Islam Museum Islam Museum islam.museum
Search ⌕ ARENUR
Accessibility
Text size 100%

Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.

Shurut Qabul al-Salat: the conditions for the acceptance of prayer (sermon series)

By Abdul Hamid Kishk

شروط قبول الصلاة (سلسلة خطب)

A series of seven long sermons by Abdul Hamid Kishk on the Assabile archive, explaining a hadith qudsi on the conditions for the acceptance of prayer, one sermon to each condition: humility before God's greatness, not lording it over His creation, not persisting in sin, spending the day in remembrance, and mercy to the poor, the wayfarer, the widow and the afflicted.

Depth

At a glance

Region
Egypt & Nile
Review

Worship and the pillarsEthics and character

Summary

The Assabile archive lists this series among the audio lessons of Abdul Hamid Kishk: seven episodes, each between an hour and twenty minutes and an hour and thirty-four minutes long. 1 2 The episodes are Friday sermons: he opens each with praise of God, blessings on the Prophet ﷺ and long eulogies, announces the condition he will treat, and closes with supplication before saying: rise to your prayer. 3 4 Their subject is a hadith qudsi on the conditions for the acceptance of prayer, in which he counts five conditions and gives a sermon to each. 5 3

The recordings of this series are of poor sound and their machine transcripts are garbled in many places, so only what reads clearly is written here. 1

Episode 1: the five conditions

He sets the known conditions of a valid prayer beside the conditions of its acceptance, then lists the five: humility before God's greatness, not lording it over His creation, not persisting in sin, spending the day in His remembrance, and mercy to the poor, the wayfarer, the widow and the afflicted. 6 5

Episode 2: not lording it over creation

He explains the condition as refraining from harming people and lists the kinds of harm according to the limbs. 7 8 He tells of a righteous man who sat at his sister's grave after her burial, when the mourners had left, and saw thick smoke rising from it, and says that the outside of graves is stone while inside is reward or punishment (needs_source: a story he tells without a chain). 9 10 11 He then speaks of what accompanies a person to the grave. 12 In the second sermon he comments on a report in Akhbar al-Yawm about a wife who took her husband to court, asks why the courts have entered homes, and says the Prophet's Medina had not a single court or policeman, before speaking of the purpose of marriage. 13 14 15

Episode 3: not persisting in sin

He begins the third condition and sets out examples from the Book and the Sunna, speaking of the oneness of God, which he divides into oneness in creed, in worship and in dealings. 16 17 18 He tells of a Companion who in the Jahiliyya worshipped a wooden idol, saw a fox urinate on its head, and knew that it could not even protect itself (needs_source: the Companion's name is unclear in the machine transcript). 19 20 21 He asks where the tyrants of East and West are, naming Kennedy, Johnson, Napoleon and Mussolini, to say that none remains but God. 22 23 24 In the second sermon he tells of a man walking in the year 80 AH in a village near Kufa who ate half of an apple fallen from an orchard, then went to the orchard's owner to ask forgiveness; the owner made it a condition that he marry his daughter, whom he described as blind, deaf, mute and lame, and when the man went in to her he found her sound, and she explained that she did not look at what angers God, did not hear what displeases Him, and walked only to His obedience (needs_source: a story he tells; the name of the son he says was born to them is unclear in the transcript). 25 26 27 28

Episode 4: spending the day in remembrance

He calls the fourth condition 'the matter of matters' and says that remembrance is making God's greatness present in the heart in every state, standing, sitting and lying on one's side, and that remembrance must go with reflection. 29 30 31 He tells that a man complained to Sufyan of a sickness of the heart, and Sufyan prescribed a remedy made of virtues: humility, awe, watchfulness and seeking forgiveness. 32 33 34

Episode 5: mercy, and the grouping of the conditions

He begins the fifth condition and sorts the conditions into moral, communal, psychological, creedal and humane. 35 36 He then speaks of the mosque: in his view those who fight Islam fight the mosques by making people afraid to enter them; he cites the phrase 'watch your children in the mosques' and says it was said in '65 (needs_source: a date he gives without detail); and he says that in the Prophet's time the mosque was the seat of leadership and of worship. 37 38 39 40 In the second sermon he mentions the hadith on telling children to pray at seven and disciplining them for it at ten, explaining that one who is used to prayer when young keeps to it when grown. 41 42

Episode 6: mercy to the afflicted

He mentions the hadith of the five things heavy in the scale: glorifying, praising, declaring God's oneness and greatness, and a righteous child who dies and whose father bears it patiently; then the hadith of the angels who take the child's soul, and that God commands a house in Paradise to be built for the patient father, called the House of Praise. 43 44 45 46 He says that if he spoke of mercy forever the talk would not end, because Muslims have grown hard-hearted, and describes the Prophet's mercy to widows, to the afflicted and to all people. 47 48 49

Episode 7: the one who strives for the widow and the poor

He makes the last condition the social side of the Sharia, mentions the merit of one who strives for the widow and the poor, and demands that the words of the mosques be turned into deeds. 50 51 52 He mentions a hadith qudsi that God expiates His servant's sins through illness, narrow provision and calamity in wealth and children, and that God is shy, on the Day of Resurrection, to set up a scale or open a register for one who was tried and bore it with beautiful patience, and admits him to Paradise without reckoning; this is the theme of trial. 53 54 55 56

Connections

Explore the connections

About
The conditions for the acceptance of prayer (shurut qabul al-salah)· Salah (the prescribed prayer)· Humility (tawadu')· What accompanies a person to the grave· Tawhid (the oneness of God)· Remembrance of God (dhikr)· سفيان الثوري· Mosque (masjid)· Mercy (rahma)· Trial and testing (ibtila')· Nikah (marriage contract)

People and things also explored

Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim (lecture series)· Bustan al-Amal (programme)· Al-Naba' al-Safi (programme)· Sharh al-Hikam al-'Ata'iyya (lecture series)· Al-Munjiyat (programme)· Muwatta 562· Muwatta 565· Muwatta, Book of Prayer

Sources

  1. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 1 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  2. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  3. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:12:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  4. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 01:11:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  5. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 1, at 00:25:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  6. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 1, at 00:23:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  7. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:13:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  8. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:14:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  9. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:15:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  10. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:15:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  11. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:16:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  12. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:19:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  13. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:43:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  14. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:43:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  15. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 2, at 00:45:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  16. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:10:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  17. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:12:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  18. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:12:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  19. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:13:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  20. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:13:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  21. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:14:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  22. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:15:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  23. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:15:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  24. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:16:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  25. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:56:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  26. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 00:58:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  27. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 01:02:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  28. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 3, at 01:02:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  29. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 4, at 00:13:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  30. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 4, at 00:15:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  31. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 4, at 00:16:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  32. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 4, at 00:18:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  33. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 4, at 00:19:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  34. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 4, at 00:19:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  35. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 5, at 00:14:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  36. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 5, at 00:14:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  37. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 5, at 00:16:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  38. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 5, at 00:16:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  39. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 5, at 00:17:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  40. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 5, at 00:19:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  41. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 5, at 00:52:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  42. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 5, at 00:53:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  43. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 6, at 00:12:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  44. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 6, at 00:13:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  45. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 6, at 00:14:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  46. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 6, at 00:15:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  47. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 6, at 00:17:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  48. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 6, at 00:18:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  49. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 6, at 00:19:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  50. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 7, at 00:14:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  51. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 7, at 00:15:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  52. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 7, at 00:16:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  53. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 7, at 00:17:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  54. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 7, at 00:17:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  55. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 7, at 00:18:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  56. Assabile archive of Abdul Hamid Kishk's lessons , Shorut Kobol Assalat, episode 7, at 00:19:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Shurut Qabul al-Salat: the conditions for the acceptance of prayer (sermon series)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/shorut-kobol-assalat/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim (lecture series)

A ten-episode series by Omar Abdelkafy on the Assabile archive explaining the opening suras of the last part of the Qur'an, al-Naba' and then al-Nazi'at, with many digressions into creed, ethics and the life of the Prophet.