We live in an age of jet setting, an age in which many people awake in one country, eat lunch in a second, and go to sleep in a third. From Kingston to Kazakhstan, and Taiwan to Toronto, with the ease of travel and communication, the globe has seemingly ‘shrunk’ with even the remotest area now connected to the rest of the world. From any region of the planet, we can use the internet to book a room in the Intercontinental, or transfer funds across thousands of kilometres in the mere flash of an eye. We can communicate across opposing hemispheres in just seconds, and enjoy the produce and products of diverse countries in our very own locality.

However, all this has been made possible through electricity. Without electricity, we would have no flights, no LED lighting, and you get the point – almost every single invention and comfort that we enjoy, from a microwave to a geyser to even our automated garage doors and driveway gates would cease to function and be of very little benefit to us. It is thus clear that electricity plays a pivotal role in the grand scheme of things, giving power to technology and allowing it to function.

Similarly, we have been taught that salaah is such a pivotal and crucial ‘ibaadah in the life of a Believer that it has a direct impact on all the other branches of Deen in a person’s life. In essence, if a person’s salaah is in order, his entire life will be in order, as salaah is like the electric current that gives him a spiritual charge, assisting him and motivating him towards righteousness. If one’s salaah is lacking in any way, the negative impact will definitely be witnessed in the other aspects of one’s Deen.

People understand that they are dependent on electricity and energy in all areas of their lives, and so they attach great importance to paying the electricity bill, anxious that the municipality should not disconnect them from the grid. Even when leaving home, people are concerned that their smart phones should not ‘die’ and thus carry power banks to boost their batteries in times of need.

In the same way, just as we are particular regarding performing our five daily salaah on time when we are at home, we need to be even more particular regarding our salaah when we are out of the home and travelling, as salaah is our ‘power bank’ that will keep our imaan charged and powered. Often, people become lax when travelling and neglect performing their salaah on time saying, “We will make qadhaa when we reach our destination.” We should realize that the disastrous loss incurred through neglecting just one salaah has been likened to a person losing all his wealth and his entire family! The importance of salaah should thus never be trivialized.

Furthermore, over and above the sin that one incurs, one is ‘cut off from the grid’ and left with a ‘powerless’ imaan. The result is that he feels no motivation and inclination whatsoever to carry out righteous deeds and abstain from sin. Neglecting salaah is thus a sin that causes a breakdown in the rest of a person’s Deen.

May Allah Ta‘ala assist us all to uphold the pillar of salaah and charge our imaan.