Prayer is a connection between a person and his Lord, in which he stands before Allah (may He be glorified and exalted) with humility and beseeching Him, hoping for the mercy of Allah and fearing His punishment. Hence he should make sure that there is nothing in his mind or heart to distract him before he starts to pray, so that he will not lose anything of his reward, and so that he may attain reward from Allah (may He be glorified and exalted) in full, with nothing detracted from it. In this hadith, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) explains that if the serving of food coincides with the time of ‘Isha’ and the iqamah for the prayer, the individual should start with dinner and not rush to go to pray until he has finished eating. Food would be served to Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) – whether that was dinner or any other meal – whilst the iqamah was being given for Maghrib or any other prayer, and he would not go and pray until he had finished eating, even if the imam started to pray. He would continue eating even though he could hear the recitation of the imam in the prayer. This was indicative of Ibn ‘Umar’s deep understanding of religion, because it is part of a person’s deep understanding to attend to his needs so that he will be able to focus on his prayer with no worldly matters to distract him, and he will be able to stand before the Lord (may He be glorified and exalted) and offer his prayer in the most perfect manner. This hadith encourages the Muslim to free himself from worldly distractions whilst praying. It highlights the virtue of giving precedence to attaining proper focus and humility in prayer over the virtue of praying when the time for the prayer begins, even if one misses out on praying in congregation, provided that one does not make that a habit..