Chapter Eight THE LEVELS OF PEOPLE WITH REGARD TO THEIR PRAYER 32

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, “And mankind,with regard to their performance of prayer are in five levels.

The First: The level of the one who is negligent and wrongshis soul. He is the one who falls short in performing ablutionproperly, performing the prayer upon its time and within its specifiedlimits, and in fulfilling its essential pillars.

The Second: The one who guards his prayers upon their propertimes and within their specified limits, fulfils their essentialpillars and performs his ablution with care. However, his striving (inachieving the above) is wasted due to whisperings in his prayer so heis taken away by thoughts and ideas.

The Third: The one who guards his prayers within thespecified limits, fulfils their essential pillars and strives withhimself to repel the whisperings, thoughts and ideas. He is busystruggling against his enemy (Satan) so that he does not steal from theprayer. On account of this he is engaged in (both) prayer and jihaad.

The Fourth: The one who stands for the prayer, completes andperfects its due rights, its essential pillars, performs it within itsspecified limits and his heart becomes engrossed in safeguarding itsrights and specified limits, so that nothing is wasted from it. Hiswhole concern is directed towards its establishment, its completion andits perfection, as it should be. His heart is immersed in the prayerand in enslavement to his Lord, the Exalted.

The Fifth: The one who stands for the prayer like the onementioned above. However, on top of this, he has taken and placed hisheart in front of his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, looking towardsHim with his heart with anticipation, (his heart) filled with His loveand His might, as if he sees and witnesses Allaah. The whisperings,thoughts and ideas have vanished and the coverings which are betweenhim and his Lord are raised. What is between this person and otherswith respect to the prayer, is superior and greater than what isbetween the heavens and the earth. This person is busy with his Lord,the Mighty and Majestic, delighted with Him.

The first type will be punished, the second type willbe held to account, the third will have his sins andshortcomings expiated, the fourth will be rewarded and thefifth will be close to his Lord, because he will receive theportion of the one who makes his prayer the delight and pleasure of hiseye. Whoever makes his prayer the delight and pleasure of his eye, willhave the nearness to his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, made thedelight and pleasure of his eye in the hereafter. He will also be madea pleasure to the eye in this world since whoever makes Allaah thepleasure of his eye in this world, every other eye will becomedelighted and pleased with him.32 Al-Waabilus-Sayyib, pp.23~24.