The Prophet said, ‘Between a person and disbelief is discarding prayer.' What benefits do Muslims find in regular prayer (salat)?

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2014). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [10] (a) Prayer is the second pillar of Islam and its importance can be judged from the fact that it is the first act that a person will be held accountable for on the Day of Judgement. Candidates may begin their answers by writing about the importance of prayer and may even go on to write that prayer has been mentioned in the Qur'an 67 times and is compulsory for all adult males and females whether at home or travelling, in peace or war, healthy or sick. The main focus, however, should be on the benefits of prayer. Prayer teaches Muslims punctuality, cleanliness, humility and obedience, self-discipline and self-control, piety and taqwa, patience and perseverance. These and any other benefits the candidate can write about should be given in the answer and developed. Answers need to be read as a whole and it must be remembered that just giving a list of benefits is not enough to get to the higher levels; there needs to be some development in the answer for the benefits given.
2. [4] (b) Candidates can refer to God's attributes of being rahman and rahim and say that Allah never wants to burden His creation and hence has given them the option of offering qada prayers. The fulfilment of the second pillar of Islam is obligatory on all Muslims at all times, however at certain times it may not be possible to offer salat or sleep may have overcome a person or a person could be travelling, so for Muslims to make up missed salat God has given this option to His believers so that they may remember Him and fulfil their obligation towards Him.