THREAD: HYPOCRITES, HYPOCRISY AND SALAH

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HYPOCRITES

The last thing Salah Uddin al - Ayyubi Rahimullah did was defeat the oppressive crusaders. The first thing he did was deal with hypocrites.

The Righteous predecessors lived in dread of hypocrisy, they feared being one of the hypocrites. Al-Hasan al-Basri said, 'None feels safe from hypocrisy except a hypocrite, and none fears it save a believer’.

The plant of hypocrisy grows from two stems: lying and ostentation. It grows out of two sources: weakness of spiritual insight and weakness of resolution. When these four factors exist, the plant of hypocrisy flourishes and grows firm.

The hearts of hypocrites are heedless of performing good but their bodies outwardly do so, and indecent deeds are frequently performed by them. When they hear the truth their hearts are too hard to accept it, but when they witness falsehood and hear fallacy...

... their hearts openly accept it and they lend a willing ear.

SIGNS OF HYPOCRISY IN SALAH (PRAYER)

Praying the salah properly with all it's external and internal etiquettes (proper manners) has been described in the Quran and Hadith as an indicator of true faith in Allah.

Whereas, habitually Praying salah in a careless and spiritually irresponsible manner is considered as a disaster for one's faith and a sign of nifaq (hypocrisy). "Successful indeed are the believers. Those who offer their Salat (prayers) with all solemnity and full submissiveness

"Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up for As-Salat (the prayer), they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little." (4:142)

Abu Musa (ra) reports that one day the Prophet ﺻﻟﻰﺍﷲ ﻋﻟﻳﻪ ﻮﺍﻟﺳﻠﻡ led the Companions in Salah and then sat amongst them. A person then entered and performed Salah. He was very hasty in bowing and prostrating. The Prophet ﺻﻟﻰﺍﷲ ﻋﻟﻳﻪ ﻮﺍﻟﺳﻠﻡ said, ...

“Look at this person. If he were to die, he would not die on the religion of Muhammad ﺻﻟﻰﺍﷲ ﻋﻟﻳﻪ ﻮﺍﻟﺳﻠﻡ. He is pecking at Salah like a crow pecks at blood.” (Sahih Ibn Khuzayma)

A SOLUTION TO BARELY REMEMBERING ALLAH IN SALAH: Plain Prayer Mats

NO Marks or Patterns One of the six marks of hypocrisy in Salah is barely remembering Allah in Salah To remember Allah in Salah we must be focused . To be focused we must eliminate all distractions Marks and patterns on prayer mats distract us

Simply read about the Khushu of the Sahaba (May God be pleased with them) and look at our Khushu Best to use a plain prayer mat without marks or patterns etc Plain prayer mats without marks or patterns are available in Islamic book shops

Sahih al-Bukhari 373: Narrated `Aisha: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'I was looking at its (Khamisa's) marks during the prayers and I was afraid that it may put me in trial (by taking away my attention).

Al-Bukhari and Muslim have also reported a Hadith narrated by her ['Aishah (RA)] in which is mentioned the story of Abu Jahm's Ambijania (a plain woolen garment) with the addition: "it (the Khamisa) has distracted me from my prayer."

References: https://sunnah.com/bukhari/8/25  https://sunnah.com/bulugh/2/117 
Do NOT delay, buy a plain prayer mat today! Link to buy a plain mat now
https://www.google.com/search?q=plain+prayer+mat&source=lmns&tbm=shop&bih=734&biw=393&client=ms-android-xiaomi-rvo3&prmd=sivn&safe=off&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJvKGvop3rAhUG0oUKHXD2Di4Q_AUoAXoECAAQBA#sbfbu=1&pi=plain%20prayer%20mat

DISCLAIMER: This msg is NOT for the general masses of Muslims. As most Muslims unfortunately don't even pray. It is for "solid musaleen" NB what do I know that doesn't move me? What do I need to know so my knowledge will move me?