1075 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them) reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“Islam is built upon five pillars: bearing witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; establishing the prayer; paying the zakah; performing pilgrimage to the House; and fasting in Ramadan.” Agreed upon.
[Commentary]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—states in his book Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn, Chapter: The obligation to safeguard the prescribed prayers and the stern warning against neglecting them, that the daily prayers are five in number. Allah prescribed them for His servants every day and night, as appears in the ḥadith of the Miʿrāj in which, after the Prophet’s repeated pleas for his community, the Lord said: “They are five in practice, yet fifty in the scale.”
A man once asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, about the essentials of Islam, and among the matters he mentioned to him were the prayers. He said: “Five prayers in every day and night.” The man asked, “Am I obliged to do anything beyond them?” He replied, “No—unless you offer voluntary prayers.” Likewise, when he dispatched Muʿādh to Yemen he instructed him, “Inform them that Allah has made obligatory upon them five prayers in every day and night.”
Allah the Exalted commands perseverance in them, saying: “Guard your prayers—especially the middle prayer” (Q 2:238). The middle prayer is singled out because of its distinctive merit, and it is the afternoon prayer; the Prophet—who understood the Book of Allah better than anyone—explained it thus, and no one’s word is to be considered after his. Allah also says: “But if they repent, establish prayer, and give the zakah, then let them go their way” (Q 9:5). The commentator adds that it would have been fitting for the author to cite as well: “But if they repent, establish prayer, and give the zakah, then they are your brothers in faith” (Q 9:11), for this verse indicates that whoever fails to establish the prayer is a disbeliever.
The author next cites the ḥadith of Ibn Masʿūd in which he asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “Which deed is most beloved to Allah?” He answered, “Prayer at its proper time”—meaning within the time preferred by the Sacred Law: if the prayer is one that is best offered early, then doing so is superior, and if it is one that is best delayed, then delaying it is superior. For the five daily prayers, the best is ordinarily to perform them at the start of their time, save for the night prayer (ʿishāʾ), which is better postponed so long as it does not burden the people, and the noon prayer (ẓuhr) in extreme heat, which is better delayed to make things easier. As for dawn (fajr), afternoon (ʿaṣr), and sunset (maghrib), hastening them is preferable in every circumstance. The jurists observe that one who, on hearing the adhān, rises to make ablution and prepares for the prayer has in fact prayed early; the point is not that one must begin praying the instant the call is made, but rather that one should be ready from the very start of its time.
Ibn Masʿūd then asked, “And what next?” He replied, “Dutifulness to parents”—that is, benefiting them by word, wealth, service, and every conceivable means. He asked again, “And what next?” He answered, “Striving in the path of Allah.” Ibn Masʿūd said, “Had I asked for more, he would have given me more,” meaning that, had he continued to inquire, the Prophet would have continued to specify further virtuous deeds.
This ḥadith proves that Allah loves and that He loves deeds just as He loves those who perform them, and that His love varies in degree. It also shows that kindness to parents takes precedence over jihad in the way of Allah, whether obligatory or voluntary. If the parents have no one else to provide for or serve them and are in dire need of their child, it becomes obligatory for the child to stay with them and refrain from fighting. When others can care for them and they are content, remaining with them is recommended and jihad comes next; should the community genuinely need him, jihad is superior, but if the need is not pressing, then kindness to parents remains the better deed. And Allah knows best.
Concerning the dawn prayer, it is well known that the timetable people commonly use is inaccurate: it announces the time at least five minutes early. Some brothers who camped in the open desert observed that true dawn actually breaks about twenty minutes later than the schedule in most hands. The matter is thus very serious. For this reason, a person should not hurry to establish the dawn prayer; rather, he ought to delay it for about twenty-five to thirty minutes to be certain that the proper time has begun.
1075 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them) also narrated that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“Islam has been built upon five: testifying that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; establishing the prayer; paying the zakah; pilgrimage to the House; and fasting in Ramadan.” Agreed upon.
[Further Explanation]
In the same chapter—“The excellence of the five prayers and the emphatic prohibition and severe warning against neglecting them”—the author, may Allah have mercy on him, records the narration of Ibn ʿUmar just cited. And in