IMPORTANCE of NAMÂZ

The book entitled Eshi’at-ul-leme’at (and written by ’Abd-ul- Haqq bin Seyf-ud-dîn Dahlawî‘ rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, 958 [1551 A.D.] – 1052 [1642], Delhi) contains various hadîth-i-sherîfs stating the importance of namâz. The book is a commentary written in the Persian language to the book of hadîths entitled Mishkât-ul-Mesâbih (and written by Waliyy-ud-dîn Khatîb-i- Tebrîzî Muhammad bin ’Abdullah ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, d. 749 [1348 A.D.] as a commentary and complementary to the book entitled Mesâbih (and written by Imâm Beghâwî Huseyn bin Mes’ûd Muhy-is-sunna ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, d. 516 [1122 A.D.]). Eshi’at-ul-leme’at is a book in four volumes. Its ninth edition was published in 1384 [1964 A.D.] in Lucknow, India. 

Namâz is called ‘salât’ in the Arabic language. And the original meaning of salât is prayer, rahmat (compassion, mercy) and istighfâr (begging Allâhu ta’âlâ for forgiveness). Because namâz contains all three meanings, namâz has been called ‘salât’.

Abû Hurayra ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, narrates: Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “Supposing there is a stream running before the door of a person’s house and he bathes five times daily in that stream. Will there be any dirt left on him?”“No, there won’t be any dirt left, o the blessed Messenger of Allah,” replied the Sahâba. Thereupon Rasûlullah said: “So is the case with the daily five prayers. Allâhu ta’âlâ forgives the venial sins of Muslims who perform namâz five times daily.”This hadîth-i-sherîf is written in Sahîh-i-Bukhârî as well as in Sahîh-i- Muslim.