Answer
Salam Sister,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
As a wife, you can do many things to encourage your husband to be punctual in his performance of salah (prayer).
How to Help Him Pray
First, you should be careful about your own prayer; so that through your own example you should show how seriously you consider the performance of salah at the correct time.
And when he is present at home, you should invite him to be your imam while praying.
And see what excuse he gives to avoid it. You need to counter his excuses with fitting replies. You should certainly be patient with him, and should begin what one may call, “a charm offensive”.
At first you need to be extremely considerate to his excuses. Gradually you should try to convince him of the immense importance of salah in a Muslim’s life.
Salah is the communication channel between a person and his/her Creator. And sujud (prostration) is the position when a person is closest to Allah. Your husband seems to be fine without salah as he is well off now. But he should be wise enough to know his present condition can change at any moment.
The problem with him is the weakness of his iman (faith) or the lack of it: he does not realize the benefits of keeping Allah in remembrance. All the forms of worship taught by Islam are meant to keep Allah in one’s remembrance.
Taqwa or God-consciousness develops out of the remembrance of Allah. One can enjoy the sweetness of iman as well as the peace of the soul only through the remembrance of Allah.
Life is Short
There are many people who imagine that material prosperity will solve all problems. They strive for money, power, or fame as though these are the be-all and the end-all of life.
Life is short and it is out of Allah Almighty’s unbounded mercy that He offers to give us eternal happiness in Paradise as a reward for a limited number of good deeds in this short life. We should be constantly thankful to Him for all the blessings He has showered upon us in this life.
And our hearts should be overflowing with gratitude for the unimaginably wonderful blessings He has prepared for us in the life to come. And we should strive hard to attain those blessings of Paradise in the hereafter.
Allah says in His Holy Quran:
{Verily, I – I alone – am God; there is no deity save Me. Hence, worship Me alone, and be constant in prayer, so as to remember Me!} (Quran 20:14)
Everyone who testifies that “there is no one worthy of worship but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger” must necessarily perform salah five times a day. And it is clearly stated that the first thing one has to account for on The Day of Judgment is salah: The Prophet said:
The first matter that the slave will be brought to account for on the Day of Judgment is the prayer. If it is sound, then the rest of his deeds will be sound. And if it is bad, then the rest of his deeds will be bad. (Tabarani)
If one’s prayer is found to be good, then all other deeds are reckoned to be good. Because, salah by definition and in its reality is a form of worship that saves one from evil.
Main Pillar of Islam
Salah five times a day is a strong pillar of Islam that keeps the Muslims in the constant remembrance of Allah, to which a Muslim’s daily activities must be firmly tethered, so that they are constantly being pulled back from everything that tends to take them away from the center.
Prayer directs a person’s whole life to Allah. It purifies the heart, and elevates the soul towards Allah. It helps a person attain a spiritual agility capable of directing all activities of daily life along the straight path.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said:
‘If a person had a stream outside his door and he bathed in it five times a day, do you think he would have any filth left on him?’ The people said, ‘No filth would remain on him whatsoever.’ The Prophet then said, ‘That is like the five daily prayers: Allah wipes away the sins by them.’ (Bukhari and Muslim)
The foregoing should give your husband a glimpse of the significance of salah in one’s life. He should continue to study the Islamic way of life and should sincerely try to follow the commandments of Allah and the example of Prophet Muhammad, (PBUH).
Keep praying for Alllah’s help and guidance in your efforts. And insha Allah (God willing), you will be able to help your husband to be a sincere Muslim, who observes the five times salah as well as all other dictates of Islam!
(From Ask About Islam archive)
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