Let Us Maintain Our Prayers!
Allah speaks in the Quran about those who do not pray and enter Hell:
{مَا سَلَكَكُمْ فِي سَقَرَ قَالُوا لَمْ تَكُ مِنَ الْمُصَلِّينَ}
“What has caused you to enter Hell?” (the angels will ask). They will reply, “We were not of those who prayed.”
— Surah Al-Muddaththir: 42, 43
Punishments in this World for Neglecting Prayer
The Prophet (ﷺ) issued a stern warning regarding prayer, stating that those who are negligent with it will face five punishments in this world:
Blessings (Barakah) will be removed from their life.
The radiance (Noor) of the righteous will be taken away from their face.
No reward will be given for their other good deeds.
Their supplications (Duas) will not be accepted.
They will have no share in the Duas made by righteous people.
Many people remain Muslims who only pray once a week, failing to establish the daily five obligatory prayers, which form the very foundation of faith (Imaan). We must rid ourselves of this negligent attitude.
The Prophet (ﷺ) gave glad tidings, saying: “Whoever makes the obligatory prayers a binding duty upon themselves shall enter Paradise.”
The Worst Kind of Thief
When the Prophet (ﷺ) stated that the worst thief is the one who steals from their prayer, the Companions (Sahabah) asked, “O Messenger of Allah! How can someone steal from their prayer?”
The Prophet (ﷺ) explained, “By not performing its Ruku (bowing) and Sujud (prostration) properly.”
It is essential for anyone praying to keep this Hadith in mind. Rushing through the Ruku and Sajdah, and failing to recite their respective Tasbihs completely, amounts to stealing from the prayer. Therefore, one must establish prayer with patience, calmness, and composure.
The State of a Person Who Deserts the Five Daily Prayers
No blessings (Barakah) in life.
Supplications (Duas) are not accepted.
No share in the prayers of the righteous.
They will die in a humiliated state, suffering from intense hunger and thirst.
They will be tormented with fire in the grave.
On the Day of Judgment, they will face Allah while He is angry with them.
On the Day of Judgment, they will stand as an unfortunate person, undergo a severe reckoning, and enter Hell.
If the gaze of someone who does not pray falls inside a house, poverty will enter that home.
The name of a person who intentionally misses a single prayer is written on the gates of Hell.
They will be punished in a valley of Hell called Jubb al-Huzzun, which is filled with scorpions as large as mules.
Allah warns in the Quran about the severe ruin awaiting those who pray heedlessly and negligently:
فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ ﴿الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ ٥
“So woe to those who pray, [but] who are heedless of their prayer.”
— Surah Al-Ma’un: 4, 5
