(This article is written by Brother Saeed Muhammed Lawan, may Allah reward him) “Whenever I get ready to take my wudoo to pray, I remember what I learned from my friend Aida, and this is why I’ll teach you what I learned from her so that you will feel happy and superexcited while and after praying,” said Fatima.
“Hmm, so do you mean I’m not praying well or what? I went to all those Islamic schools that you went to,” Rosina replied while tightening her headscarf around her neck, getting ready to pray.
“It’s not about that Rosina; it’s about personal experience, and you will learn a lot when you listen to me.”
“OK, let me pray, then you will tell me what you want to say,” she said and grinned. “And I prepare……….” She didn’t complete the sentence and said “let me pray” while placing her praying mat on the floor of her pink room.
10 minutes later…..
“I can hear you now. I prayed,” Rosina said cheerfully.
“Good, may Allah accept it,” said Fatima.
Rosina replied, “Ameen.”
“Last week I visited Aida and learned something beautiful about her. I arrived in the afternoon. She was about to pray Zuhr. I experienced something in her; before she took her wudoo she used siwak to clean her teeth and took her wudo, and after that she wore her new beautiful Abaya to make herself beautiful like she was about to go to
attend a wedding or Nikkah. She went into her quiet room to pray and told me to wait for her in the TV room. After a long wait she came out from the room and told me that she prayed.”
“Where will you go today?” I asked her.
“Nowhere,” Aida replied.
“I saw you adorned yourself, you beautified yourself. It seems like you
have a special event,” I added.
“Yes, you guessed right. I beautified myself to meet someone special,
the most beloved One to me,” Aida said while smiling.
“Oh! So who is He? Your boyfriend?”
“No, no not my boyfriend; I don’t have any. I beautified myself to
meet my Lord; I adorned myself to meet Allah. As you know, praying is a
communication between a creation and its Creator. Myself and Allah, so
I don’t want to meet my lord with dirty clothes. I want to clean
myself, use siwak, wear my beloved clothes and make myself comfortable before
I pray.”
After hearing this from Aida I remembered myself sometimes praying with
dirty clothes, not brushing my teeth. I felt guilty like a sinner.
“If you have an appointment with a King/Queen will you go with dirty
or unclean clothing?” Fatima asked me.
“No”
“I went to see the the King of kings, I must be beautified ”
“Masha Allah what a beautiful character!” Rosina interrupted.
“It’s one of the best characters.”
“I learned a lot from the story that you told about your friend Aida. I
wish I heard the story before I prayed but I’ll apply it always Insha
Allah,” Rosina said it calmly.
“Thank you so much for sharing this with me; we have to go and eat; food
is ready,” she added.
A’isha may Allah be pleased with her reported that the Prophet peace
and blessings be upon him said, “The miswak (a twig used for tooth
brushing) cleanses and purifies the mouth and pleases the Lord.”
(An-Nasa’i and Ibn Khuzaimah; authenticated by Al-Albani)