Every life has a center. It decides how we spend our hours and what we put first. The Holy Quran says that center should be Salat. It does not treat prayer as one task in a busy day. It treats prayer as the frame around the day. Five verses show how.

The first is a command.

Ḥāfiẓū ʿalā aṣ-ṣalawāti waṣ-ṣalāti al-wusṭā wa qūmū lillāhi qānitīn: Watch over Prayers, and the middle Prayer, and stand before Allah submissively. (Al Baqarah 2:239).

A watchman does not glance at his post now and then. He stays awake for it. The verse asks the same of us. Guard the Prayers. Then stand before Allah in submission.

That submission must reach the heart.

Alladhīna hum fī ṣalātihim khāshiʿūn: Who are humble in their Prayers.

A Prayer can be correct in form and still be empty. Humility fills it. The believer is first known by how he stands, not by how fast he finishes. 

Humility then becomes a habit that does not break.

Alladhīna hum ʿalā ṣalātihim dāʾimūn: Those who are constant in their Prayer. (Al Ma’arij 70:24).

Constancy does not mean never leaving the prayer mat. It means the Prayer never leaves us. The Promised Messiah^(as) said:

“If you desire to develop a sincere relationship and living connection with God Almighty, then adhere to the regular observance of your Prayers. Hold fast to this practice not merely with your body and tongue, but with all the desires and passions of your soul, thus becoming an embodiment of prayer.” (Malfuzat Volume 1, page 167).

Such a Prayer walks into the market, the office and the home. A person can step away from the mat and still remain in its state.

Such a state needs protection.

Wa alladhīna hum ʿalā ṣalātihim yuḥāfiẓūn: And those who are strict in the observance of their Prayer. (Al Ma’arij 70:35).

The same words return in the plural. Wa alladhīna hum ʿalā ṣalawātihim yuḥāfiẓūn: And who are strict in the observance of their Prayers. Notice where these verses fall. Al Mu’minun opens its portrait of the successful believers with humble Prayer and closes it with guarded Prayer. Al Ma’arij holds constant Prayer and guarded Prayer in one list of the righteous. Salat stands at the start and at the end. Everything between rests on it. 

So the Holy Quran gives us a full picture. We are to watch over Prayer, humble ourselves in it, remain constant in it and guard it to the end. Now look at your own day. Which hour is given up first when time runs short? What would change if the day were arranged around Salat, instead of Salat around the day?