Missing One Prayer Is Like Losing One’s Family and Wealth

Prayer is a fundamental obligation for every Muslim and should not be neglected in the pursuit of worldly affairs. The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have warned that missing a prayer should be mourned as though one had lost one’s entire family and wealth. The warning underscores the importance of observing prayer and not taking one’s duty to Allah lightly.

There are many virtues and benefits to performing prayer, which is why Allah and His Messenger have made it obligatory. But what if an obligatory prayer is neglected or deliberately abandoned?

Hadith scholar Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Al-Kandahlawi, in Fadhail Namaz, explains that prayer is commonly neglected because people are occupied with family matters or earning wealth. The Prophet Muhammad said: “If wealth distracts us from even one prayer, we should grieve as though we had lost our entire family and wealth, and were left all alone.”

In other words, just as much as we would feel loss and grief if we lost our entire family and wealth, we should feel the same when we miss one prayer.

If someone trustworthy warned that robbers were lying in wait on a particular road, and that anyone who travelled along it at midnight would be killed and robbed, even a brave person would be afraid to take that route.

They would be afraid to go that way even in daylight, let alone at night. Yet the Prophet’s warnings about the dangers of abandoning prayer were given not just once or twice, but repeatedly.

We are Muslims who have acknowledged the truth of the Prophet Muhammad with our own words. But what effect do his sayings have on us? Everyone knows their own circumstances.

Sayyidina Naufal bin Mu’awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet Muhammad said: “Whoever misses one prayer is as though they have lost their entire family and wealth.” (Reported by Ibn Hibban, in At-Targhib.)

Sayyidina Jabir bin Abdillah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet Muhammad said: “When a person abandons prayer, nothing remains between them and disbelief.” (Reported by Imam Ahmad and Imam Muslim.)

Another narration states: “When a person abandons prayer, nothing remains between them and polytheism and disbelief.” (Reported by Imam Abu Dawud.)