of the sweetest acts of worship

14Dec08

It is not enough that we study the blessings of salah once. We need to continually remind ourselves. Our hearts become rusty, as the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said. We have to polish our hearts. Remind ourselves of the reason we perform our ritual acts. For example, the wudu. It is probably the most trivialized and routine act of worship. We literally – especially on a cold morning – just go in and try our best to make as little water touch our skin as possible and be as fast as we can so that we can pray.

When you realize that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that of the blessings of wudu is that every drop of water that touches your skin and falls off will take a sin with it, your wudu will change.

Next time you stand in front of that mirror doing your wudu, remember every sin your eyes have done, your ears have done, your hands have done. Be conscious of it, and your wudu will become one of your sweetest acts of worship. You will be conscious as that cold water touches your skin that now this is going to expiate my sins.

Realize that the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said that on the day of judgment, “I will call out to my ummah to drink from my hawd, my pool.” The sahabah said, “Ya RasulAllah, how will you recognize your ummah? There will be many people after you.” He said, “My ummah will come with white markings because of their wudu.”

Next time you are making wudu, realize that this is how your rasul will recognize you amongst all mankind. This is how you will be called to drink on the day of judgment when there will be no other water, and everyone will be thirsty and screaming and crying.

Just this one hadith will give you volumes of taqwa more than anything else.

[This has been taken from A Journey of Worship in 24 Hours by Sheikh Yasir Qadhi.]

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