the Second pillar of Islam

The Importance of prayer in Islam cannot be understated. It is the first pillar of Islam after the testimony of faith.

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said: 

"The first matter that the slave of Allah will be brought to account for on the Judgement Day is Salah. If it sound, then the rest of his [or her] deeds will be sound. If it is bad, the the rest of his or her deeds will be bad."
[Sahih Al-Jami, P. 503]

In the Hereafter, Allah’s forgiveness and pleasure is closely related to the prayers.

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said,

• "Allah has obligated five prayers.
• Whoever excellently performs their ablutions,
• prays them in their proper times,
• completes their bows,
• prostrations and khushu` has a promise from Allah that He will forgive him.
• And whoever does not do that has no promise from Allah. He may either forgive him or punish him." [Recorded by Malik, Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’I and others. Sahih al-Jami, vol. 1, p. 616.] ]

Secondly,

The importance of salah lies in the fact that no matter what actions one performs in his or her life, the most important aspect is the following:

• One's relationship to Allah
• that's ones' faith (or eman),
• Taqwa (God-Consciousness),
• Ikhlas (sincerity),
• and Ibadah (worship of Alalh).

This relationship mentioned above is both demonstrated and put into practice, as well as improved and increased, by Salah.

Therefore,

• If the prayers are sound and proper, then Alhamdulalh. The rest of the Deeds will be sound and proper.
• But if the prayers are not proper, then we have a problem. The reason is because the rest of the deeds will not be sound and proper.

Moreover,

Salah is a type of purification for a human being. He or she turns and meets with his or her Lord five times a day. This repeated standing in front of Allah should keep the person from performing sins during the day.

It should also be a time of remorse and repentance, such that he or she earnestly asks Allah for forgiveness for those sins that he or she committed. 

In fact, as the Prophet (PBUH) said himselve, salah in itself is a good deed that wipes away some of the evil deeds that he or she performed. 

"The five daily prayers and the friday prayer until the friday prayer are expiation for what is betwen them." [Muslim]