“…I only did this so that you might follow my lead and learn my prayer.” (1)

He then made emulating him in the prayer obligatory, saying,

“Pray as you have seen me pray.” (2)

And he gave glad tidings to the one who performs it as he did, promising him a covenant with Allah that He will admit him to Paradise. He said,

“Five prayers Allah has made obligatory. Whoever perfects their ablution, prays them at their appointed times, and completes their bowing, prostration, and humility has a covenant with Allah that He will forgive him. Whoever does not do so has no covenant with Allah; if He wills, He will forgive him, and if He wills, He will punish him.” (3)

Blessings also be upon his family and his righteous, dutiful Companions—those who conveyed to us his worship, his prayer, his words, and his deeds, taking them alone as their school and exemplar—and upon all who follow in their footsteps and tread their path until the Day of Judgment.

To proceed: When I finished reading the “Book of Prayer” in At-Targhīb wa’t-Tarhīb by al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī (may Allah have mercy on him) and teaching it to some of our Salafi brothers—this was four years ago—it became clear to all of us how lofty the prayer is in Islam, the reward, virtue, and honor awaiting those who establish it and perform it well, and that this reward varies, increasing or decreasing, in proportion to how closely it resembles the prayer of the Prophet, as he indicated when he said: