NECESSARY TO ADHERE TO HADRAT MUHAMMAD’S WAY ISLAM (I)

_{Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî says in the 96th letter of the first volume of his Maktûbât:}

_{This letter, written to Muhammad Sherîf, explains that those who do not perform the acts of worship and good deeds within their proper times and who say, “I will do them tomorrow,” or “I will do them later,” are wrong; and that it is necessary to adhere to Hadrat Muhammad’s way Islam:}

_{My dear son! Today, you are in a situation that will permit you to do easily whatever you want. You are at an age when youth, health, power, strength, wealth and comfort are found together in the same place. Why do you put it off until tomorrow to hold on to the means that will cause you to attain endless bliss and to perform useful deeds? In the days of youth, the best time of man’s life, man should try to do the commands of his Owner, of his Creator, and to worship Him, which is the best and the most useful of deeds. He should abstain from the harâms, which Islam prohibits, and from what is dubious. (By dubious we mean the actions which we do not know for sure are permitted or forbidden.) He should do his best not to lose the opportunity of performing the five daily prayers of namâz in jamâ’at}^[1]_{. It is commanded that those Muslims who have the amount of property to reach the nisâb}^[2] _{must pay zakât. It is certainly necessary for them to pay zakât. Then, one should pay the zakât willingly and, even, by imploring the poor to take it. Because Allâhu ta’âlâ is very merciful and He pities His born slaves very much, He decreed only five prayers for worship in twenty-four hours and commanded to pay the poor, exactly or approximately, only one-fortieth of the commercial goods and that much of the quadruped livestock that graze in fields. He prohibited a few things and gave permission to do many things.}

_{[1] One person performs namaz in the front; the others, behind him, perform it like him by adapting themselves to him. The person who performs it in the front is called the imâm. Those who perform it behind him are called the jamâ’at. Please see the twentieth chapter of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss.}

_{[2] It means border. It is the amount of property distinguishing being rich from being poor. He who has property less than this amount is called poor. Anyone whose property is more than this amount is called rich. Please see the first chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss.}