Virtues of Salah
Ahadith on the Importance of Salah and its's merits and virtues
Virtues of Salah
Hadith 1
Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar (Radi Allahu anhu) narrates that he heard Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) saying:
“Islam is based on five pillars: Believing that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) is His servant and prophet; establishment of salaah; paying of Zakaat; performance of Hajj; and fasting in Ramadhaan.”
Explanation
Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) has compared Islam to a tent resting on five supports. The Kalimah is the central support and the other four pillars of Islam are, so to say, the remaining four supports, one at each corner of the tent. Without the central support, the tent cannot possibly stand, and if any one of the corner supports is missing, a collapse will result in that corner. Now, let us judge for ourselves how far we have kept up the tent of Islam. Is there really any pillar that is being held in its proper place? The five pillars of Islam mentioned in this Hadith explain the most important duties of a Muslim. Although a Muslim cannot do
Hadith 2
Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar (Radi Allahu anhu) says that he heard Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) saying:
“A salaah with Jamaat is twenty seven times better than salaah performed alone.”
Explanation
When we read our salaah for getting reward from Allah Ta’ala, then why should it not be done in the masjid, where the reward is twenty seven times more? Nobody will be so silly as to leave a profit twenty seven times greater with simply a little extra work. It is said in a hadith: “People going often to the masjid are its pegs (people). Angels are their companions and visit them when they are sick and help them when they are at their jobs.”
Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) has also explained to us how the reward goes on increasing in the case of a person who, after performing wudhu, leaves his house with the only intention of joining the Jamaat for salaah in the masjid. Each step he takes brings one reward as well as washes away one sin.