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Significance of Prayers
God, to whom be ascribed all majesty and might,
said, “For such prayers. Are enjoined on Believers At stated times,” (The
Women sura – verse 103), that is, prayer is an obligation imposed on the
believers (as Bin Abass, Mojahed, Al Baker and As-sadek said); it is also said
that it is “an obligation at stated times” (by Bin Masoud and Qatada),
where both sayings are close in meaning.
The Almighty confirmed that praying believers
must win through when He said, The Believers must (Eventually) win through,
Those who humble themselves in their prayers;” (The Believers sura – verses 1
and 2). Prayer is a relation between the servant and the worshiped,
therefore, he who has a relationship between him and God shall pray in
humbleness to the authority of divinity (godhood) over servitude. Accordingly,
the successful are those who pray in humbleness, whereas, the losers are those
who avoid humbleness. When the messenger of God (pbuh) saw a man playing with
his beard at praying, he said, “Has his heart prayed with humbleness, his
organs shall have been humble.”
The messenger of God (pbuh) said, “Seek God’s
protection from hypocritical humbleness,” where the real meaning of
hypocritical humbleness was questioned. He replied, “The humbleness of
the body and the hypocrisy of the heart.” When the prophet (pbuh) was asked
about humbleness, he said, “Humbleness at praying takes place when the
servant dedicates his entire heart to his God.” The Almighty said, “…for
Prayer Restrains from shameful And unjust deeds;”(The Spider sura – verse 45).
The shameful could be of speech or deed, and the unjust
includes all that is shameful of speech and deed. The word “as-salat”
(prayer) is derived from the word “As-salla” which means the fire. As all
that is crooked of wood is exposed to fire to be adjusted, so is the crooked
servant, whose soul bid him with all that is harmful, shall be exposed to the
fire of prayer to be warmed and get rid of his crookedness so that his soul
would be saved from the fire of hell.
“As-salat” (prayer) is a necessity, since
whoever seeks warmth abides by fire – as if abiding by prayer is intended within
the limits set by the Almighty.
The Almighty also said, “And establish regular
prayer For celebrating My praise,” (Ta-ha sura –verse 14); if prayer is
established for celebrating His praise, how is it neglected?! He, to whom
be ascribed all majesty and might, said, “So woe to the worshippers Who are
neglectful Of their Prayers,” (The Neighborly Needs sura – verses 4-5). It
is narrated that the honorable follower “as-sahabi aj-jaleel” Ammar Bin
Yasser told that the messenger of God (pbuh) said, “Some of you establish a
full prayer, others half prayer and others establish the two third, one fourth,
one fifth until he reaches the one tenth,” Ammar also told somewhere else
about the messenger of God (pbuh) that he said, “Only what is understood of
prayer by the servant is considered.”
The Almighty said, “Approach not prayers With
a mind befogged, Until ye can understand All that ye say,”(The Women sura –
verse 43); therefore, how does he who says, and does not know what he says,
establish prayer and God forbid him to do so? So as the drunk says things in the
absence of his mind, is the unmindful who prays also in the absence of his mind.
The messenger (pbuh) makes it obvious to us that
prayer wipes off sins, for he asked, “Had there been a river next to the door
of someone who bathes in its water five times a day, shall there be any dirt
left on his body?” They said, “No, messenger of God,” He said, “So
do the five prayers wash sins.”
If prayer is only imposed on the sane mature
Moslem, for he (pbuh) said, “A pen is raised off three: the sleeping until he
wakes up, the boy until he attains puberty and the insane until he becomes
sane.” It is mentioned in the holy Hadith, “Bid your children to
establish prayer when they are seven years old, and hit them for not
establishing it at the age of ten, and separate them in bed. The boys are
bid to pray not because prayer is imposed on those not having attained puberty
but in order to help them get used to it.
Abou Saied EL KHARRAZ was once asked about
entering upon prayer, he answered, “The same as you do when you enter upon
Him on the Day of Judgment, standing between the hands of God where no
interpreter stand in between you, where He approaches you when taking into His
confidence knowing between whose hands you stand, for He is the Great King.”
It is said that the Almighty advised some
prophets saying, “If you enter upon prayer, grant me humbleness off your
heart, submission off your body and tears off your eyes, for I am close.”
Bin Abass said, “Two kneels in reflection
better than burning the oil of a night,” such saying indicates the
significance of expenditure in religion, and the real jihad in worship is not
that of the body, for in reflection the believer defeats the greatest enemy of
God, defeats Satan – in reflection, the soul transcends obediently in its
ascension to the seven heavens of salvation to approach the Righteous Almighty.
We finally sum up by the prophet’s (pbuh) saying,
“Save yourselves and perform good deeds; the best of deeds to perform is
prayer (as-salat).”
The prophet (pbuh) also sail, “I recommend
prayer which is the pillar of religion and the basis of Islam.”
Delivered on Rabih Al Awal 7, 1430 Hegira
corresponding to March 3, 2009 A.D.
Monotheistic Concepts
Issued by Bureau of Mashyakhat Al Akl Of the
Mouwahidoune Druze Sect
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