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In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

The prescribed prayers are the pillar of religion.(*)

If you want to understand with the certainty that two plus two equals four just how valuable and important are the prescribed prayers, and with what little expense they are gained, and how crazy and harmful is the person who neglects them, pay attention to the following story which is in the form of a comparison:

One time, a mighty ruler gave each of two of his servants twenty-four gold pieces and sent them to settle on one of his rich, royal farms two months’ distance away. “Use this money for your tickets,” he commanded them, “and buy whatever is necessary for your house there with it. There is a station one day’s distance from the farm. And there is both road-transport, and a railway, and boats, and aeroplanes. They can be benefited from according to your capital.”

The two servants set off after receiving these instructions. One of them was fortunate so that he spent a small amount of money on the way to the station. And included in that expense was some business so profitable and pleasing to his master that his capital increased a thousandfold.

As for the other servant, since he was luckless and a layabout, he spent twenty-three pieces of gold on the way to the station, wasting it on gambling and amusements. A single gold piece remained. His friend said to him: “Spend this last gold piece on a ticket so that you will not have to walk the long journey and starve. Moreover, our master is generous; perhaps he will take pity on you and forgive you your faults, and put you on an aeroplane as well. Then we shall reach where we are going to live in one day. Otherwise you will be compelled to walk alone and hungry across a desert which takes two months to cross.”

The most unintelligent person can understand how foolish, harmful, and senseless he would be if out of obstinacy he did not spend that single remaining gold piece on a ticket, which is like the key to a treasury, and instead spent it on vice for passing pleasure. Is that not so?

O you who do not perform the prescribed prayers! And O my own soul, which does not like to pray!

O hâkim ise Rabb’imiz, Hâlık’ımızdır. O iki hizmetkâr yolcu ise biri mütedeyyin, namazını şevk ile kılar; diğeri gafil, namazsız insanlardır. O yirmi dört altın ise yirmi dört saat her gündeki ömürdür. O has çiftlik ise cennettir. O istasyon ise kabirdir. O seyahat ise kabre, haşre, ebede gidecek beşer yolculuğudur. Amele göre, takva kuvvetine göre, o uzun yolu mütefavit derecede katederler. Bir kısım ehl-i takva, berk gibi bin senelik yolu bir günde keser. Bir kısmı da hayal gibi elli bin senelik bir mesafeyi bir günde kateder. Kur’an-ı Azîmüşşan, şu hakikate iki âyetiyle işaret eder. O bilet ise namazdır. Bir tek saat, beş vakit namaza abdestle kâfi gelir.

Acaba yirmi üç saatini şu kısacık hayat-ı dünyeviyeye sarf eden ve o uzun hayat-ı ebediyeye bir tek saatini sarf etmeyen; ne kadar zarar eder, ne kadar nefsine zulmeder, ne kadar hilaf-ı akıl hareket eder. Zira bin adamın iştirak ettiği bir piyango kumarına yarı malını vermek, akıl kabul ederse halbuki kazanç ihtimali binde birdir. Sonra yirmi dörtten bir malını, yüzde doksan dokuz ihtimal ile kazancı musaddak bir hazine-i ebediyeye vermemek; ne kadar hilaf-ı akıl ve hikmet hareket ettiğini, ne kadar akıldan uzak düştüğünü, kendini âkıl zanneden adam anlamaz mı?

Halbuki namazda ruhun ve kalbin ve aklın büyük bir rahatı vardır. Hem cisme de o kadar ağır bir iş değildir. Hem namaz kılanın diğer mübah dünyevî amelleri, güzel bir niyet ile ibadet hükmünü alır. Bu surette bütün sermaye-i ömrünü, âhirete mal edebilir. Fâni ömrünü, bir cihette ibka eder.

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