Allah’s Summons

The Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “The first of people’s works that they shall be called to account for on the Day of Judgement is the prayer. Our Lord, Holy and Exalted, will say to His angels, while knowing better than they, ‘Look at the prayer of My servant: did he perform it in full, or fall short of it?’ If it is complete, it will be inscribed as complete, while if anything is missing from it, He will say, ‘Look to see if My servant has any supererogatory worship,’ and if he has, Allah will say, ‘Complete My servants obligatory prayers for him from his supererogatory ones.’ And he will be dealt with likewise in his other works.” [Nasai]

The most important of our religious obligations is the prayer (Salah). It is the first thing we will be held accountable for.

If you join the army, what kind of response is expected from you when you are given orders? Will slackness be tolerated? How about consistent no-shows? The institution requires immediate and absolute obedience. Aren’t Allah’s summons more important? Isn’t He more worthy of immediate and absolute obedience?

The shortcoming in the Fardh (obligatory) prayers will be made up for by our Sunnah and Nafl (supererogatory) prayers. We should keep a stock of this extra-credit to help us offset any shortcoming in the mandatory.