray means they are only praying to please us. And again, there is a difference between someone who acknowledges the importance of prayer and yet neglects to pray out of laziness or some other thing, and someone else who thinks that prayer isnt even important, or it isnt obligatory
Living in this world, its easy to get so caught up with our lives, we dont like to think about the next world, we dont like to think about the grave and hellfire. But these matters are all a reality. We are all going to die one day, whether we pray or not. Allah describes the Day of Judgement in the Quran as a day when we will wish to ransom our own mothers and fathers and husbands and wives and sisters and brothers and sons and daughters, wish to throw our dearest loved ones into the fire in hopes of saving our own necks. Thats the reality we are denying. If we had double the entire weight of the earth in gold we would wish to give it to ransom ourselves from the fire. And yet what is being asked of us in this life is much less than this. Do we deny the reality of meeting Allah one day or do we really care so little for our loved ones in this world that we cannot even be bothered to help them live the best life in this world, so they can have the best life in the next world. If we really love Allah, we would at least try to do what pleases Him. And if we really love our family, we would at least try to ecnourage them to do the same. True love isnt a noun, its a verb and verbs call for action