How Do You Indemnify For Missed Salat?
Imran Ahmed from Mianwali, Pakistan asks:
'I am grateful that you have answered my previous questions.'
'My next question to you is, what is the correct method of indemnifying for the Salat that we have missed?'
'And how do we correctly indemnify for the Salat that we have neglected to perform for the past 10-15 years?'
'I have asked the clerics many questions, but all these clerics are just concerned about making money.'
'I was satisfied with you answer to my previous question and I now what the truth is. Thank you so much.'
You asked me about the reality of [indemnifying for] missed out Salat (Namaz-e-Qaza).
Now, you said you want to know the reality. So I won't be diplomatic about it.
Do you understand?
Therefore, now I will have to tell you the [naked] truth.
And what is the truth?
Suppose there is a woman that you know you are bound to get married to within the next 2-4 years.
However, you have not recited the marriage vows, so you are not married yet.
Right?
Now, before the marriage,
she cannot say to you, 'You don't take care of my necessities of life.'
[She can't get upset because] you don't come home.
She can't complain that you don't give her a monthly sum [to fulfil her needs], which as her husband, you should be doing.
Or that you have not had any children. She can't say anything like that, can she?
When you become her husband then she will become your responsibility.
Isn't that so?
What do you think?
That's how it is, isn't it?
Now, apply the same thing here: God has made Salat obligatory upon the Enlightened Believers.
Until you become an Enlightened Believer, the obligation of Salat does not fall upon you.
Until you become an Enlightened Believer, you are not obligated to offer Salat.
Could one miss a Salat after becoming an Enlightened Believer?
God would never allow this to happen.
A Prophetic Tradition states, 'There is no Salat without the presence of the Spiritual Heart.'
So if it has been 15-20 years since you offered Salat, you were not an Enlightened Believer during that time anyway.
When will you become an Enlightened Believer?
When God's light enters your heart and the name of God synchronises with your heartbeats - Allah Hu, Allah Hu -
even while you are standing, sitting and tossing and turning in your bed. When this happens constantly,
that is when you will become an Enlightened Believer.
God gave two signs of Enlightened Believers.
Koran 58:22 states that God has stamped the hearts of the highest ranking Enlightened Believers with his name.
'God has written faith upon their hearts.' - Koran 58:22
The Personal Name of God is seen shining upon their hearts.
What is the other stage of being an Enlightened Believer?
Koran 3:191: '[They] engage in Dhikr Allah (Invocation of God's name) while they stand, sit and even toss and turn in their beds.'
When your heart is constantly repeating God's name even while you stand, sit and sleep,
then you are at the stage of being an Enlightened Believer.
When your heart engages in invocation even while you sleep, how can such a heart let you neglect Salat?
The heart will drag you towards Salat.
Right?
So before indemnifying for missed Salat, first become an Enlightened Believer.
Salat is obligatory upon Enlightened Believers.
Before becoming an Enlightened Believer, Salat isn't even obligatory for you.
So how will you perform 10-15 years' worth of Salat [to make up for what you missed]?
Obtain the Opening of the Spiritual Heart (Dhikr-e-Qalb). God's name must be synchronised within the heartbeats and divine energy must be produced.
After that, begin offering Salat.
Then your heart will not allow you to miss any Salat.
Before this point, you were not an Enlightened Believer. Therefore, Salat was not obligatory for you - so [why woudl you need to worry] about any missed Salat?
This is the truth.
One day, I asked His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi:
'My Lord, I really enjoy performing Salat. I feel spiritual ecstasy and bliss when I perform it.'
'However, when I used to perform Salat before [obtaining Opening of the Spiritual Heart], I did not enjoy it.'
His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi replied, 'At that time, you were not an Enlightened Believer. Salat is for the Enlightened Believers.'
If you buy a new car for a child, will he be able to drive it?
But if you give a new car to a young adult, he will definitely enjoy driving it.
The next question I asked was, 'What do I do about the Salat I missed out performing?'
HDE Gohar Shahi said, 'When you were not an Enlightened Believer, Salat was not obligatory upon you.'
'When you became an Enlightened Believer, your heart compelled you to offer Salat. Then your heart does not allow you to miss out on Salat.'
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