Neglecting the Five Daily Prayers

“So woe to those who pray, who are neglectful of their salah, who (do good only to) show off, and refuse to give (even the simplest) aid.” (Al-Ma’un, 4-7)

These verses in surah al-Ma’un invite us to sincere worship and remind us of our responsibilities and duties to both Allah Almighty and His creation. They also indicate that our intentions and efforts must be sincere.

The verse, “So woe to those who pray, who are neglectful of their prayers,” points to the extraordinary place of the five daily prayers in Islam. In a hadith, the five daily prayers are described as the “pillar of religion” (Tirmidhi, Iman, 8). They show the strong devotion of believers to Allah Almighty and Islam.

In many verses of the Qur’an (e.g., Al-Baqarah, 2, Al-Hajj, 41, An-Nur, 56), Allah Almighty commands that the five daily prayers must be “established.” In our Prophet’s words, the five daily prayers are “the light of the eye.” They help a servant with sincere intention ascend to the presence of Allah Almighty in a spiritual sense, being reunited with their creator five times a day. 

The five daily prayers are a remembrance of Allah Almighty and guidance from Him, as His benevolence and help. As individuals and as a society, the five daily prayers are a way of asking for help in attaining Allah’s pleasure and obeying His commandments with sincerity. Those who neglect them will be deprived of these and countless other Divine gifts.

Two Sides of the Coin: Neglection and Distraction

Islamic scholars explain the phrase “unmindful of their prayers” in the following ways:

Neglecting the five daily prayers is a sign of hypocrites and sinners. 

It can also mean that one is not performing the prayers as one should.

Both groups of people can be negligent of the five daily prayers in different ways, such as:

• Not caring whether one has prayed or not

• Not observing the proper times for prayers

• Not feeling bad about neglecting prayers

• Not praying for the sake of Allah, but for other worldly gains

• Praying in the presence of others but neglecting prayers when alone

• Not praying while thinking that one is in the spiritual presence of Allah, but performing as a machine

• Not praying as taught to us by the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and His Companions

• Praying disrespectfully without proper manners and presence of mind (for example, fiddling with one’s clothes during prayer)

• Yawning or tilting left or right without any excuse

• Not avoiding unfitting manners in prayer

• Rushing through prayers like a pecking bird

May Allah Almighty protect us from these behaviors.

One should be concerned about and afraid of the fact that one will be deeply embarrassed when confronted with the prayers that they have performed negligently and disrespectfully on the Day of Judgment. One should never forget that the five daily prayers are the key to eternal bliss. We should not ignore that we will die one day and wake up in our true homeland. And we should never accept losing true and eternal happiness for a dream doomed to vanish.

It should be noted that the verse mentions being unmindful of prayers but not unmindful in prayer. There is a big difference between these two expressions. Being unmindful of prayers refers to not taking the five daily prayers seriously, which is typical of sinners and hypocrites.

On the other hand, unmindfulness during prayer refers to being distracted while praying due to shaytan’s influence or one’s internal dialogue. This can happen to any sincere believer. For this reason, Ata bin Dinar (rahmatullahi alayh) has said, 

“Praise be to Allah Who did not berate those who are unmindful in prayer or imperfect in prayer but berated those unmindful of prayers. Our job would be very difficult if those unmindful or imperfect in prayer were berated.”

The Pinnacle of Sin

The first three verses of surah Al-Ma’un, “Have you seen the one who denies the (final) Judgment? For that is the one who drives away the orphan and does not encourage the feeding of the poor,” highlight a person’s failure in being compassionate toward the creation of Allah Almighty. Being unmindful of the five daily prayers is a failure in respecting the commandment of Allah Almighty. When a person fails in both regards, one attains the pinnacle of sin.

This surah describes this type of failure as a sign of denying the Day of Judgment, and Allah Almighty says, “So woe to those….” This expression is not placed at the beginning of the surah but rather at this particular location to indicate that a person’s failure in their relationship with Allah Almighty is a more grievous sin than one’s failure in their dealing with others, which calls for a more severe punishment.

The preceding verses portray being merciless toward the orphans and the weak as a sign of denying the Day of Judgment and a bad deed worthy of berating. Verses 4-7 state that the torment, wrath, and punishment of Allah Almighty is for the hypocrites who pray. Since they do not believe in the Day of Judgment, they are negligent in their prayers. In their opinion, spending time in prayer is a waste of time.

Nevertheless, when they pray to appear as Muslims on the outside, they remain careless in every other aspect of their prayers. They have no presence of mind. When left alone or with friends, they never pray and do not feel bad about missing prayers. Because such people use prayers to hide their hypocrisy, they gain nothing from their prayers in this world and only punishment in the Hereafter.

In Tafsir al-Kabir, there is the following narration: It is said that on the Day of Judgment, everyone will cry and yell in Hell in proportion to their sins. For example, one will cry, “woe to me for chasing power and glory,” and another, “woe to me for the sins in my prayers.” For this reason, it is considered a good deed to say, “If Allah does not forgive me, woe to me!” when one listens to these verses.

These verses also refer to those who take false pride in the few prayers they have performed and neglect other religious duties. The essence of Islam is to sincerely submit to the commandments of Allah Almighty and recognize that all power, motion, reward, and punishment belong to Him alone. For this reason, the Qur’an mentions, after having faith, establishing the five daily prayers and giving zakat as the essence of good deeds.

There are some people who pray regularly, thinking they have fulfilled all of their duties. They do not give zakat or ascribe any substantial significance to the social and financial aspects of Islam. While they enjoy taking, they refrain from giving for the sake of Allah, helping others, and spending money for religious purposes. However, as the Qur’an says, the five daily prayers are supposed to prevent one from bad deeds and evil, and the remembrance of Allah is the greatest form of worship (Al-Ankabut, 45). 

Even though the five daily prayers are supposed to be a complete form of the remembrance of Allah Almighty and provide the best guidance for someone, the people who cannot abstain from bad and evil deeds and neglect many of their religious duties are oblivious to the true meaning of prayers and unmindful of the prohibitions and advice contained within them.

Those Who Show Off and Withhold Assistance

The preceding verses are explained by the following verse: “who (do good only to) show off” 

The purpose of showing off one’s worship is to gain worldly means. The reason for such a big mistake is one’s attribution of one’s deeds and states to one’s self which is a sign that they are in a spiritual darkness. Success in good deeds is only possible with the help of Allah Almighty.

Those who show off do not perform their religious duties to please Allah. They do them when and where others can see them to gain admiration and respect. Whether for worldly gain or spiritual reputation, worshipping for any reason other than the pleasure of Allah is riya (showing off). Everyone should check their hearts for explicit or implicit riya and seek healing from this spiritual disease that prevents sincerity. 

Regarding a hadith by which Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) warned his followers against showing off, Ibn Abbas (radiyallahu anh) said the following:

“Riya (showing off) can be as inconspicuous as the footsteps of a black ant walking on a black stone on a dark night.”

Hence, avoiding showing off is a challenging task. It requires the clearing of the heart and the cleansing of the self. Performing compulsory religious duties does not constitute showing off because hiding such duties is unnecessary. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “There is no need to hide what Allah made compulsory.” (Ibnu’l-Asir, an-Nihayah, III, 388) 

Compulsory deeds are signs of Islam. In Islamic law, a person who neglects them deserves criticism and punishment. Therefore, one must perform obligatory religious duties openly and avoid suspicion. Optional ones can be hidden. This is necessary, especially if one fears showing off. If someone neglects an optional duty, they are not criticized or shamed. However, it is good to perform optional religious duties openly to set a good example for others.

Allah Almighty describes the last attribute of those who deny the Day of Judgment as “they refuse to give (even the simplest) aid.” 

The word “ma’un” in the original Arabic text refers to the smallest aid (benefit). It can also refer to everyday household items like cups, pottery, plates, needles, and threads. Hence, its meaning includes everything that can benefit a person. For this reason, Islamic scholars have said, “it is improper to withhold something useful when a person in need asks for it. It is not good character to withhold help when possible.” Therefore, “ma’un” refers to all kinds of help, small or large, that may be necessary.

Hoarding Wealth

The threat expressed in this verse is for those who avoid helping others, hoard material things, and are mentally preoccupied with their wealth and possessions while praying. 

Ibn Aziz (rahmatullahi alayh) said: “During the pre-Islamic period, the word “ma’un” referred to any gift or useful thing. But in Islam, it refers to charity and alms.” 

This means that a miserly person, who does not give zakat and avoids rendering even a minor aid to others, cannot be said to be following the commandments of Allah Almighty. Those who seem religious on the outside because of their prayers and yet are unmindful of their prayers, show off their deeds, and shrink from giving the smallest financial or material aid to others are bound up in a perplexing contradiction. However, a disbeliever’s mistreatment of orphans and lack of help to the needy would not be such a startling demeanor that subverts expectations.

The following two points can summarize the message of these verses:

First, the rules and guidelines set by Islam as we perform our religious duties cannot be ignored. However, there are also many spiritual rules and conditions, which are just as impactful as the rules concerning the outward performance of these duties, that must be followed as we perform our religious tasks. These include having a sincere intention, khushu, taqwa, and the like, which refer to one’s spiritual side. One draws closer to Allah Almighty when performing religious duties as long as one observes the outer requirements and also fulfilling the tasks’ spiritual requirements. This is attained by “worshipping Allah as if one is seeing Him.” (Bukhari, Iman, 37)

Second, in these verses, having khushu during prayers and helping others have been mentioned together. In this regard, complete worship includes fulfilling our duties towards Allah Almighty and our responsibilities to others, maintaining this awareness with a sincere intention. Allah Almighty demands that His servants have this praiseworthy character.

One must accept the supremacy of Islam verbally and in their heart, become a sincere Muslim, and help those in need as much as possible. One must seek the protection of Allah Almighty in all one’s deeds and ask Him for success.

Allah Almighty knows best.

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