Those who steal from their own namâz
What a great blessing it is when the heart is with Allahu ta’âlâ and the body, together with all the limbs, is embellished with doing the rules of the Sharî’at [Islam]. Recently, most people have been slack in performing namâz. They have been slighting the tumânînat and the ta’dîl-i arkân. For this reason, I have to warn you, my beloved ones, about this matter. Listen well! Our Prophet “sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam” declared: “The worst thief is the person who steals from his own namâz.” When he was asked, “O Rasûlallah! How can a person steal from his own namâz?” he said, “By not doing the rukû and sajda of the namâz properly.”
At some other time he declared: “Allahu ta’âlâ does not accept the namâz of a person who does not bring his waist into its proper position and remain so for a while in rukû and sajda.” Once, upon seeing a person not doing the rukû and the sajda properly while performing namâz, our Prophet said, “Are you not afraid you may die in some other religion than Hadrat Muhammad’s dîn because you perform your prayers of namâz in this manner?” Once again, he said, “When performing namâz, if you do not straighten up your body completely after the rukû’, if your each limb does not rest at its position for a while when you are standing, your namâz will not be complete.” Once again, he said, “Unless you sit upright between the two sajdas your namâz will remain incomplete.”
One day, upon seeing someone not observing the rules and rukns [five of the fards of the namâz are inside the namâz. Each of these five fards is also called “a rukn”] of namâz, not standing upright after the ruku’ and not sitting between the sajdas, our Prophet said, “If you go on performing your namâzes in this manner, on the Day of Resurrection you will not be said to be of my Ummat.” At some other time he said, “If you go on in this manner and die, you shall not have died in the religion of Muhammad (alaihissalâm).”
Abû Hurayra (radiy-Allahu ’anh) says, “The person who has performed all namâzes for sixty years but whose namâz has never been accepted is the person who has not done the ruku’ and sajda properly.”
It is said in the book Awsât by Tabarânî that if a Believer performs his namâz beautifully and does its ruku’ and sajda properly, the namâz will become happy and will be full of nûr. Angels will take the namâz up to heavens. The namâz will pronounce a benediction on the person who has performed it and will say, “As you have protected me against being defective, may Allahu ta’âlâ protect you.” If the namâz is not performed well, it will become black. Angels will snub that namâz and will not take it up to the heavens. The namâz will curse the person who has performed it and will say, “As you have wasted me and put me into a bad position, may Allahu ta’âlâ waste you.” Then, we should try to perform our namâzes properly, observe the ta’dîl-i arkân, do the ruku’, the sajda, the qawma and the jalsa well. Also, we should warn others if we see them do these defectively. We should help our brothers-in-Islam perform namâz properly. We should be an example in observing the ta’dîl-i arkân and the tumânînat. Most Muslims have been depriving themselves of the honour of doing this. This blessing has already been lost. It is very important to revivify this good deed. Our Prophet declared: “He who resuscitates any one of my forgotten sunnats will be given the thawâb of a hundred martyrs.” (Maktûbât, Second Volume, 69th Letter)
