Question: Some people who do not perform the five daily salats say, "Salat means supplication [du'a]. It is to remember Allah and greet Him inwardly. There is no particular way, time, time zone, place, or rule of supplication. A person can supplicate at any time, in any language, in any manner, and in any place. The five daily salats, which people perform today, are contrary to facts." Did our Master the Prophet not use to perform the five daily salats? Did he not order us to perform salat?
ANSWER
Such claims belong to those who do not believe in our Master the Prophet and who want to demolish Islam. They raise such claims, which have no Islamic basis, under various masks by concealing their true identities.

After the salat was made fard, our Master the Prophet performed the five daily salats, and he stated that they were fard. His Blessed Companions and the subsequent generations always performed the five daily salats. Could the Messenger of Allah not understand the Qur'an al-karim (ha-sha!)? Could he not understand the word salat? If his performing salat five times a day were wrong, would Allahu ta'ala not have sent a revelation and corrected it?

Jibril 'alaihis-salam came and taught visually in person the times when the five daily salats would be offered, how they would be offered, and all the other related issues. Our Master the Prophet stated, "Perform salat the way I do" (Bukhari).

A Qur'anic verse says (what means):
(Salat was made obligatory upon Believers at specific times.) [An-Nisa' 103]

This means that salat is performed at specific times.

From the Age of Felicity (Asr as-Sa'adah) up to today, mosques have been built in order to perform salat in them. The salats other than Salat al-Jumu'a may be offered at home, but Salat al-Jumu'a has to be performed in congregation in a mosque. It has been ordered that the five daily salats, too, be offered in congregation in a mosque, unless one has a legitimate excuse to miss it. It is Allahu ta'ala who ordered that mosques be built in order to offer salat in them.

Question: A hadith-i sharif was translated as follows in a hadith book: "It is Allah who will be the first to perform salat for me." Does Allah perform salat?
ANSWER
This mistake is due to incorrect translation of the word salat. The word salat has such lexical meanings: supplication, seeking forgiveness, mercy. As a technical term, it is the ritual worship that everybody knows. It would be wrong if the word salat were invariably translated as supplication or ritual worship. The meaning of a word depends on its context. A Qur'anic verse says (what means):

(Allah and His angels do salat for the Messenger. O you who believe! Do salat for him, too.) [Al-Ahzab 56]

The word salat that appears in this verse means Allah's having compassion, angels' begging Allah for His forgiveness, and Believers' supplicating.

The hadith "It is Allah who will be the first to perform salat for me," which has been mentioned in the question, means "It is Allah who will have mercy on me." After Him, Believers say salat-u salam (specific phrases recited whenever the name of our Prophet is read, heard, or mentioned).

The words hand, face, eyes appear in the Qur'an al-karim. If they are translated literally, they will cause serious misunderstanding. Wahhabis take these words in their literal meanings and disregard their figurative meanings. They say that Allah has hands and face, which has caused them to fall into disbelief.