Certainly, Salah (regular prayer) is the first and most important matter after testimony, the second pillar and it is the difference between faith and disbelief The Messenger of Allah said, Between a person and disbelief is discarding Salah. Salah is our connection to our Lord and our success in the Hereafter depends upon our performance of it in this world. If we accept this, we must then strive to perform our Salah in the way which is accepted by Allah, i.e. as the Prophet himself used to perform them. He said: Pray as you have seen me performing Salah. Imam Ahmad, doubtless and mindful of the Words of Allah: (So woe to the worshippers who are careless in the performance of their prayers.) (Qur'an 107: 4-5) has dwelt at great length in this treatise on the importance of performing one Salah carefully and correctly, in accordance with the confirmed practices of the Prophet as narrated in the authentic hadiths.

The treatise was written for the people of a community with whom Imam Ahmad had prayed a number of times. During his Salah, he noticed that most of them were not performing Salah properly; indeed, the errors were so serious in some cases, as to nullify their Salah. The resulting work (treatise) was, and remains, an excellent advice to all those who fear Allah and hate to incur His displeasure and seek only His pleasure. May Allah guide us all to His Truth and keep us firm upon the Straight Path: Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error. Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which you laid on those before us. Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins and forgive us. Have mercy on us. You are our protector. Help us against the disbelieving people.) (Qur'an 2: 286)