By Adams Abdurrahman.

In the era of Al-Mutawakeel “Abu al-Faḍl Jaʽfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʽtaṣim billā , better known by his regnal name al-Mutawakkil ʽalà Allāh (“He who relies on God”) was the 10th Abbasid caliph, under whose reign the Abbasid Empire reached its territorial height.

A man woke with the quest of rushing down to attend to an urgent matter faraway. He however hoped he could attend to his affairs before the morning prayer (Solatul subhi).

Unfortunately that day, he was on his way when he heard the call to prayer.. He had no choice but to observe solah in the nearest mosque. He got to the mosque and joined the congregation behind the Imam. He however was not prepared for what ensued later.

In the mid afternoon, he was summoned before the Muslim Judge/Khalipha who was yet to digest why a sane Muslim would beat an imam. He swears by Allah and vowed to put the traveller to death if he could not convince him with sound justifications for this shameful acts.

The traveller while defending his actions cried out to the judge “O wise judge/Khalipha. I had a need so urgent that I left very early to attend to it. As fate would have it, I was still on the move, when I heard the Adhan. I stopped to observe solah behind the imam.
“O kind Khalifa, after reciting suratul fatihah, he started suratul baqarah. But then I said to myself. it is just a small portion out of baqarah. However, the imam recited suratul baqarah completely.
We moved unto the second Rakah and again, the Imam started suratul Imran after suratul fatihah. The same thought as earlier on ran through my mind. But this was not the case. The imam recited Al imran till the end. We were tired. The sun was already out smiling gracefully outside in the open sky.
Immediately after the teslim, I was about to rush out when the Imam called out to the congregation. He started in a sober tone” All praises to Allah the most High, O brethrens I had no knowledge of this fact until I said the teslim. We all with rapt attention wanted him to go on with his speech.
He continued ” By Allah brothers, I just remembered that I led the prayer without performing ablution “

O kind judge, I couldn’t hold my emotions, I grabbed him and dealt with him as you have before you.

Moral Lessons that could be deduced from this story are:

1.Islam lays emphasis on cleanliness hence the need to perform ablution before solat.
2.The story tells how important solat is, this pillar of Islam is the greatest after the two shaadahs albeit Solat without ablution is void.
3.The imam or anyone leading congregational prayers should take note of those praying behind him.

4. The need to embrace Islamic jurisprudence in settling matters.