Salaah and the story of the hair

[Khalid Saifullah]

‘Abdul ‘Azeez bin Marwaan had sent his young son, ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Azeez (rahimahullah), to the blessed city of Madeenah Munawwarah to acquire the knowledge of deen and learn etiquette from the great personalities residing there. One of these personalities was Saalih bin Kaysaan (rahimahullah), to whom ‘Abdul ‘Azeez wrote a letter, requesting him to pay special attention to the upbringing and development of his son, ‘Umar (rahimahullah).

Saalih bin Kaysaan (rahimahullah), as the person responsible for seeing to ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Azeez (rahimahullah), would emphasize and insist that he perform all his salaah with the congregation in the musjid. ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Azeez (rahimahullah) was once delayed and missed the salaah in the musjid. When Saalih bin Kaysaan (rahimahullah) asked him as to why he had missed the salaah, he replied, “My slave girl was neatening my hair.” Saalih bin Kaysaan (rahimahullah) was deeply disappointed and remarked, “The importance that you show to neatening your hair has caused you to prefer it to even your salaah!”

Saalih bin Kaysaan (rahimahullah) thereafter wrote to ‘Abdul ‘Azeez, who was the governor of Egypt at the time, informing him of what had transpired. ‘Abdul ‘Azeez, on reading the letter, was so affected that he immediately dispatched a messenger to Madeenah Munawwarah. The messenger had strict instructions – shaved the head of ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Azeez (rahimahullah) before even speaking to him. (Siyar Aa’laamin Nubalaa vol. 5 pg. 116)

Lessons:

1. If our child has to lose a large sum of money or cause a loss to the business, we will immediately reprimand him and adopt measures to ensure that it does not happen again. Does it ever disturb us when our children miss their salaah? The one who is responsible for the upbringing of the child has to ensure that the basics of deen (salaah etc.) are ingrained into the child.

2. Let alone making the salaah qadhaa, ‘Abdul ‘Azeez could not tolerate that his son missed the congregation in the musjid. Unfortunately, small children who create a disturbance in the musjid are nowadays sent to the musjid while the big sons are kept at home to complete homework and assignments. Are these trivial assignments more important than salaah in the musjid with the congregation?

3. For the sake of instilling correct values in the child, anything which deters him from his deeni obligations must be removed. Hence ‘Abdul ‘Azeez had his son’s head shaved because his hair caused him to miss the congregational salaah in the musjid. When our children are committing a whole host of evil due to the abuse of the cell-phone and social networks, does this not demand that we put a stop to it or control its usage at the least.