The Book Of Prayer (Kitaab-ul-Salaat)

The Prayers Of The Pious
Every Prayer should be offered like a person who is certain that it is the last Prayer of his life.
Hazrat Hatim Balkhi (may Allah have mercy upon him) was once questioned as to how he
offered his Prayers. He answered, "When it is time for Prayer, I do a proper ablution and stand
calmly on the prayer-mat. I imagine that the Holy Kaaba is in front of me, Paradise on my right,
hell on my left, and that I am standing on the thin bridge (of the Day of Resurrection) - and that
the angel of death is above me and that this is the last Prayer of my life. Then with utmost
humility I proclaim "Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest)" and keeping the meanings in mind, I
recite the Holy Qur'an - and with extreme reverence and humility I complete the Prayers. I then
hope that Allah will accept it by His mercy, and fear that it may be rejected because of the
shortcomings of my deeds."
Such is the Prayer of the Friends of Allah! May Allah guide us to follow the footsteps of His
friends. Aameen.
CLEANLINESS (TAHARAT)
CHAPTER 2
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has stated "The key to paradise is Prayer
(Salaat), and the key to Prayer is cleanliness." (Saheeh Muslim). Here cleanliness means that the
place of Prayer and the person’ s clothes, should be clean. Furthermore, the person should be
clean from the greater and smaller impurities - i.e. he should not be in need of a bath (Ghusl) and
should be with ablution (Wuzu).
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “ The angels of mercy do not enter a
house in which there is an image, a dog or a person in a state of greater impurity (Janabah)."
(Abu Dawood).
The Water To Be Used
Water used for bathing or for ablution must be in its natural state - i.e. free from colour, smell
and taste. Furthermore, it must be unused. If the body is free from impurities, the water once
used for bathing or ablution still remains pure, but cannot be used again for bathing or ablution.
Similarly if one is in need of ablution or bath, and he dips or touches the water with any
unwashed (un-purified) part of his body (finger, nail, hand etc), it will render the water as used -
and therefore not useful for ablution or bathing. Using such water for drinking or cooking is
disliked (Makrooh). However this water can be used for washing clothes.
In order to make "used" water capable of being used for bathing or ablution, add clean unused
water in greater quantity to it - or simply pour more clean unused water in the utensil so that the
utensil begins to overflow. This will make the entire water usable for bathing or ablution.