And verily your Lord, He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.
By Ahmad Amar
How wondrous is the case of Muslims and Mu’mins (believers). Some unfortunate ones, of other religions, may rush tirelessly at the pursuit of pleasures, physical pleasures; meanwhile the spiritual pleasure enjoyed by the Muslims know no parallel. Prayer is also a physical pleasure, on top of being a spiritual prayer. One who stops praying at night, for instance, will soon come to regret the state he was in previously, and will think about resuming praying at night, with more constancy; instead of just the obligatory prayers. Sleeping less, indeed, brings a state of physical bliss, as well as mental and physical rest. Prayer in itself contains abundant light to the benefits, in part, of the physical body. Bring to mind the saying of God Almighty in the Holy Qur’an: “those who remember God, standing, sitting, lying down on their sides” (3:191).
Prayer is characterized by perpetuity. This is the one thing humans are fond of, passionate about, and how will it not be so for eternity is an attribute of God. Prayer marks the stages of the day, with the 5 daily prayers at different key moments of the day. There are also the night prayers during the night. Though they are not mandatory, it is almost as if they were, so much for their importance. God describes His servants as those who, among other things, “spend the night in worship of their Lord, prostrate and standing” (25:64). The planet turns on itself and revolves perpetually, night follows the day, and day follows the night, perpetually. This perpetuity is punctuated by the performance of prayers.
Prayer is a great protective companion to the mind. The mind of the human being, if sound, works with speed. Pondering upon something, conclusions are reached speedily. Prayer pushes that speed to its limits, for the mind never surpasses it, but is always in a situation of readiness to learn. In the first raka, as the person recites the Fatiha (the first chapter of the Qur’an), he thinks about the meanings of each verse. This is good manners in respect of the Qur’an. But as he moves to the 2nd verse, then the 3rd verse, his reflectiveness has moved twice, and thrice as he moves to the 4th verse : “Master of the Day of Judgment”. He must therefore think much faster, in order to keep up with the pace of his tongue as he recites the Fatiha, and then the other Surah.
Prayer is cleanliness. The Prophet, peace be upon him and his family said: “cleanliness is half of faith”. He said: “the similitude of the five prayers is like an overflowing river passing by the gate of one of you in which he washes five times daily”. Consider the peace of mind and soul when you prostrate, as you rise from prostration and goes back to it again, as you say Allahou Akbar, entering the prayer, as you start reciting the Fatiha of the 1st raka, as you sit to recite the Tashahhud, greet the Prophet, As salamu alayka ayyouha nabiyyu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, as you send blessings upon him before the final salutations, etc. These are all precious moments of peace and pleasure of the soul, of cleanliness. When cleanliness is established in the soul, then cleanliness of the body and of one’s personal spaces will swiftly be established. For the soul is inward, and the outward always submits to the inward and follows it. God Almighty says: “some faces that Day will be sad and dismal, in the thought that some back-breaking calamity was about to be inflicted on them”. The external always conforms to, and confirms the internal.
Prayer reflects the lofty nature of the heavens, that place where one will see God Most High, The King. One who prays, as you consider his discipline in his personal place, for example the prayer rug upon which he stands, and which indicates a personal space; it seems as if he is soaring over the earth and roaming, afloat in the air. Then he bows, rises, goes into prostration, rises, then prostates again, then stands up, and on and on; this is like the pilots who activate buttons, as they fly a Boeing in the white clouds above the earth. Flying, it seems, is the state of the one engaged in prayer. Flying directly relates to heaven, like the case of the birds who go upwards. When the faith becomes completely alright, in absolute perfection, the person starts to fly in the air, towards the sky, like the birds.