Praying on Time

The axis of all of Ibrahim’s activities was praying. Ibrahim prayed on time even under the most difficult conditions. He usually participated in the group praying in the Mosque. He invited others to the group praying too. He was an example of the tradition from the Commander of the Faithful (Imam Ali) (a) where he said, “Whoever frequents the Mosque will benefit from the following: a brother who will be friends with him on the path of God, new knowledge, a blessing which he was awaiting, advice which will save him from destruction, words that guide him, and avoidance of sins.”[1] Even before the revolution, Ibrahim prayed his morning prayers in the Mosque in group prayers. His behavior reminded us of the famous quote from the Martyr Rajaee, “Don’t tell prayer that I have work to do. Tell the work that it is time for praying.” The best example was their holding group prayers in the middle of the Zoorkhaneh. Whenever it was time for prayer in the middle of exercising, he would stop the exercising and set up group praying. Many times when he was travelling or at the war front, Ibrahim said the Call to Prayer when it was praying time. He would stop the car and encourage everyone to pray group praying. Ibrahim’s loud voice and his beautiful Call to Prayer attracted everyone. He was an example of these luminous words of the Prophet (s) when he said, “God has promised that he will take people who say the Call to Prayer and people who make the minor ablution and participate in group praying in the Mosque to heaven without calculation.”[2] From that time Ibrahim was friends with most of the young people who came to the local Mosques. He bought a cloak for himself from a young age, and most of the time he used that cloak in praying. It was the year 1359 AHS. The Basij program continued until midnight. Two hours were left to the Morning Prayer when the work finished. Ibrahim gathered everyone. He talked about his memories from Kurdistan. His memories were both interesting and funny. He kept everyone up until the Morning Prayer, and the group went home after the Morning Group Prayer. Ibrahim told the head of the Basij group, “If these people had gone home at that time, it wasn’t clear whether they would get up for the Morning Prayer or not. You must either finish the work of the Basij sooner, or keep everyone till praying time so that their prayer won’t be late.” During the day Ibrahim was a very humorous man, and he talked very simply. But at nights, he usually woke up before praying time and prayed the Night Prayer (which is not obligatory). He tried to do this secretly. As Ibrahim got closer to the end of his life, his awakening before dawn became longer. It was as if he knew that it has been said in the traditions that the sign of being a Shi’a Muslim was to awaken before dawn and pray the Night Prayer. He was committed to reading the Kumayl, Nudbah and Tawassol supplications. He also read the supplications for each day after the Morning Prayer. And, every day he read Ziarat Ashura, or at least the last part of it (saying hello to Imam Husayn (a)). He always whispered the verse “Wa Ja’alna…”[3] One time I said, “Mr. Ibram! This verse is for protection against the enemy. There are no enemies here!” Ibrahim looked at me meaningfully and said, “Is there an enemy bigger than Satan?!” One time we were talking about teenagers and the importance of praying. Ibrahim said, “When my father passed away, I was very upset. The first night after the guests left, I pouted with God and slept without praying. As soon as I fell asleep, I saw my father in my dreams! He opened the door to the house. He came angrily straight towards my room, and stood in front of me. He stared at me for a few seconds. At that moment, I woke up suddenly. My father’s look held much meaning! It wasn’t yet late to pray. I got up, made the minor ablution, and prayed. One of the other things which was very important for him was the Friday Prayer. From the time that the Friday Prayer started, he was either in Kurdistan or at the war front. But whenever Ibrahim was in Tehran, he participated in the Friday Prayer. He said, “You don’t know how much reward and blessings the Friday Prayers have.” Imam Sadeq (a) said, “There is no one who takes a step towards the Friday Prayer, except that God forbids the fire from him.”[4]

[1] Mava’edh al-Adadiyah, p. 281.

[2] Mostadrak al-Vasayel, vol. 6, p 448.

[3] Quran, 36:9.

[4] Namaz Dar Ayin Hadith, p. 101, tradition no. 215.