Allah (s.w.t.) says in the Holy Qur'an
"And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone)." (Holy Qur'an 51:56)
When I read this verse of the Qur'an, I remember the hadith in Bukhari about the night of Al-Isra' wal Miraj (The Messenger of Allah's (s.a.w.) journey to the Heavens). In this hadith Allah (s.w.t.) commanded the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) to tell the Muslims to pray 50 times a day. The story of this is in the following hadith and I have put two videos below which are very interesting and informative. These videos go into more detail about Al-Isra' wal Miraj and the prayers.
Here is part of the hadith:
Narrated Anas bin Malik (r.a.)
".....Among the things which Allah revealed to him then, was: "Fifty prayers were enjoined on his followers in a day and a night."
Then the Prophet descended till he met Moses, and then Moses stopped him and asked, "O Muhammad ! What did your Lord enjoin upon you?" The Prophet replied," He enjoined upon me to perform fifty prayers in a day and a night." Moses said, "Your followers cannot do that; Go back so that your Lord may reduce it for you and for them." So the Prophet turned to Gabriel as if he wanted to consult him about that issue. Gabriel told him of his opinion, saying, "Yes, if you wish." So Gabriel ascended with him to the Irresistible and said while he was in his place, "O Lord, please lighten our burden as my followers cannot do that." So Allah deducted for him ten prayers where upon he returned to Moses who stopped him again and kept on sending him back to his Lord till the enjoined prayers were reduced to only five prayers.
Then Moses stopped him when the prayers had been reduced to five and said, "O Muhammad! By Allah, I tried to persuade my nation, Bani Israel to do less than this, but they could not do it and gave it up. However, your followers are weaker in body, heart, sight and hearing, so return to your Lord so that He may lighten your burden."
The Prophet turned towards Gabriel for advice and Gabriel did not disapprove of that. So he ascended with him for the fifth time. The Prophet said, "O Lord, my followers are weak in their bodies, hearts, hearing and constitution, so lighten our burden." On that the Irresistible said, "O Muhammad!" the Prophet replied, "Labbaik and Sa'daik." Allah said, "The Word that comes from Me does not change, so it will be as I enjoined on you in the Mother of the Book." Allah added, "Every good deed will be rewarded as ten times so it is fifty (prayers) in the Mother of the Book (in reward) but you are to perform only five (in practice)."
The Prophet returned to Moses who asked, "What have you done?" He said, "He has lightened our burden: He has given us for every good deed a tenfold reward." Moses said, "By Allah! I tried to make Bani Israel observe less than that, but they gave it up. So go back to your Lord that He may lighten your burden further." Allah's Apostle said, "O Moses! By Allah, I feel shy of returning too many times to my Lord." On that Gabriel said, "Descend in Allah's Name." The Prophet then woke while he was in the Sacred Mosque (at Mecca). "
(Sahih Bukhari 9 : 93 : 608)
