How is it that we as Muslims are constantly talking about trying to obtain Allah’s pleasure and mercy, yet we tend to leave off easy ways of doing this? Is it that we are so busy with the dunya that we forget our goal from time to time? Is it that we have never been introduced to some of these ways that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) taught us? Well what ever the reason for us leaving these things are, we want to try to bring one of these things to light today. This is the issue of not just getting up and walking away from your prayer, but rather sitting for the remembrance of Allah.
There is no way that anyone that claims to be trying to adhere to the Sunnah can say that we do not need to be racing one another to do good deeds. Look at how the best of the generations of the Muslims use to race one another to do good deeds and gain their reward. They used to try to out do one another in terms of sending forth good deed to be weighed on their scales on the day of judgement. This is what we should all be doing. We should be trying our hardest to be those that Allah is most pleased with in our time.
When the companions complained to the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) about what they saw as an unfair advantage the wealthy from among them had over the others. What did he tell them to do? We have all heard the hadeeth about him telling them to make remembrance of Allah after the prayers. The hadeeth is one that really shows us about the excellence of that thing that we leave off when we decide to rush out the Masjid after the prayer to simply talk with the other Muslims outside.
Imaam al Bukahri reported the previously mentioned hadeeth that talked specifically about this situation of the companions doing their best to compete with one another in doing good deeds. The narration goes as follows;
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): Some of the companions said, “Oh Messenger of Allah, the wealthy have attained the best of the high ranks and blessings (in Paradise).” The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him) said, “How is that?” They claimed, “They pray as we pray, they strive in jihad as we strive and they spend from their wealth, but we have no wealth.” The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him) said, “Shall I not tell you of something by the means of which you will catch up with those who have gone before you and will go ahead of those who come after you, and no one could possibly achieve what you achieve except one who does what you do. At the end of every prayer, glorify Allah (by saying Subhan Allah) ten times, and praise Him (by saying al-hamdu Lillah) ten times, and magnify Him (by saying Allahu Akbar) ten times.
So as we witness from this hadeeth, there is a lot of benefit that we waste when we skip this virtuous act. When we look around these days, the brothers see others in the Masjid as soon as the salaams are given to both sides, people get up and bolt for the door. The sisters have probably witnessed the same thing. Some of us are even guilty of this ourselves. If we take a second to see how important it was to the earlier generations of the Muslims, and how now a days many of us do not hold it as something important, it makes you wonder how much we are really upon their way. Look at the way that they used to compete with each other for the good. When we compete these days, many times it is to be the one that is seen to be doing the most good. Look at how this hadeeth explained how important gaining a real closeness with Allah and trying to gain His pleasure was to them, and how little of our time now a days that we spend moving toward gaining these things.
Not only this, but the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him) used to give the people advice out of love for them. When he wanted good for someone in specific, he would advise them with something that would bring about much benefit to them. This is something that we see all throughout the Sunnah. We want to mention one of them in particular, due to its being on the topic that we are discussing today, and this is His advice to Mu’aadh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him). This particular hadeeth was narrated by Abu Dawood and graded authentic by Sheikh al Albaani. The hadeeth states;
On the authority of Mu‘aadh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him) took him by the hand and said, “Oh Mu‘aadh, by Allah verily I love you, by Allah verily I love you.” Then he said, “I urge you, Oh Mu‘aadh, never to stop saying at the end of every prayer – (O Allah, help me to remember You, give thanks to You and worship You properly).”
We all know how much the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him) loved Mu’aadh. Look at this advice that he gave one that he loved. Do you doubt even for a minute, that there is an enormous amount of benefit in it? Do you think in both of these situations, he was no advising his loved ones with what he knew would cause them success?
There are many other narrations about some of the remembrances that are said after the prayer. We just wanted to mention to you a couple that would enable you to see how important this issue is to the Muslim and all the benefit that is in this type of worship. It is definitely not something that we can keep acting as though it doesn’t really matter whether or not we do it.
In this article we have seen that making these remembrances after the obligatory prayers is something that is without a doubt legislated in Islam. We see that it is something that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him) used to advise those that he loved with being diligent upon them. We see that there are these. as mentioned, and know that there are many others that can be recited. So we need to try to not only be of those that begin to practice this important Sunnah, but also of those that call our loved ones to practicing it. This way we can get the reward for not only practicing the Sunnah of the remembrances after the obligatory prayers, but aslo get the reward for calling our loved ones to it as did the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him).
May Allah write for all of us and you success in this life and in the hereafter. Allahuma ameen.
