In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
The call to salah is an invitation from one’s Creator and Sustainer. As such it does not behove a person to delay it for a worldly task, especially so if the task can easily be postponed or scheduled to accommodate the congregational prayer.
The believer who whole-heartedly devotes himself to carrying out an act of worship such as salah (for men, perfection of salah lies in attending the congregation), there are numerous worldly benefits.
One of the benefits of devotion to worship is that our worldly affairs are made easy:
إِنَّ اللهَ يقولُ يا ابنَ آدمَ : تَفَرَّغْ لعبادَتِي أملأْ صدركَ غِنًى وأسُدُّ فقرَكَ ، وإِنْ لَّا تفعلْ ملأتُ يديْكَ شُغْلًا ، ولم أسُدَّ فقْرَكَ
O son of Adam! Free yourself for my worship, and I will fill your chest with sufficiency and remove your poverty and if you don’t, I will fill your hands with distraction and will not remove your poverty. [i]
As for the one who gives preference to worldly affairs, as is evident from the hadith, then his life becomes filled with distractions nor does he gain contentment from what he already possesses. That is a clear indication that barakah is withdrawn from this person’s worldly efforts.
Another consequence of a person becoming preoccupied with a worldly task and giving it priority over a religious obligation is that Allah involves him in the dunya more and more. However, he doesn’t get any more rizq than what has already been written for him.
As for the one who gives preference to the akhirah (i.e. religious obligations) over the dunya then through the Mercy and Grace of Allah, his affairs become easy and the dunya comes to him:
من كانت الدُّنيا همَّه فرَّق اللهُ عليه أمرَه ، وجعل فقرَه بين عينَيْه ، ولم يأتِه من الدُّنيا إلَّا ما كُتِب له ، ومن كانت الآخرةُ نيَّتَه جمع اللهُ له أمرَه ، وجعل غناه في قلبِه ، وأتته الدُّنيا وهي راغمةٌ
Whoever makes dunya his preoccupation, then Allah will scatter his affair and place his poverty in front of his eyes,and nothing of the dunya comes to him except that which has been decreed for him, and whoever makes the hereafter his preoccupation, then Allah gathers his affair and places freedom from want in his heart, and dunya comes to him despite being reluctant to do so. [ii]
Sohail ibn Arif,
Student Darul Iftaa
Chicago, USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
سنن الترمذي الرقم: ٢٤٦٦ [i]
الترغيب والترهيب ٤/ ١٣٠ [ii]