Our Prophet used to call prayer "the light of my eye," for he perceived it as the most beautiful way to prove one’s love and loyalty to Allah. He used to perform his prayers on time. He used to love to perform a prayer as soon as its time arrived. He disliked procrasti-nating a prayer and said: "At the early time for a prayer, there is the contentment of Allah, and at the final time of a prayer, there is the forgiveness of Allah." (Tirmizi, Salat, 13). By this, he was emphasizing that Allah would be pleased with those who performed their prayer early in its period, and would be merciful and forgive those who delayed and procrastinated it to the last minute. Our Prophet would leave ev-erything aside when it was time to pray and would turn to Allah. Her Excellency, our mother Aisha said the following about Our Prophet’s prayer:
"The Messenger of Allah would talk to us and we would talk to him. However, when the prayer time arrived, he would act as if he did not know us and turn towards Allah with his body and soul…" (Fezail-i A’mal, 303)
The only prayer that the Prophet delayed was the Night Prayer (Salat al-‘Isha), which he sometimes prayed before the end of the first third of the night. Apart from the obligatory (fardh) prayers, he would perform supereroga-tory (al-nafilah) prayers whenever he got a chance. If he was happy for some reason, he would perform a prayer to show his thanks. If he got sad for some reason, he would also per-form a prayer. Once, he performed a prayer until his feet was swollen. When Her Excellency, our mother, Aisha asked him: "O Messenger of Allah! Why do you pray that much and exhaust yourself when all of your sins are for-given?" He said, "O Aisha! Should I not be a subject who thanks his Lord?" The Messenger of Allah, our master, never abandoned his prayers even in the most difficult times of his last illness. Even though the illness was getting worse and his body was weakening, he went to the masjid with the help of two Companions and performed his Noon (Salat al-Zuhr) and Late Afternoon Prayers (Salat al-Asr) with the congregation. Even before his death, when he was reminding his followers of important issues, he said "Never abandon your prayers! Never abandon your prayers! Fear Allah with re-spect to the rights of your slaves, wives, and children!" (Abu Davud, Adab, 123-124)
Allah the Exalted says: "Instruct your family to do salat, and be constant in it. We do not ask you for provi-sion. We provide for you. And the best end result is gained by taqwa." (Surah Ta Ha, Ayah 132)
Our beloved Prophet says: "When you perform your prayer, perform it as if it is your last prayer! Do not say the things that you will regret tomorrow!" (Ibn-i Mâjah, Zühd, 15)
Our prophet who spent his life spreading and teaching Islam in the best way and educating his friends with divine-ly inspired training, wanted prayers, the source of peace, to be performed by everyone. Abdullah bin Revaha, who have been preparing to go to the Mu’te expedition, came to say goodbye to the Prophet whose blessed face he was going to miss and said:
"O Messenger of Allah! Advise me something that I will memorize and never forget!"
And the Prophet, our master, told him:
"Tomorrow, you will go to a country where very few prostrations (al-sajdah) are made to Allah. There, perform many prostrations and prayers." (Wâkidî, II, 758)