Re: 'Asr
Jazzakum Allahu Khairan for the excellent question.
First, let's agree on the importance of prayer in general. Allah, subhannahu wa ta'laa, the Lord of the universe, has created us strictly for worship. Therefore, He decides what form of woship pleases Him, what time it pleases Him, and where it pleases Him. Prayer is the first pillar that we act upon after taking our shahadah and entering the fold of Islam. The difference between a Muslim and a Kaffir is the abandonment of prayer as it was mentioned in a sahih hadith by the Prophet, salah allahu 'alayhi wa salam.
After realizing the importance of prayer, the Prophet, peace be upon him, has stressed upon specific prayers, either for special reward if it is performed on time, and others, for a terrible reckoning if it is delayed or abandoned. From the specificities, in reward and punishment, is salatul asr, or asr prayer.
In Sahih Bukhari, there is a whole chapter related the virtues of asr prayer. From these ahadith, it spoke of those who are going to gather in Jannah to see Allah's blessed face, and the Prophet's advice, peace be upon him, to his ummah is to take heed of the prayer before dusk and dawn, or asr and fajr. In another hadith it was related that the angels visit the worshippers in asr and fajr prayer, and Allah asks them, and he is more knowledgeable than them, "How did you leave my slaves?", the angels reply, "We left them as they were praying and came back and they were (still) praying".
As for the other side of the scope, the Prophet, peace be upon him, has also mentioned fatal losses for those who delay 'asr prayer, let alone abandon it. To stress on this point, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, as it was related in Bukhari, "Whoever misses the `Asr prayer, it is as if he has lost his family and wealth" - and, "Whoever leaves the `Asr prayer, then his actions will be invalidated
Thus, this concludes us to fathom the severity of the matter, as it is linked with our whole faith. Allah has mentioned that whoever commits Kufr in Allah will have his good deeds dropped. The scholars have differenciated between those who miss prayer because of laziness, and the ones who abandon it all together knowing its obligation. We can associate this ruling for all prayers, but specifically to 'asr prayer, since there is an authentic hadith asserting this view. Some of sholars were of the opinion that the deeds which are dropped from 'asr prayer are the good deeds which are raised to Allah during that specific time, and others said its the deeds that come after the prayer. And in another opinion, is that the there are two forms of 7abt, or deeds which are dropped. First, the good deeds, which are dropped with Kufr, and the second is the dropping of bad deeds, which the believer gets, so that he can make use of his hasanat on the day of accountability. [I derived this from fath al baree, sharh sahih al bukhari from the explaination of the hadith mentioned].
In any case, the ahadith which are mentioned, provides us insight to the importance of asr prayer in specific, and a clear warning to the one who delays it intentionally or abandons it. One should be aware that this is not a joking matter since prayer is the most importat aspect of our faith after understanding tawheed. This hadith speaks to the aforementioned people of carelessness that the matter is so serious that it might bring wrath of Allah upon them but before that, they might have their deeds dropped, because they've ignored Allah, and chose to live a life away from worship and obedience.
wasalam o 'alykum warahmatulahi wabarakatuh.
