So as the massajid have been taken away from us, even if temporarily,
it's dawned upon us how special those places are.
But we also have our homes.
And what you want to do with your house is turn it into as much as possible a
place of praise. The prophet (pbuh) He said,
don't turn your homes into graveyards. So always leave some share of your Salah,
some share of your prayers for the house,
even if you pray the congregational prayers in the Masjid, so that your homes
can also be places of Baraka, places of blessing, places of prayer.
And you know "subhan Allah" people are always talking about how do we expel
the "shayateen" from the home, how do we expel the "Genn"?
And the reality is that you invite the "Malayikuh" into your home with the
recitation of the Qur'an and with the presence of prayer and remembrance.
And those things naturally would expel the opposite of them,
which are the "Shayateen" which are the Devils
And so you want to have a strong share of your prayer for the home,
and you want your home to basically be like a Masjid in the sense that it's a
home of praise, a home where Allah (swt) is worshiped frequently,
and you want to have an allocation of that. Now, one of the things that,
that's very powerful when you're thinking about the Malayikuh when you're
thinking about the angels is when you pray at home, you're not alone.
Okay? So even if you're not surrounded by rows of people,
you're certainly not alone. And "Saeid almsyb"
(RAE) he narrates that no one goes into prayer,
even if they're on waterless, desolate land, "'ardu falah",
which we'll talk about,
but you're praying all alone except that an angel would pray to your rights,
an angel to your left,
an angels would pray behind you "'amthal aljibal" angels.
The size of mountains are praying behind you.
Can you imagine you're entering into Salah,
you're entering into prayer and your bedroom and your living room in
your dining room, your office, wherever it is, and you think it's just you.
And there are angels,
the size of mountains that are praying behind you as you're saying "Allah 'akbar".
Wouldn't that cause you to think a little bit more instead of going,
"Alhamd Lilah...." you know,
to actually think about the way that you're reciting and to take more seriously
the moment.
Obviously the most serious element of it is that you're standing be-for Allah (swt)
But as you're standing be-for Allah, you have these angels,
the size of mountains that are praying behind you.
And there is something special to praying alone and what that denotes in terms
of "akhlas", in terms of sincerity. And so you find these two "Ahadith",
one of them from "'abu saeid alkhadri",
(RAE) that the prophet (pbuh) said that the prayer in congregation,
the prayer in "jamaea" is like 25 times the individual prayer and then the prophet
(pbuh) said an Salah that is in falah,
in the middle of nowhere. Okay.
Which is the best way I think you can translate "Falah" in the middle of nowhere
is like the prayer of 50 times the Reward, okay,
so it's like twice the reward of the "jamaea" and another "Hadith" The prophet
(pbuh) he mentioned that
"yuejib rabukum" your Lord is pleased with a man who is in the mountains,
a shepherd by himself in the mountains all by himself who calls out the "Azaan"
who does the "'iiqama"
and then he does the prayer all by himself and Allah (swt) calls
the angels. And he says, look at the slave of mine. Look at this one.
Look at him. He's all alone. He calls the "Azan", He calls the "'iiqama"
He makes the prayer out of fear for me and love for me.
And he says to the angels,
(swt) "qad ghafirat lieabdii waidkhalth aljunuh", I have forgiven the servant of mine.
And I answered him into paradise. Why?
Because of the sincerity of this person in the middle of nowhere in the
mountains.
And if you haven't had the experience of calling the "Azan" in the mountains,
do it on your next hike "'in sha' allh taealaa", it's,
it's really an incredible feeling. But you know,
the idea that this man is all by himself in the middle of nowhere on the
outskirts of the city and still finds that clinging to Allah (swt) and
announces themselves alone. So, Does that mean that, uh,
instead of coming to the "Masjid"
I'm going to drive out to the country and pray and I'll get more of the reward?
No,
these two "Ahadith" we are talking about, a person who happens to be in the middle of
nowhere, not a person who goes and seeks the middle of nowhere for that prayer.
And there is an implementation of this beyond just the sincerity of praying
alone and the angels that are like mountain praying with you. You know,
when you're on a journey or you're traveling and you stop at a rest area or
you're praying, you know, in a place that's, that's really, you know,
a foreign that's away and you're doing that out of sincerity and it's just you.
And Allah (swt) Right?
It's a very profound expression of the sincerity and Allah,
will not let you pray alone,
but Allah (swt) will surround you with angels
the size of mountains that would pray with you and Allah would announce to another
group of angels that he has forgiven you for your sins and entered you into
paradise.