Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Adeyanju Lawal popularly called the Sheikh of Lagos is a respected Islamic scholar and known preacher. He is the Chief Missioner and Founder of the popular Islamic society, NADWATUL- AHLI WORLDWIDE. Sheikh Abdur-Rahman is vast in Islamic education. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt where he studied the Arabic Language at the first-degree level before proceeding to his second and third degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.
Many celebrities don’t miss out on attending programmes organized by the NADWAT group. They have a special reverence for its annual Lateeful Akbar which is always a big event and avenue to learn more about Islam. The programme has come of age as its 10th edition was held recently. During the event, Sheikh Abdur-Rahman admonished his audience on why every Muslim must observe the 5 daily obligatory prayers. Below are the excerpts:
”I use this medium to welcome you all to the 10th edition of Lateeful-Akbar. I pray that by the time we will be celebrating the 20th Edition, God will spare our lives to celebrate it together. “The main message that Allah gave to Prophet Mohammed (SAW) when he embarked on a spiritual journey from the Ka’bah in Mecca and Al-Qasa in Jerusalem, to the heavens to meet his Lord is “Solatul Mafrudoh” (the 5 daily obligatory prayers). That’s why the prophet says, the distinction between a Muslim and a non-Muslim is the 5 daily obligatory daily. Whoever refused to observe these daily prayers will face the torment of hellfire. The Qur’an made us know that on that day, the inmates of hell would have the privilege to see and interact with those in paradise. When those who end up in paradise would ask the inmate of hellfire what they have done to be in the state of torment, they would respond by saying the 5 daily obligatory prayers that they refused to observe brought them to hell. That is the reason behind the torment they are facing in hell. May Allah save us from the torments of hellfire. Oh, Allah! Don’t make us the inmates of hellfire.
“So brethren, the prophet went to Allah and brought back the 5 daily obligatory prayers. Whoever neglects these prayers will be rejected by Allah. May Allah not reject us! May Allah save us from trials that would make us neglect the obligatory prayers.
“At the initial point of reception, Allah gave the prophet 50 Rakaats and he was so glad and excited to receive the unique gift Allah has not given to any of his predecessors. On his way back, he met Prophet Musa who advised him to go back to Allah and seek its reduction because the Muslims would find it difficult to observe. Prophet Mohammad for about 9 different times approached Allah to plead for further reductions, which Allah granted until prophet Mohammed was feeling shy of approaching his Lord for further reduction. He eventually came back with the 5 daily prayers.
“So whoever that says he will not observe the daily prayers can be likened to someone whose heart has been hit by apostasy. Such a person needs to do a spiritual bath before we can call him a Muslim again. Whoever doubts Allah’s injunction seeking to know when and where the Quran said Muslims should observe the prayers just like some are peddling wrong notions around today. Let me inform you that the 5 daily prayers were not fixed to a specific time of the day. Allah specified the periods that we should observe each of the prayers. This is a true indication that Allah wants us to plan our lives with it. In the West today, where there are shorter days and longer nights, Subhi (the early Morning Prayer) is observed at 6 am in the UK and some other European states. By May, June, and July, the same Subhi would be observed between 1.30 am and 2 am. That’s why Allah didn’t mention a specific time for the 5 daily obligatory prayers. For the Solatul Zuhr which is the second prayer for the day, there’s not much chance to the time it is observed. It is observed when the sun is directly at the centre of our skull. The zuhr prayer does not extend beyond 12 and 1 pm either here or abroad. But Solatul Asri needs to be properly monitored. It is the medium one and it doesn’t stay for long. Mogrib during the Winter is observed from a few minutes to 4 pm while during the Summer, it is observed at 9.45 pm. It’s still the same obligatory prayers and that’s why Allah has not restricted it to a specific time. The atmosphere of the day is what Allah wants us to consider when praying.
“My brethren in faith, observing the obligatory prayers is very important. If you neglect the daily prayers, you will be severely punished by Allah. It is also important to note that in observing these prayers, there are some guidelines that you must follow. To ladies who enjoy painting their fingernails, you should endeavour to clean the paint before doing ablution. After the solat, you can re-apply the paint again. This is the routine you should follow when you want to observe the 5 daily obligatory prayers at their respective periods. Solat starts from doing purification through ablution.
“Let’s ask ourselves, are we really performing ablution the way it should be done? The holy prophet said there’s no solat for whoever did not perform ablution. Ablution can be performed with either water or dust. Some people have come out with a theory that there are Halal paints. I want to tell you that there’s nothing like Halal paint. Paint is paint. If we are using stone or sand for ablution, it must be pure. It must not have any painting or impurity surrounding it. Even if we want to use the dust on our walls for ablution, the wall must be purely cemented, not tiled or painted.
“Finally to those who usually run their wet hands through their hairs, Allah did not instruct us to do that. What He told us to do is to run our hands through our heads. This is because the water needs to get to the centre of your skull. Then I ask, for those who fixed additional hair is it their head that they are wiping or the attached hair.
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