Rule#2 Rule 24434 (Rule 24434)

The Rule

            This is the most important rule for a Muslim to observe. Rule 24434 means a Muslim must pray Subuh (Fajr) 2 ‘rakaat’, Zohor (Dhuhr) 4 ‘rakaat’, Asar 4 ‘rakaat’, Maghrib 3 ‘rakaat’ and Isya’ 4 ‘rakaat’ every day. The more a muslim prays, the more he will remember God. The more he remembers God, the more God will remember him. The more God remembers him, the more likely God will bestow him with ‘rezeki’ (wealth) and ‘berkat’ (blessing).

What is this rule?

            This rule stresses on the importance of praying regardless of your religion. I chose Islam as an example because I am a Muslim. Only those who always remember God will be good at heart and will not do anything bad or evil.

            So you might ask yourself the following question. Why do we have to pray? I will answer this question from a Muslim point of view. Even if the reader is a non-muslim, you can always relate the answer to your own religion. To answer this question, let us ponder our existence. Why are we here? What is the purpose of our existence? The answer is in the Quran “And I (Allah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone)” (Az-Zariat: 56). So the purpose of our existence is to serve God. In order to serve God completely, apart from praying, we have other responsibilities in this world. We are indeed the caliph (leader) in this world, with the responsibility to manage this world to the best of our ability. In the following verse “And recall what time thine Lord said unto the angels: verily I am going to place a vicegerent On the earth” (Al-Baqarah: 30), Allah has addressed man as a vicegerent / caliph / leader of this world.

            In order to fulfill the responsibility as the caliph of this world, God has equipped us with the best systems as mentioned in the following verse “Surely We created man of the best stature” (At-Tin: 4). We have eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, mouth for talking, heart for feeling, arms and legs for working and best of all the brain for thinking and reasoning. The brain is what separates us from the animals because we humans have the ability to think, reason and to differentiate between good and evil. With the best systems bestowed from God comes the responsibility to fulfill the purpose of our existence which is to serve God and to be the caliph of this world.

            Have you ever got angry when you are using something and it breaks down? For example how do you feel when you are using a computer and then the computer broke down? You would feel angry and tensed, right? You would probably try to restart your computer right? What if your computer is totally broken down and cannot be fixed anymore. You would probably throw the computer away in the dustbin, right? I guess as long as a computer can fulfill the purpose of its existence, the owner is happy and the owner would certainly not hesitate to throw a useless computer in the dustbin. A similar analogy could perhaps be compared with what would happen if we fail to fulfill the purpose of our existence. God would be displeased with us if despite all the things given to us, eyes to see, ear to hear, mouth to speak, heart to feel, arms and legs for working and brain to think and reason, we still fail to fulfill our purpose to serve God and to  become the caliph of this world.

How to implement this rule?

            Regardless of your religion whether Muslim, Hindu, Christian or Bhuddist, never miss your prayer.

The benefit of this rule

            The benefit of a prayer can be seen from many points of view.

• From the psychological point of view, performing a prayer would make a person to feel a sense of purpose of his existence. By having a purpose in this life, a person will feel important and happy, similar to a high ranking officer who is serving his king. The high ranking officer would indeed feel an honor to serve his king. We as humans should feel even more honored to serve God, the king of kings.
• From the religious point of view, prayers will be converted as rewards in the hereafter. Greater rewards than sins will make a person eligible to enter heaven.
• From the scientific of view, performing a prayer will relax the mind and give some sense of tranquility. This effect is similar when someone is in meditation. This effect is said to have good benefit to someone’s health. And last but not least you will have tranquility and peace at heart knowing that God is always with you in good and bad times

More about this rule

            Some young people do not bother to pray when they are young because they think they will have time to pray when they are old. The truth is, the best time to pray is when you are young! As narrated in a hadith by our beloved prophet Muhammad SAW “Grab 5 things before 5 things. Young before old, rich before poor, having a lot of time before being busy, being healthy before being ill, and being alive before death.” So the best time to pray is when you are young, rich, having a lot of time, being healthy and being alive!