Levels of People in Respect of the Prayer

Excerpt from the book ‘Al-Waabil as-Saayib min al-Kalim at-Tayyib’ ‘On the Invocation of God’By Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, mentions that there are five levels for people in respect of performing the prayer. They are as follows:

The First Level: 

A person, who is unjust to himself and negligent. He falls short in making ablution properly, performing the prayer at its specified times, and fulfilling its essential pillars.

The Second Level: 

A person, who performs the prayer at its specified times, fulfilling its apparent and essential pillars. He also makes ablution properly. However, he falls short in doing his best to resist his soul temptations. Thus, is engrossed in thinking about temptations and thoughts. 

The Third Level: 

A person, who observes the essential pillars of the prayer, and does his best to resist his soul temptations and thoughts. Thus, he is occupied with fighting his enemy, i.e. Satan, lest he should steal from his prayer. Such a person is praying and fighting.

The Fourth Level: 

A person, who performs the prayer, and fulfills its rights and essential pillars, striving to make his heart concentrate on observing its rights and essential pillars lest none of them should be lost. His whole attention focuses on performing the prayer perfectly while his heart is fully occupied with performing the prayer and worshipping Allah in his prayer. 

The Fifth Level: 

A person, who performs the prayer like the person in the fourth level. He also makes his heart fully directed towards his Lord, Allah, observing, loving, and exalting Him. He behaves as if he sees Allah with his own eyes while all temptations and distances have vanished between him and His Lord, Allah. The difference between the prayer of such a person and other people is superior and greater than what is between the heavens and the earth. He is fully occupied with his Lord in the prayer and his eye will be pleased with Him.

The first type will be punished, the second will be called to account, the third will be forgiven, the fourth will be rewarded, and the fifth will be brought close to His Lord because he is one of those the prayer is the delight of their eye. 

Whoever the prayer is the delight of his eye in the worldly life, his eye will be delighted by being close to His Lord in the Hereafter as well as it will be delighted in the worldly life. 

And whoever his eye is pleased with Allah, every eye that sees him will be pleased.

And whoever his eye is not pleased with Allah will suffer extreme grief in the worldly life.