by Iman Bint Johari

It was only after my daughter was born that I realised the value of time. For those of you who have children, I am sure you know how those little bundles of joy take up practically every single minute of your waking hour [and beyond!]. Where once I would finish a book within a day or two, I now feel blessed if I can even complete a chapter. *S* AlHamdulillah `alaa kulli haal. I cannot [and should not!] complain for even though my studies have to take a back seat, I have a lovely child mashaa Allah.

Many of us are busy - we are daughters, sons, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers... the list goes on. But I learnt that being busy need not mean less time for the deen... we just have to learn to work around these constraints. We should also remember that Allah loves the deeds which are done consistently and regularly, even though they are small.

In this post, I'd like to remind myself first and you to try to do a little something extra in the daily prayers. This 'extra mile' in salat is easily done with a simple du`aa in praise of Allah. It is short and inshaa Allah, you will be able to memorise it in no time.

When we raise ourselves from the position of rukoo', we usually say, "Sami Allahu liman hamidah, Rabbana wa la kal hamd" [Allah hears the one who praises Him, Our Lord, all praise is due to You] and then we go down to sujood. Well, say these extra words BEFORE you prostrate:

.: HAMDAN KATHEERAN TAYYIBAN MUBARAKAN FIH :.

What is the reward you ask? Well, believe it or not, some thirty-something angels will *SCUFFLE* to record your good deed. Mashaa Allah!

Don’t believe me? *S* Well, the evidence for this is in a hadeeth as follows:

Rafa`a bin Rafie` Az-Zirqi said: "One day we were praying behind the Prophet Muhammed sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam and when he raised his head from the position of ruku`, he said: 'Sami Allahu liman hamidah' [Allah hears the one who praises Him] A man from behind said: 'Rabbanna wa la kal hamd -- hamdan katheeran tayyiban mubarakan fih [Our Lord, all praise is due to You -- praise which is abundant, excellent and blessed...] When we finished [the salat] the Prophet Muhammed sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said: 'Who spoke?' The man said: 'I did'. He said, 'Indeed I saw some 30- something Angels all scuffling to see which one of them could record it.'" [Bukhari & Muslim]

SubHanAllah... imagine that! Some 30-something angels RUSHING to record your good act which would take less than 20 seconds to complete!

This may be a small step towards perfecting our prayer but remember, Allah has promised us that He will come RUNNING to us if we go to him walking...

As Abu Dhar narrated: Allah's Messenger sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said, Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala said: "He who comes with a good deed, its reward will be ten like that or even more. And he who comes with vice, his reward will be only one like that, or I can forgive him. He who draws close to Me a hand's span, I will draw close to him an arm's length. And whoever draws near Me an arm's length, I will draw near him a fathom's length. And whoever comes to Me walking, I will go to him running. And whoever faces Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, I will meet him with forgiveness nearly as great as that, provided he does not worship something with me." [Hadith Qudsi - related by Muslim, Ibn Majah and Ahmad in his Musnad]

Let us not pass up this wonderful opportunity... "hamdan katheeran tayyiban mubarakan fih" ... Memorise it and say in in your next prayer, Inshaa Allah...