Questioner: Huzoor, in all, most of your sermons emphasize about people keeping up with the remembering Allah and saying the daily prayers regularly, and many people find it difficult for one reason or another. But most people find it that it’s very difficult to get up for the Fajr prayer. What is the essence you have to…
Huzoor (rh): Again, the answer has been given in my question and response to him. It’s only a matter of relationship with the Khalifa. If he does exert an influence, people feel that they must obey him. And particularly when he is in line with the Qur’an and the Sunnah so clearly, that a sort of laser effect is also created. You know, when two similar waves join forces, then suddenly the wave shoots up to a higher level. And that is the laser effect. So if still they find themselves not in a position to follow because they think it is difficult, then of course nothing would result from their listening to khutbahs. But what I hear daily from different people, and what they write to me, even if difficult, they are trying in earnest to follow. That is the most important thing. They will not become all, yeah, overnight, of course, but they must begin to move towards that destination. If they move even an inch forward, still they’re safe. But if they stay put where they are, and they think it’s difficult and beyond their power, then of course they’ve already lost the game. Fajr prayer becomes most important in the light of the Qur’anic injunction. Hafizu alas salawati, is it alas salatil or salawatil? I read it as alas salawatil. Salawatil was salatil musta. Is it was salatil musta or salatil musta? Salatil musta. I remember it as salatil, but I have a doubt that they will not say alas salawatil. Oh, that’s right, that’s correct. Hafizu alas salawatil was salatil musta. Be guard over your prayers, particularly over the central prayer. The Holy Qur’an is a wonderful book, you know, instead of saying be guard over Zuhr prayer or Asr prayer or Isha prayer, it says the central. The central prayer is something which changes its name according to the situation, from person to person. For some people it is very difficult to say Zuhr prayer in time, or Asr prayer in time. For some it is very difficult to say Isha prayer in time. And for many today, as you have mentioned, it is very difficult to get up in the morning because they have a wrong habit of waking up at night for some cultural reasons or for gossip or family habits, etc. And they go on sitting without care of what will happen to them when they fall asleep. And then they say it’s very difficult to get up. But my question is, if they were given a lucrative job, in some government or some good company, and they required of him to report early at four o’clock in the morning nowadays, what would be their response? Would they say, sorry, we can’t get up at that time? I’ve seen sometimes, you know, sometimes I turn the television on right, you know, in the early part of, or the late part of the night, occasionally to see if there is a news item or not. It happens seldom, but it does happen. And I see a newsreader who had come there all the way from his place, wherever he lived, to perform the act of reading the news. And they are all fresh and they never complain against that. They call ungodly hour, we call godly hour, to get up, you know, at that time. So it’s a matter of preference, it’s a matter of importance. So that is the central prayer which you are talking about, for those who find it difficult. And how can I say anything against the Qur’an? The Holy Qur’an says, stay guard over your prayers, particularly the central, in this case, the morning prayer. So that is why when my daughters went to Pakistan recently, I took a poem from them. I said, look here, you are going to meet your family members after a long time and you will keep waking up late nights, marriages will be involved. Maybe you go to sleep till 2.30 or 3 o’clock. And if you don’t get up for the morning prayer, all your journey will go waste. It’s just meaningless to go and enjoy these things. So promise that you will get up or don’t sleep. And they kept their promise. When they came back, they were very happy. They said, we enjoyed it and we are very happy that you advised us. Otherwise, we might have faltered and missed our central prayer. They didn’t say central prayer, but it’s what I’m continuing to do.
