5 Pillars Made Plain
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Pillar 2: Who Should Pray?
Who is expected to pray in Islam? Maturity, sanity and being a Muslim are the requirements for prayer. Sh. Abdullah Oduro explains each of these requirements, and how prayer gives us structure in our search for the purpose of life.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. I'm Abdullah Oduro and welcome back. Who is the prayer obligatory upon? If you are of these three, then the prayer is obligatory upon you. Muslim, sane and mature. Let's start with mature. Maturity, the signs of that in Islam for males is if they have reached the age of 15 years old or hair has grown in their private parts. So if you're around the age of 15 or if hair has grown around your private parts, then you are considered mature in Islam. Also, if you have a wet dream, then this is a sign of you being mature. Therefore, the five daily prayers is obligatory upon you. For the female, it's primarily characterized by the coming of menses. If she was to have her menses, then upon that the prayer is obligatory upon you. But note, while she is on her menses, prayer is prohibited for her. She is not allowed to pray. And she doesn't have to make those prayers up. Now the sane individual is that person who is characterized as sane, being that they are not someone that is legally insane or what would be called as crazy, but they are someone that is insane. To where when you speak to them, they may not be able to distinguish what you're saying or may give an answer that is not that which is normative. Preferably that to be confirmed by a psychologist and a physician. Thirdly is the Muslim. The person has to be Muslim for them to be obliged to pray five times a day, as this is a condition for the obligation of the prayers. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says in chapter number four, verse number 103, verily the prayers has been described, has been decreed upon a prescribed times.
So the Salat has been prescribed upon Muslims at a decreed timeframes. As we see, the prayers are five and they are throughout the span of a day. So it's important for us to understand that Allah says in this verse, that verily the Salat upon the believers is at prescribed times. So it's for the believers, the ones that believe in Allah, because they're going to be praying to him and to no one else. Also, the prayer is upon the person that wants structure when trying to fulfill their purpose in life. As we know the prayer automatically, as you can see, it gives you a form of discipline, being that you should stop what you're doing and pray when the time comes in, preferably, or within that time span. But definitely within that time span. As discipline are consistent acts of willpower. Yes, there will be days where you don't want to wake up in the morning and you know that's the time for prayer and that span goes all the way till sunrise. You want to try to do it before the sun rises. That takes discipline, that takes consistent acts of making the right choices, which is willpower. So consistently working on that willpower brings you a form of discipline, prioritization in your life. You know it's important and you're acting on that to the best of your ability. And in return, you receive reward from Allah, the exalted. Allah says in chapter number 70, verse number 19 through 22, "'Verily, mankind was created anxious, "'impatient when evil touches him, "'and stingy when good touches him, "'except for those who are consistent in prayer.'" So here, we see that prayer is a means of controlling oneself in times of good and in times of what may be perceived as evil. And that's the whole concept of a Muslim, linguistically, coming from surrendering oneself to God.
And through that submission, one obtains peace in their life. And one of the strongest signs of a peaceful person is that they are consistent in their prayer. That's how we condition our soul and that's how we become disciplined individuals. May Allah, the exalted, make us of those that are consistent in our prayer. May Allah, the exalted, make us of those that keep that relationship with Him primarily through prayer and in our actions. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Thank you.
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