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2429701/07/2000

It is difficult for him to pray because his work is hard

Question: 9561

Do you call one who prays Salaah 1 or 2 or 3 times a day a kaafir ? It is not easy for normal humans to pray 5 times a day as even Prophet Musa during Mi’raj said it would be difficult for our Prophet’s ummah to fulfill this. But he still said we are from his ummah. And we have belief in the articles of faith. But we do not get paid to pray like Imaams or paid to be scholars and do Islamic research.
We have families and children who we look after and work 12 hours a day toiling in physical and mental activities to earn bread and so it is hard to fulfill all salaahs out of tiredness. Do you still consider us to be kaafirs even though we pray some of the salaah and pay zakaah and fast in Ramadan and believe in the articles of faith ? This is very important for me to know.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Allaah
has enjoined upon His slaves five prayers every day, day and night. He has
commanded them to observe these prayers regularly and establish them, and
He praises those who do so. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And
perform As-Salaat (Iqaamat-as-Salaat), and give Zakaat, and bow down (or
submit yourselves with obedience to Allaah) along with
Ar‑Raaki‘oon (those who bow or submit themselves to Allaah)”
[al-Baqarah 2:43]

 “Guard
strictly (five obligatory) As‑Salawaat (the prayers) especially the
middle Salaat (i.e. the best prayer ‑ ‘Asr). And stand before
Allaah with obedience [and do not speak to others during the Salaat
(prayers)]” [al-Baqarah 2:238]

 “Successful
indeed are the believers.

Those
who offer their Salaat (prayers) with all solemnity and full
submissiveness” [al-Mu’minoon 23:1-2]

“And
those who strictly guard their (five compulsory congregational) Salawaat
(prayers) (at their fixed stated hours).” [al-Mu’minoon 23:9]

 So
you have to pay attention to establishing regular prayer and keeping it
up, and focusing on it, and taking the specific means of achieving that,
so that you may be one of the successful. Do not worry yourself by
thinking about the ruling on one who misses one or two prayers and whether
he is a kaafir or not.

 Whoever
deliberately misses a prayer exposes himself to the wrath of Allaah, and
the wise believer does not do something which he knows could result in
punishment, even if it is not kufr as such. The five daily prayers, and
all other acts of worship, and avoiding what is forbidden – none of this
can be achieved except with patience. These are things which people find
difficult by nature, because they come between a person and some of his
desires.The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Paradise is surrounded by things which are disliked.” The issue of
prayer in Islam is very important. Hence the responsible adult is not let
off prayer for as long as he is alive and he is in his right mind. But
Allaah has made things easier for His slaves with regard to the duty of
praying. He allows us to join prayers and shorten them whilst travelling,
and He allows us tojoin
prayers when we are not travelling if not doing so will cause greater
hardship. He allows the sick person to pray according to what he can do,
standing, sitting or lying on his side. Hence we know that being busy
earning a living is not an excuse for not praying. But if there is some
unusual hardship involved, it is permissible to pray Zuhr and ‘Asr
together at the time of either of them, and to pray Maghrib and ‘Isha’
together at the time of either of them.

 Allaah
commanded us to stop trading in order to pray Jumu’ah (Friday prayers),
and He praised those who do not let trades or sales divert them from the
remembrance of Allaah. So strive to do the prayers on time and in
congregation. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “Praying in congregation is twenty-seven times better than praying
alone.”

 Note
that praying regularly is one of the greatest means of attaining the mercy
of Allaah and His pleasure and His Paradise, which is the main goal.It is
also a means of making earning one’s provision easier, as Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“And
enjoin al-salaah (the prayer) onyour
family, and bepatient in offering them[i.e., the prayers].We ask not of
you a provision (i.e., to give Us something: money, etc.); We provide for
you. And the good end (i.e., Paradise) is for the muttaqoon (pious).”

[Ta-Ha
20:132]

 The
Muslim does not ask people for any reward for his worhip of his Lord. He
prays for Allaah, he fasts for Allaah, he does Hajj for Allaah, and he
hopes for the reward of Allaah. When you say we do not get get paid to
pray like the imaams, this is a mistake in your way ofthinking. It is not permissible for the imaam to take a salary for
doing the prayers; imaams and muezzins are being paid for doing a job
which requires them to to be present at the mosque every time (so that
they can devote their time to doing their duties of leading prayers,
giving khutbahs, issuing fatwas and judging between people). But it is
better for a Muslim to fulfil the duties of an imaam or muezzin
voluntarily, hoping for the reward of Allaah.

 When
you say we have families, children, etc… this is not an excuse for
missing some of the prayers. You have to devote some of your time to doing
the prayers. It is only a small amount of time, for each prayer, doing it
and preparing for it, does not take more than a quarter of an hour.  

If
you do give up some of the prayers because you are too busy seeking
provision, we will not confirm that you are a kaafir, but we will say that
you are a sinner who is committing a major sin. We have already stated
above that in cases of unusual difficulty you can put Zuhr and ‘Asr
together at the time of either ofthem,.
We also remind you that it is essential to pray fajr at the right time,
which is from the start of dawn until the sun rises.

 May
Allaah help us and you to obey Him.

Source

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahmaan al-Barraak

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