meet perdition.” Allah Most High has thus condemned in His Book those who pray yet are heedless of their prayer. This takes two forms:

First: delaying prayer beyond its appointed time.

Second: failing to fulfil its obligatory requirements, such as purification, stillness, humble attentiveness, and other requirements.

As established in an authentic hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“That is the hypocrite’s prayer! That is the hypocrite’s prayer! That is the hypocrite’s prayer!—three times—He watches the sun until, when it is between Satan’s two horns, he gets up and rushes through four units of prayer, remembering Allah only a little during them.”

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) thus characterized the hypocrites’ prayer by its lateness and the scant mention of Allah’s name—glory be to Him. Allah Most High has said:

“Indeed, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but He deceives them. When they stand for prayer, they stand lazily, showing off before people and remembering Allah only a little.”

And He said:

“Indeed, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depth of the Fire, and you will find no helper for them, except those who repent, mend their ways, hold fast to Allah, and devote their religion sincerely to Allah. Those will be with the believers, and Allah will grant the believers a tremendous reward.”

As for His words—glory be to Him, the Most High:

“But they were succeeded by generations who neglected prayer