⏰🏃🏽‍♂ IMPORTANCE OF PRAYING EARLY AND ON TIME 🏃‍♂⏰

إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَّوْقُوتًا
"Verily, the prayer is enjoined on the believers at fixed times."
(Surah An-Nisa, ayah 103)

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was asked,
أَىُّ الْعَمَلِ أَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ
“Which deed is the most beloved to Allah?”
The Prophet said,
الصَّلاَةُ عَلَى وَقْتِهَا
“Prayer upon on its respective times” (Al-Bukhari)

In another narration,
عَنْ أُمِّ فَرْوَةَ، قَالَتْ سُئِلَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَىُّ الأَعْمَالِ أَفْضَلُ قَالَ
The Prophet ﷺ was asked – what are the best of deeds? He said,

"الصَّلاَةُ فِي أَوَّلِ وَقْتِهَا"
“Prayer at its early (beginning) times”
(Abu Daud, graded sahih by Al-Albani)

📆📌We should plan our daily schedules to prioritize our solah: Plan our solah first, plant that as our scheduled high priority task, and then plan everything else around it. 

The problem with many of us is, we do the opposite: we plan pretty much every other aspect of our daily schedule first – and plan the solah around the schedule. We pray when is ‘convenient’ or ‘when we are free’.

⏳In fact, the earlier, the better

The Prophet ﷺ said:
إِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ فِي صَلاَةٍ مَا دَامَتِ الصَّلاَةُ تَحْبِسُهُ، وَالْمَلاَئِكَةُ تَقُولُ اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لَهُ وَارْحَمْهُ‏.‏ مَا لَمْ يَقُمْ مِنْ صَلاَتِهِ أَوْ يُحْدِثْ
"As long as any-one of you is waiting for the prayer, he is considered to be praying (I.e. Rewarded as if he is in the prayer), and the angels (make du'aa for him) and say:
"O Allah! Be merciful to him and forgive him",
(and go on saying so) - unless he leaves his place of praying or passes wind (i.e. breaks his ablution).” (Al-Bukhari)

Consider this: Even waiting for the prayer, you are rewarded as if you are in prayer!
It’s like going to work early before your shift, and you get paid before your shift starts – even if you do nothing. Amazing ما شاء الله

🌃⚠ EMPHASIS : MAGHRIB

Especially in the month of Ramadhan, we should pay special attention to Maghrib.
What tends to happen is that we get so absorbed in iftar to satisfy our hunger and almost neglect Maghrib prayer, delaying it unnecessarily.

The best thing we should do is just break our fast and iftar with a simple light meal, get hydrated, and immediatley head out to the prayer - and after prayer only then have our proper meal.

As long as we adhere to praying Maghrib early, it will be a continuous source of blessings and barakah in ourlives. 

The Prophet ﷺ said,

لاَ تَزَالُ أُمَّتِي بِخَيْرٍ - أَوْ قَالَ عَلَى الْفِطْرَةِ - مَا لَمْ يُؤَخِّرُوا الْمَغْرِبَ إِلَى أَنْ تَشْتَبِكَ النُّجُومُ
"My nation will continue to be upon goodness - or upon fitrah (natural disposition of goodness) -
as long as they do not delay the Maghrib prayer until the stars are seen (on the skies, i.e. when it gets dark as the sun sets)"
(Narrated by Abu Daud, graded hasan sahih by Al-Albani)

🥇The 5-Daily prayers are the first and most important deed that will be evaluated on the Day of Judgment :even before fasting, Zakat and other deeds

The Prophet ﷺ said:
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ مَا يُحَاسَبُ بِهِ الْعَبْدُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنْ عَمَلِهِ صَلَاتُهُ. فَإِنْ صَلُحَتْ فَقَدْ أَفْلَحَ وَأَنْجَحَ، وَإِنْ فَسَدَتْ فَقَدْ خَابَ وَخَسِرَ، فَإِنْ انْتَقَصَ مِنْ فَرِيضَتِهِ شَيْءٌ، قَالَ الرَّبُّ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ: انْظُرُوا هَلْ لِعَبْدِي مِنْ تَطَوُّعٍ فَيُكَمَّلَ بِهَا مَا انْتَقَصَ مِنْ الْفَرِيضَةِ، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ سَائِرُ عَمَلِهِ عَلَى ذَلِكَ
The first of his actions for which a servant of Allah will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers.
If they are in order, then he will have prospered and succeeded: and if they are wanting, then he will have failed and lost.
If there is something defective in his obligatory prayers, the Lord (glorified and exalted be He) will say: See if My servant has any supererogatory prayers with which may be completed that which was defective in his obligatory prayers.
Then the rest of his actions will be judged in like fashion
(Narrated by At-Tirmidzi, Abu Daud, ibnu Majah, An-Nasa’i)

In this hadith the Prophet clearly stated the importance of our fardh (obligatory) 5-daily prayers – Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha – are the first criteria of Allah’s righteous slaves on the Day of Judgment – and that the sunnah / additional prayers: such as tarawih, qiyamullayl, duha, are only supplementary to top up these main 5-daily prayers if there are defects in them. 

Therefore these 5-daily prayers should definitely be our priority.

May Allah make us amongst those who are steadfast in performing our prayers in its early times. Amin.

BarakAllahu fikum.