Salaat-il-Wusta

Alhamdollillah, the list of Ayaats compiled and published by me has been very well received by the general public and specially the Big Madressahs and DarulUloom. I am really thankful to Almighty Allah for giving me this opportunity of being of service to His Great Book.

Every body is now correcting the centuries old misconception by counting the number of Ayaats as “6236” instead of “6666”.

There is another very serious misconception, which I would like to address today. This is about “Salaat-il-Wusta” or the “Middle Prayer”. It is generally construed to mean the Asar or the afternoon prayer. But, I feel that treating Asar as middle is not correct from Muslim point of view. Let me explain:

The present Christian calendar begins at midnight and when we get up in the morning the first prayer is naturally the morning prayer; The second prayer is Zohar and 3^rd is Asar which is the middle prayer. This is according to the Christian calendar.

According to the Muslim Calendar, the date changes at sunset and after the date change, the Azaan for Maghrib is given and therefore Maghrib is the “First Prayer”.Ishaa is second and therefore Fajar becomes the 3^rd as well as the “Middle Prayer” or in other words “Salaat-il-Wusta”.

It all depends. If you follow the Christian calendar, in vogue, the middle prayer is Asar. If you follow the Muslim calendar the middle prayer is Fajar. The choice is yours. You can follow any calendar that you like.

Now a few words about the morning prayer. This is the only prayer in which the words “Salaat-o-Khairum menun noum” meaning, “prayer is better than sleep” is mentioned in the Azaan. Moreover, in Sura Bani Israel (No:17) Ayaat No: 78, it is mentioned:-

“Establish regular prayers at the sun’s decline till the darkness of the night, and the morning reading: for the reading in the morning carry its testimony”.

Please note that the above Ayat begins by stating the Maghrib prayer as the 1^st prayer and lays great emphasis on the morning or Fajar reading(prayer). If the Almighty is telling us in plain language :-

“Guard strictly your habit of prayers, specially the Middle Prayer (2/238)”,

and then shows us in Ayaat No: 17/78 (Stated above) which is the middle prayer, then who are we not to listen to His Commands.

May Allah be our Guide.

Please remember me in your prayers.

Ibrahim Suttar.

For the above article, I am grateful to Brother Mukarram and Hafiz Ali Illias

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