The thieves who pretended to pray

It is said that a group of thieves once broke into a wealthy man’s house to steal from him. Coincidentally, the wealthy man happened to wake up and make a commotion. When his neighbours also began waking up, the thieves ran away in fear, with the locals in pursuit.

While running, the thieves came across a masjid. They darted inside and pretended to offer salah. The locals in pursuit caught up, only to find several men offering salah, with nobody else around. Seeing this, they lamented the fact they let the thieves escape and returned home.

After this, the leader of the thieves said to the others:

If we did not pretend to offer salah today, we would have certainly been caught. If the blessings of just pretending to offer salah protected us from being disgraced, then actually offering it would result in Allah protecting us from the calamity of Hellfire. For this reason, I repent from stealing and will no longer disobey Allah.

His contemporaries began to say, “If you have repented, then why should we remain behind? We will also repent alongside you.”

They all repented sincerely and became righteous.^[1]

صَلُّوۡا عَلَى الۡحَبِيۡب                      صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلٰى مُحَمَّد

Salah and its lofty status

Dear Islamic brothers! Look at how amazing salah is. Let us think – the thieves did not offer salah to please Allah Almighty, but to protect themselves from being caught.

They were actually not praying at all, but only pretended to do so by mimicking the movements of a person in salah. When they entered the