Thread by @omotolaniee

I know you guys probably have your reasons for saying Praying five times daily is bare minimum but I don’t think so and here is why.

Solat is an obligatory part of worship and it is what essentially differentiates a Muslim from a non Muslim. That’s a given.

However, it goes beyond doing Wudhu and then Rukhu and Sujud five times a day. It is all encompassing

If you do your prayers every day, you would not touch Alcohol, because you know what the repercussion is and you wouldn’t want to set yourself up like that.

Hence, Alcohol is cancelled.

If you pray everyday, you would know how bad it is to fornicate.

I mean, asides it being a sin, do you even want to be having your Ghuslu every time because you have to pray in the next hour? Even married people struggle with this.

Hence, fornication is cancelled!

If you pray every day, you would understand that backbiting, gossiping, malice and all that look like them are forbidden in Islam. You would know that you should be quiet if you can’t speak good words. You would flee from every form of corruption.

See?These ones too ,cancelled

If you pray, As a man, you would know and stick to the view that giving false hope is wrong and leading people on with no good intentions can be highly sinful. You won’t be a playboy/cassanova or whatever you call it.

As a woman, praying would let you know that it is wrong to be dishonest and two timing. You won’t encourage men here and there when you know you aren’t interested in marrying them. So much more

If we knew the many things that invalidate prayers, we would know that observing your five daily prayers go beyond just bare minimum.

Now, do we all struggle? Yes! We do and we have our struggles in different ways

We see people and say :Ah Olorun ti fi irun ro lorun i.e God has made prayers really easy for him.

You see, if it was bare minimum, I doubt we would glorify it like that. Also, we don’t know the struggle this same person has gone through before he got here.

I used to struggle so much with Solat. I’d pray in the morning and get lost in the activities of the day. By the time I got home, it would look really cumbersome for me to combine all the prayers so I’d just go to sleep.

Then I got better and started combining.

My first job had no space for me to pray while at work and the closest mosque was a bus away. I would get home and do Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha.

I am sure you know these would be rushed

I told myself that I would not make that mistake with my next job so I stated it right at the interview stage. I told the boss that I’d need few minutes to be praying twice while at work ( Zuhr and Asr) and alhamdulilah she even suggested the spaces I could use.

I also used to have this prayer:

“Oh Allah, I want to be so conscious of Solat that if I haven’t observed it at the given time, I feel restless and uneasy with myself till I do it!”

Alhamdulilah, this prayer was granted.

That is not to say I don’t srruggle till date. But Alhamdulilah I am way better than I was and I have a spouse who helps me and also I help to stay conscious.

We all need to encourage ourselves and push one another to be better

So you see, telling someone who is struggling and aspiring to do better with Solat that it is bare minimum is not a good thing to do. You may have great intentions but nah, it makes them feel like they are doing nothing.

Solat is all encompassing, remember that.

Imagine working so hard for an exam, baring all odds to excel at it, just for someone to trivialize your struggles by saying it is bare minimum. I bet you would relax and not try so much again.

May Allah grant us ease and may we remain guided.

I hope with these few points of mine, I have been able to convince and not to confuse you that Solat is not bare minimum.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.