A Race To Prayer – Sulaiman’s Rewarding Day
Narrated Abdullah bin Masood:
‘I asked the Prophet “Which deed is the dearest to Allah?” He replied, “To offer the prayers at their early
stated fixed times…”’ Hadith from the collection of Bukhari
About the book
Something always stops Sulaiman from having fun. First it’s Duhr prayer, then it’s the rain and then the car breaks down just as he is leaving to watch the quad bike races. He eventually gets to the races but then Asr prayer time comes around. Find out how Sulaiman soon realises the blessings of a perfectly-timed prayer.
Inspiration behind the story
This story was inspired by an incident that occurred in 1980 when my husband was watching a football match in the capital city of Algeria, Algiers. When the adhan for the dhuhr prayer was called, my husband left the spectator seats to perform the prayer. It was while he was praying that an earthquake measuring
7.3 on the Richter scale occurred. It is reported that 3,500 people died and many buildings were destroyed making 300,000 people homeless. For the praying people, Allah took their lives while they were performing an obligatory act of worship. For the people who were not praying on time, Allah took their lives while they were doing other activities. For the people who survived and were left homeless, all they had left were their prayers to ask Allah for help.
You’ll be pleased to know my husband survived, as too did all the other spectators in the stadium. No matter what we are doing, we should organise our lives around the prayer times, and not try to fit the prayers around our activities. The prayer doesn’t take long to perform and is much more important than work or play. Allah can make anything happen when we least expect it, so let’s make sure we pray on time.
About the Author
Aliya is an English revert to Islam and lives with her husband and six children in the UK. She gained her first award for a writing competition aged 10. She later began writing children’s stories while home schooling her children. In 2008, she won two awards at the Muslim Writers Awards for best children’s story and writer of the Year.
