Salaah was the first and foremost thing ordained by Allah Ta’ala and it shall be the first and foremost thing reckoned for on the day of Qiyamah.  If one’s Salaah is perfect in every respect, he will certainly attain salvation; otherwise he will be deprived of all the favours of Allah and will suffer great loss.

Umar Radiyalla Anhu said: “In my sight, the most important of all your affairs is Salaah. Whoever protects it and observes it carefully will guard his religion. And he who is negligent about it will be more negligent about other matters.  .” {Muwatta Imam Malik}

One should observe one’s Salaah at the appointed times, with a perfect Wudhu and complete devotion. This is a basic requirement for success. Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala says: “The Believers have truly succeeded. Those who are humble (sincere, tranquil) in their Salaah.” {Surah Mu’minun Verse 1-2} While we can be pleased that over the last few decades there has been a greater awareness with regards to the performance of Salaah, we now need to turn our focus to adding quality to our Salaah

In the light of improving and perfecting our Salaah, for the month of March 2013 Radio Islam International hosted theme based programmes on Salaah. One such programme was a Q&A hosted on the 12th of March 2013 between 8 and 10pm. This programme focused on the laws of Salaah. A number of calls, text messages, emails and tweets were received throughout the programme. By the end of the programme Mufti Siraaj had answered more than fifty queries pertaining  to various aspects of Salaah.

Another topic that was covered on Radio Islam International’s Salaah focus was the general apathy towards the Jumah Salaah. To tackle this issue, Radio Islam presenter Ml Sajjad Timol hosted Ml Israel Choonara, Imam of the Haughton Masjid and Ml Muhammed Vanker, Imam of the Umhlanga Masjid, Durban.

On the programme, analysing  some of the problems  we are currently experiencing in our communities, Ml Muhammed  spoke about a tendency among people young and old to remain outside the Masjid and only come in just before the Jamaat is about to start. Many of these people present the excuse that the talk of Jumah is boring therefore they come late . Moluana said that these people should understand that the talk is there to motivate them,  irrespective how it is given, the respect of the occasion demands that they be in the Masjid.

Ml Israel spoke about the fact that if something is important to a person then they give it importance. People go to bed early at night, to wake up early, to go their jobs. This is because they value their jobs. Moulana said that, because we do not give Jumah its due respect therefore we find people having an indifferent attitude towards Jumah. The Ummah finds itself in a position where the Jumah Salaah is considered to be just another Salaah.  The important thing is for people to fully understand the virtue of this day and this will bring a change in their attitudes.

At the conclusion of the Q&A programme Mf Siraaj praised Radio Islam International’s focus on Salaah saying that the theme of Salaah that Radio Islam International has adopted is a very good one. It is important for us to improve and rectify our Salaah. He added that he has noticed that people in general are very neglectful about the manner in which they offer their Salaah. He said: “We need to improve, from the manner in which we make Wudhu to the Dhikr after the Salaah. The only way to do this is to draw up a programme for ourselves and adhere to it for a period of time and Insha Allah in this way we will be able to bring about a change."