Imam Bukhari Rahmatullahi Alayhi narrates in his ‘Sahih-Al-Bukhari' under the authority of Abdullah ibn Umar Rahmatullahi Alayhi, that he once heard the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wassallam saying:

“Islam is founded on five pillars: Bearing witness that there is no worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammed is his servant and messenger, the establishment of Salaah, Paying Zakat, Performing Haj and Fasting in the Month of Ramadan”.

The Prophet has compared Islam to a canopy resting on five supporters. The kalimah is the central support and the other four pillars of Islam are so to say, the remaining four supporters, one at each corner of the canopy. Without the central support, the canopy cannot possibly stand, and if anyone of the corner support is missing, a collapse will result in the defective corner.

Salaah for every individual Muslim is compulsory; whoever misses Salaah intentionally did kufr. To discard Salaat is to be linked with kufr and shirk and discard of Salaat is the only partition between ‘Imaan & Kufr'.

Previously, we have conceived the importance of Namaaz. Now lets move on to ‘neglecting Namaaz'.

Hazrat Nawfil bin Muawigah narrates that he heard the Prophet saying:

“A person who has missed one Salaat is like the one who has lost all his family and wealth”.

In another Hadith, the Prophet said:

“A person neglecting his Salaat (even though he makes it up later) shall remain in Hell for a period of one Huqb.”

A ‘Huqb' is equal to eight years of Three Hundred and Sixty days each, and one day in the hereafter shall equal to One Thousand years of this world.

There are numerous hadiths, which can be mentioned of neglecting Salaah.

A few quotations are mentioned below:

“Salaat was the first and foremost thing ordered by Allah, and it shall be the first and foremost thing to be reckoned for on the Day of Judgment”.

Salaat is the pillar of Islam,

Salaat abases the Devil,

Salaat is the light of a Muslim,

Salaat is the best ‘Jihad',

Moreover, Salaah is the key to Paradise.

Salaat ensues daily bread, promotes health, drives out diseases, strengthen the heart, brings light and beauty on the face, pleases the soul, refreshes the body, cures indolence, relives the mind, feeds the soul, illumines the heart and guarantees Allah's fear, it grants protection from Allah's doom, it keeps the devil away and brings us near to Allah.

In short, Salaah is a guarantee for all that is described, and a protection against all that is undesirable for both body and soul, equally in this world and the hereafter.