Is it a good thing for me to remind my wife of prayers all the time?

The Details of the Question

My wife does not pay attention to prayer times very much. She sometimes acts lazily and delays prayer; she sometimes misses it. She does not feel disturbed when she misses it. I usually remind her to perform prayers. Am I regarded to have pressurized her by doing so? Is it better if I leave it to her? Can this attitude of mine alienate her from worshipping?

The Answer

Dear Brother / Sister,

First of all, you should know that what you do is right. The following is stated in the Quran:

“Enjoin prayer on thy people, and be constant therein....” (Taha 132)

Moreover, every time you remind your wife, it is expected that you will receive so much reward from Allah; you seek Allah’s consent and cause a person to perform prayers.  

Your wife sometimes falls into heedlessness as a result of the strange things in the environment you live and the delusions caused by Satan when he makes use of those strange things. She probably forgets that she is in a world of testing.   

In fact, we live in such a strange period that has never been experienced before; in the past, Islam and the other wrong beliefs existed. Can you say to a person who is not a Muslim, ”Why do you not pray?” Definitely, not.

First of all, we should establish the belief and creed of that person firmly before telling him about prayers. In the past, only non-Muslims did not perform prayers. Is it like that now?  

Let us have a look at our history.

Why did the Ottoman State disappear? More precisely, why was it destroyed? Yes, there are visible and known reasons. However, are we aware that the real reason beyond all this is that the Ottoman State lost all of the Islamic elements it had and the consciousness of ummah in its last century and finally abandoned the prayer?

Do not misunderstand; we do not say it; the Creator of the universe, Lord of the Realms say it. 

It is clearly stated in the Quran that there is a law that is valid until the Day of Resurrection:

“But after them there followed a posterity who missed prayers and followed after lusts soon, then, will they face Destruction.” (Maryam 59)

After the Ottoman State, prayer was almost completely abandoned; in some places, the imam had to call a person who was passing by to reach the minimum number of people necessary for Friday prayer. Fortunately, this disastrous situation is no longer present, but there are still some strange things.

For example, if you ask people, the majority of the community is Muslim, but they do not perform 5 daily prayers or they perform some of them. It is an abdication of reason.

The wrong influence of the environment on us and the delusions of Satan sometimes make us heedless and negligent related to prayer.

Therefore, it is virtually fard for us to remind our relatives and all Muslims of prayer for Allah’s sake on suitable occasions by using an appropriate language style and insistently. However, when we fulfill this duty, our advice should not be harmful. If we are in a position to harm when we give advice to people, we need to serve as a model only.

It is also an important duty of us to pray to Allah Almighty for our relatives and the whole ummah and ask His help so that they will be careful about prayers and will not neglect prayers.

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