The prayers of the Prophet (saas)

the qur'an tells us that the prophet (saas) would rise to pray at night:

when the servant of allah stands calling on him, they almost swarm all over him. say: "i call only upon my lord and do not associate anyone else with him." (surat al-jinn: 19-20)

many verses speak of the prophet's (saas) prayers. he would praise allah by recalling his attributes. this is one of the prayers of the prophet (saas) revealed in the qur'an:

say, "o allah! master of the kingdom! you give sovereignty to whoever you will you take sovereignty from whoever you will. you exalt whoever you will you abase whoever you will. all good is in your hands. you have power over all things." (surah al 'imran: 26)

like all the other prophets, the prophet (saas) faced threats and pressure from hostile men and jinn. he responded to these with patience and fortitude, and was commanded to seek help from allah against satan's evil suggestions and spiritual attacks in this way:

say: "my lord, i seek refuge with you from the goadings of the satans, and i seek refuge with you, my lord, from their presence." (surat al-muminun: 97-98)

he was also commanded to seek the forgiveness and mercy of our lord, allah, in his prayers:

say: "my lord, forgive and be merciful! you are the best of the merciful." (surat al-muminun: 118)

in the hadiths, we see that the prophet (saas) would pray to allah for a finer morality and a good temperament, and that he beseeched allah in these terms:

"o allah, make my constitution and conduct good. o allah, save me from bad character and conduct."34

as allah has revealed in the verse: "say: 'what has my lord to do with you if you do not call on him?'..." (surat al-furqan: 77), prayer is a most important obligation upon the faithful. a person must know that no power is of the slightest use unless allah so wishes it. he must turn to allah in all matters, in fear and aspiration, and pray to him for everything. the prayers of the prophet (saas), as those of the other prophets revealed in the qur'an, are the very best examples for the faithful. they have shown in their prayers how they surrendered to allah and saw him as their only friend and helper, as well as praising our lord by his most beautiful names. we can also see from the prayers of the prophets how they paid no attention to time when praying, but would turn to our lord whenever they were in need.

o man! what has deluded you in respect of your noble lord? he who created you and formed you and proportioned you and assembled you in whatever way he willed.
(surat al-infitar: 6-8)