PRAYER

Prayer is the pillar of religion and safeguard and root of religious belief the chief of religious actions. The chapter is divided into seven sections.

SECTION 1

EXCELLENCE OF PRAYER

EXCELLENCE OF AZAN: The Prophet said : Three persons will remain on the Resurection Day on the mountain of black musk. They will have no fear of account and they will have no anxiety till they become free from what is near men. (1) One who recites the Quran to seek the pleasure of God and leads the prayer of the people who remain pleased with him. (2) One who proclaims 9zan in a mosque for pleasure of God and call the people towards the path of God. (3) One who is given trouble in the world regarding his livelihood but does not give up the actions of the next world in searching it. The Prophet said : If a man, jinn or anything hears the Azan of a Muazzen, he will testify for him on the Resurrection day. The Prophet said : The hand of the Merciful remains on the head of a Muazzen till he finishes his Azan. God says : If a man calls towards God and does good, who is better than him in preaching ? This was 'revealed regarding a Muazzen. The "Prophet said When you hear Azan, say what Muazzen says. Say at the time of Haia-alas-salat "There is no might; and strength except through God." When he says : prayer has begun, say 'May God establish the prayer and keep its tongue so long as the heaven and earth exist. When at the time of Fajr prayer it is recited 'prayer is better then sleep', say 'you have spoken the truth, you have spoken good and given admonition,' Say when the Azan is finished : 0 God, Lord of this perfect invitation and ever living prayer, grant position, means and honour to Muhammad and raise him up to the of glory which Thou hast promised him."

1:133EXCELLENCE OF COMPUSLORY PRAYER

God says: Prayer is compulsory on the believers at the appointed times. The Prophet said : God has made compulsory for His servants prayer for five times. If a man observes them and does not leave anything out of their duties, there is'covenant for him from God that He will admit him in paradise. If a man does not observe them, there is no covenant from God for him. If He wishes, He may punish him and if He wishes, He may admit him in paradise. The Prophet said : Prayer five times is like a flowing canal of pure water by the side of one's houes. He takes bath five times daily in it. Will you see any impurity in his body ? They said : No. The Prophet said : As water removes impurities, so prayer for five times removes sins. The Prophet said: Prayer for five times expiates the sins of a man till he does not commit major sins. The Prophet said : The distinction between us and the hypocrites is our presence at morning and night prayers and their absence at these two prayers. The Prophet said : If a man meets God after destroying his prayer. God will not look towards his virtues. The Prophet said : Prayer is the pillar of religion. He who gives it up destroys the pillar. The Prophet was once asked : Which action is best ? He said : To pray at the appointed times. The Prophet said : If a man protects his prayer for five times with full ablution and at appointed times, these will be proof and light for him on the Resurrection Day. He who destroys his prayer will rise with Pharaoh and Haman.

The Prophet said: Prayer is a key to paradise. He said : God has not made anything compulsory dear to Him for this servants after Tauhid than prayer. Had there been anything better than it, he would have fixed it for the angels. They took from Him the organs of prayer. Some make bow, some prostrate, some stand, some sit. The Prophet said : He who gives up prayer intentionally becomes an infidel. In other words, he becomes near coming out of faith as his. firm tie becomes loose and his pillar falls down just as when a man comes near a town it is said that he has reached the town and entered it. The Prophet said : He who give up prayer intentionally, becomes free from the convenant of Muhammad. The Prophet said : 0 Abu Hurairah, enjoin on the members of your family to pray as you can't conceive wherefrom God will supply you provision.

1:134EXCELLENCE OF FULFILLING THE DUTIES OF PRAYER: The Prophet said: Compulsory prayer is like a scale. He who measures out in full takes full. The Prophet said : If two men of my followers stand in prayer, it seems that their prostrations are the same but the spirit of their prayer is like the distance of the heaven and earth. He hinted at their God-fear. The Prophet said God will not look to a man on the Resurection Day who does not make his backbone erect between his bow and prostration. The Prophet said : If a man turns his face towards another direction in prayer, God will turn his face in to that of an ass. The Prophet said : If a man says prayer at its appointed time, establishes ablution, makes his bow and prostration perfect and has got God fear, it will become bright and rise upwards and say : May God guard you as you have guarded me. If a man does not pray at its appointed time, does not make ablution well and does not make perfect his ruku and prostration and God fear, it will become dark and rise upwards and say : May God destroy you as you have destroyed me. God will keep it folded as old cloth is kept folded. The Prophet said : The word thief applies to one who steals in prayer.

EXCELLENCE OF PRAYING IN CONGERGATION

The Prophet said : The rewards of a prayer in congregation is twenty seven times more than the prayer said alone. The Prophet did not see once some persons joining prayer in congregation and said : I wished that I should give order to some one to lead the prayer and oppose those who have not joined in prayer and burn their houses. In another narration : I oppose those persons who do not pray in congregation and order that their houses should be burnt with fuel. If a man among them had known what rewards there are in night prayer, he would have surely been present at night prayer. There is in Hadis : He who remains at night prayer. There is in Hadis : He who remains at night prayer prayed as it were half the night. He who remains present in the morning prayer prayed as it were the whole night. The Prophet said : He who prays a prayer in congregation fills up his neck with divine service. Hazrat Sayeed-b-Musayyeb said : I reached the mosque before Azan for 20 years consequitively. The sage Waseh said : I want three things in the world (1) such a .brother who will keep me straight if I become crooked, (2) such 1:135livelihood as can be earned without begging and (3) such a prayer in congregation of which the faults are forgiven to me and excellence is written for me. Hazrat Ibn Abbas said : He who does not respond to Azan does not hope for good and no good is expected from him. The Prophet said : If a man prays in congregation for forty days and does and lose even Takbir, God writes for him two salvation-(1) one salvation from hypocrisy and another from Hell.

EXCELLENCE OF PROSTRATION: The Prophet said There is nothing except secret prostration which can take one near God. The Prophet said : There is no such Muslim whom God does not give a rank in lieu of his one prostration and remove one sin from him. A man asked the Prophet : Pray that I may be included within the party of your intercession so that He may give me mercy of your intercession in paradise. The Prophet said One who prostrates will gain the nearness of God, as God says Prostrate and seek nearness. God says : There are signs in their foreheads as an effect of prostration. It is said that this sign is effected as a result of dust that is attached to forehead at the time prostration. Some say that it is the light of God-fear as it is expressed outwardly from a secret place. This is the correct view. Some say that it is the light that will be seen on their forehead on the Resurrection Day on account of ablution. The Prophet said When a man prostrates, the devil goes away from him weeping and saying : Also ! he has been ordered to prostrate and he has prostrated. So there is Paradise for him. I have been ordered to prostrate but as I have disobeyed it, there is Hell for me. It is narrated that the Caliph Abdul Aziz used not to make prostration except on the ground. Hazrat Abu HUrairah said Prostration takes a servant near God and he makes invocation at that time.

EXCELLENCE OF GOD FEAR: God says : Pray to remember Me. God says : Don't be one of the heedless. God says : Don't come near prayer when you are intoxicated till you donot understand what you say. Some say that intoxication means a great anxiety. Some say that it means attachment to the world. There are many worshippers who do not drink wine but they ,don't know what they say in prayer. The Prophet said : If a man prays two rakats without any thought of the world therein, his past sins are forgiven. The Prophet said : Prayer is the 1:136embodiment of modesty, humility, entreaties, repentance, raising of hands and utterance of words "0 God, 0 God" He who does not do it, is a cheat. There is in earlier scriptures that God said : I don't accept the prayer of every one. I accept the prayer of one who humbles himself before My glory, does not take boast in doing My service and gives food for My sake to the hungry and the poor. I have made prayer compulsory, ordered for Haj and Tawaf for My remembrance. If you have got no fear of God in your mind, what is the value of your Zikr ? The Prophet said When you pray, pray in such a manner that you are bidding farewell. He said : Fear God, He will teach you. God says : Fear God and know that you must meet Him. The Prophet said : He who does not restrain himself from indecency and evil deeds in prayer keeps away God. Prayer is monazat or invocation. How can it be with heedlessness ? Hazrat Ayesha said : The Prophet used to talk with us and we also used to talk with him. When the time for prayer came, he did not as it were recognise us and we also did not recognise him, as we remained busy in declaring the glory of God. The Prophet said : God does not respond prayer of a man who does not observe it with his mind and body. When the Prophet Abraham stood in prayer, the voice of his mind could have been heard from a distance of two miles. When the sage Sayeed Tanukhi prayed, his two eyes used to shed tears which flowed down, his beard. The Prophet once saw a man in prayers sporting with his beard and said : If he and his mind had God fear, his organs also would have God-fear. It is narrated of Moslem-b-Yasar that whenever he wished to pray, he used to say to his family members : You hold conversation, I will not hear you. It is said that when he was praying in the congregational mosque,one corner of the mosque once suddenly fell down for which the people gathered there, but he could not know it till he finished his prayer. When the time of prayer came, the heart of Hazrat Ali used to tremble and his colour became changed. He was questioned : 0 Commander of the faithful, what has happened to you ? He said : It is time of trust of God which was entrusted to the heavens, earth and mountains but they became fearful of it and refused to bear it, but I am bearing it when it has come to me. When Hazrat Jainal Abedin, son of Hazrat Hussain, performed ablution, his colour turned place. His family members asked him. What troubles you at the time of ablution? He said Don't you see before whom I am going to stand ? Hazrat Daud used to say in his Monazat:0 my Lord, who lives in your house 1:1371:138and from whom you accept prayer ? God revealed to him : The man who lives in My house and from whom I accept prayer is one who humbles himself before My glory, passes his life in My remembrance, controls his passion for My sake, entertains a stranger and shows kindness to the aggrieved. His light will sparkle like the rays of the sun in the sky. I respond to him if he calls me. If he invoke Me. I accept it. I give him patience in his ignorance, remembrance in his carelessness and light in his pride. His simile among the people is the smile of Ferdous in high gardens. His river does not become dry and his face does not become changed.

Once Hatem Asem was asked about prayer and he said When the time of prayer comes, I make full ablution, come to the praying place and wait there till my neighbours come there. Then I stand for prayer, face the Ka'ba with Bridge under my feet, Paradise by me right side and Hell by my left side, angel of death behind me and think that this is my last prayer. Then I stand between fear and hope, recite Takbir, make Ruk'u with humility, prostrate with fear and sit on my left waist and spead my sole of feet and keep my right side on my toes. I don't know whether my prayer has been accepted or not.

EXCELLENCE OF MOSQUE AND PRAYING PLACE

God says: Those who have got faith in God and the next world inhabit God's mosques. The Prophet said : If a man constructs a mosque for God, He constructs for him a place in Paradise. The Prophet said : If a man loves mosque, God loves him. He said: When one of you enters a mosque, let him pray two rak'ats before he sits. He said : There is no prayer for mosque except in mosque. He said : Angels like one of you until he keeps seated in his praying place. They say : 0 God, send blessings on him. 0 God, have mercy on him, forgive him till he keeps his ablution or gets out of mosque. The Prophet said : There will be some people among my followers who will come to mosque and sit in groups. They will like to talk of this world and its matters. Don't sit with them. God has got no necessity of them. He said God said in some of His books : Mosques are my houses in the world and My neighbours are those people in them who are habituated to go there. Good news is for one who keeps his house pure and then meets Me in My house. He said : When you find a man visiting mosque always, bear witness that he has got faith. He said : Random talks in mosque consumes virtues as animals eat grass. Hazrat Anas said : If a man gives a light in a mosque, angels and the bearers of the Thone seek forgiveness for him till the light exists in the mosque. Hazrat Ali said : When a man dies, praying cloth in the world and his good deeds raised high in the sky weep for him. Then he said : The heaven and earth did not weep for them and wait for them. Hazrat Ibn Abbas said : The word weeps for him for forty days.

SECTION 2

OPEN ACTIONS IN PRAYER

After the removal of the impurities of body, place, cloth and places of shame, make ablution facing the Ka'ba and keep some open space between the two feet. Keep your head erect or bend a little and close the eyes. if you cast ,your look, cast it to your place of prostration. Then make niyyat, then raise both the hands up to the ears uttering Allhaho Akbar - God is greatest. There after recite the formula : Glory to Thee, 0 God, there is Thy priase and blessed is Thy name, exalted is Thy Majesty and there is no deity besides Thee. I seek refuge to God from the accursed devil and I begin in the name of God, the most Compassionate the most Merciful. Then recite the opening chapter of the Quran and then at least three verses of the Quran. Then saying God is greatest; bow down and recite three times 'Glory to my Lord the Great' and then fall in prostration on the ground and recite three times 'Glory to my Lord, the Great, Then sit down and then again fall prostrate and recite the formula as above mentioned and then stand erect. Thus finish one unit of prayer. Then praying another unit in this manner, sit and recite: All invocations are for God and all services and pure things. Peace be on thee 0 Prophet, and the mercy of God and His blessing. Peace be on us and on the righteous servants of God. I bear witness that there is no deity but God that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger. Then if you do not pray four such units make the following invocation 0 God, make Muhammad and the followers of Muhammad successful as Thou didst make successful Abraham and his followers, for surely Thou art the praised, mighty. 0 God, bless Muhammad and the followers of Muhammad as Thou did bless Abraham and the followers of Abraham. Surely Thou at the 1:1391:140praised, the mighty. They close up the service followed by an innovation of your choice.

SECTION 3

INTERNAL CONDITIONS

Prayer should be observed with humility of mind.. God says 'Pray to remember Me.' Presence of mind is opposed to absence of mind or heedlessness. If one is heedless throughout his prayer, how can he say prayer with the purpose of remembering God ? God says : Don't be of the heedless. He says: 'Prayer is modesty and humility.' Therein there is injunctions, prohibitions and. blocks. The Prophet said : If a man does not refrain from thought of absence and evil things, it does not add to it but distance,' There are two kinds of prayer of a heedless man. The Prophet said : There are many praying men who do not gain anything in their prayer except fatigue and efforts. The prayer of a heedless man has been spoken there. The Prophet said : Nothing is written for a praying man except what he understands in his prayer. Its speciality is that there are entreaties and seekings to God in prayer. Monazat with inattention is not considered as Monazat. There are God's remembrance in prayer, Quran reading, bow, prostration, standing and sitting. God's remembrance means prayer and Monazat to Him. Without them, it ends in voice and tongue.

The object of fasting is to bring under control belly and sexual passion, or else it ends in depriving this body from food and drink. Body is tried by the troubles of pilgrimage. Troubles are given to mind if Zakat is paid out of wealth and thus mind is tried. There is no don't that the object of these religious acts is to remember God. If that object is not attained, there is no use in prayer, as it is very easy to move the tongue with inattention. The object of word is to talk and it does not occur except in mind. It does not exist in mind without humility of spirit and presence of mind. If you recite in prayer : Show us the right path, and if you are inattentive at that time, it is only the movement of your tongue and nothing else. The object of Quran reading and God's remembrance is to praise and glorify God and to entreat Him and invoke Him with humility of spirit, but if his mind remains absent at that time and does not know that He is present with whom he is speaking, it must be understood that his tongue moves only owing to habit but he is far away from the object of prayer to enliven God's remembrance and with that to make firm the tie of faith.

Sifiyan Saori said : The prayer of one who has got no God-fear becomes void. Hasan Basari said : The prayer which is not said with attention hastens towards punishment. The Prophet said : There are many praying men whose prayers are written to the extent of one sixth or one tenth. In other words, the portion of prayer which is said with attention is only written. The sage Abdul Wahed said : The portion of prayer which is said with humidity of mind is accepted. This is the consensus of opinion of the sages. In short, earnestness of mind is the life of prayer.

LIFE OF PRAYER AND ITS INTERNAL CONDITION

There are many works signifying the life of prayer, humility of mind, understanding what is said, honour, hope and shame. (1) The meaning of humility or presence of mind is that the action and word must be the same in mind and there should be no other thought therein. When there is no other thing in mind which is concentrated only to one thing, there is earnestness or presence of mind. (2) When mind is not present in prayer, it does not remain idle and is concentrated to the thoughts of the worldly affairs with which it is immediately concerned. So there must be firm belief that prayer is a stepping stone to the next world which is everlasting. Presence of mind is gained only when it is realised and the world is considered as a merely temporary abode and insignificant.

(2) To understand the meaning of words uttered and to engage intellect to understand their meanings. The medicine of removing various thoughts that come in mind in prayers is to cut the root or to remove the reasons which cause different thoughts. He who loves a thing remembers that thing. For this reason, he who loves things other than God is not free from diverse thoughts in prayer.

(3) Honour of God is a condition of mind. It rises out of acquaintance of two things. The first thing is the knowledge of the glory of God. This is the root of faith, because the mind of one who does not firmly believe in His glory, is not given encouragement to honour Him. The second thing is to think 1:141oneself helpless and insignificant. From the knowledge of these two things, helplessness, modesty and fear of God arise and as a result honour for God arises in mind.

(4) Fear of God is a condition of mind which rises out of knowledge of God's power and His rewards and punishments. You must have knowledge that if God would have destroyed all past and present, nothing of His sovereignty would have reduced. It is to be seen along with that whatever dangers and difficulties God gave to His Prophet and friends, these are different from those on kinds, rulers and emperors. The more the knowledge about God, the more would be the fear of God.* (5) Hope in God rises out of firm faith in the following matters-knowledge of God's mercy and gifts, knowledge of His creation and remembrance of Paradise through prayer.

(6) Shame arises out of knowledge of neglect in divine service and inability to fight for God. Human mind becomes humble in proportion of certainty of faith.

For this reason Hazrat Ayesha said : The Prophet talked with us and we also talked with him but when the time of prayer came, he could not recognise us and we did not recognise him. It is narrated that God said to Moses : 0 Moses, when you want to remember Me, remember Me in such a way that your limbs tremble and that you hold Me dear at the time of remembrance and rest satisfied. When you remember Me, keep your tongue behind your mind. When you stand before Me, stand before Me with fearful mind like the meanest slave and speak with Me with the tongue of a truthful man. God revealed to him : Tell your disobedient followers to remember Me. I took oath upon Myself that I shall remember one who remembers Me. When Abraham stood for prayer, voice of his heart was heard from a distance of two miles..An individual will be forgiven in the next world according to the qualities of his mind and not of his body. Nobody will get salvation except one who comes with a sound mind.

PROFITABLE MEDICINE FOR MAKING MIND HUMBLE

Know, 0 dear reader, that a believer will declare God's glory and fear Him, hope in Him and be ashamed to Him for his sins. After his faith, a believer will not be free from these conditions.

1:142Although the strength of his mind will be according to the strength of his faith, yet there is no other cause except the following ones for the absence of his mind, random thoughts, heedness, absence of mind in Mozazat and absent-minded ness in prayer. This heedlessness in prayer arises out of engagement of mind in various thought. The medicine of keeping the mind present is to remove all thoughts and primarily to remove the root of these thoughts. There are two bases of this root and the external root.

EXTERNAL ROOT: Thought catches what the ear hears or the eye sees and mind turns towards that thought. This causes to produce other thoughts. So the root of thought is eye and then the root of one thought is another thought. He whose niyyat is fine and aim high cannot be diverted by what occurs in his organs or limbs, but he who is weak falls a prey to it. Its medicine is to cut off these roots and to shut up the eyes, to pray in a dark room, not to keep anything in front which may attract attention and not to pray in a decorated place or a decorated and painted praying cloth. For this reason the sages used to do divine service in dark, narrow and unaspious rooms.

INTERNAL ROOT is very difficult. The thoughts of worldly matters are not confined to one subject. It goes from one thought to another. If they shut up their eyes, it does not do them any benefit. The way to remove them is to take one's mind to understand what is recited in prayer and to stick to it after giving up all other thoughts. The Prophet once told Osman-b-Ali Shaiba: I forgot to tell you to cover the screens of variegated colours in the room, because there should remain nothing in the house which can divert attention from prayer. If the rise of thoughts is not stopped by this method, then there is another easy method to prevent it. That is to cut off the root cause of the disease. It has been narrated that Abu Zaham presented a valuable dress of variegated colours to the Holy Prophet. He put on it and said prayer. Afterwards he took it off and said : Take if to Abu Zaham as it has diverted my attention from prayer. The Prophet had a ring of gold in his hand before it was unlawful. He threw it away when he was on the pulpit and said : My sight has fallen on it. It is said that Hazrat Abu Tallaha once prayed in his own garden which pleased him so much that he forgot how many rak'ats he prayed. He mentioned it to the Prophet and said : 0 1:1431:144Prophet of God, I wish to gift this garden. The Prophet said : Give it to whom you like. Once a man was praying in his garden in which dates were hanging. It pleased him so much that he forgot how many rak'ats he prayed. He mentioned it to Hazrat Osman who said : Spend it in the way of God. Hazrat Osman purchased it for fifty thousand coins. Thus they used to cut off the root of their thoughts and expiated the loss in prayers. This is the medicine for cutting the root of the disease of mind. To bring sexual passion under temporary control is not so benefiting. Its root must be cut as it baffles the whole prayer. The following illustration is given. In a certain tree numerous sparrows used to make tremendous noise as they had their nests in it. A traveler began to drive them away being disgusted with their noise. They fled away for the time being but came again to make greater noise. It he wants to get himself relieved of the noise permanently, he should cut the tree. The sparrows will make noise till the tree lasts. Similarly attachment to a thing may temporarily be removed from mind, but it will come again and disturb the mind. Attachment to the world is the root of all thoughts, the primary cause of all losses. If one wants a peaceful mind in prayer, he should cut off all attachments of the world. If one is engaged in worldly matters, he should not expect to get taste in invocations.

MEANING OF DIFFERENT ITEMS OF PRAYER'AZAN': When you hear the call to prayer, think of the general call on the Resurrection day and look to your external and internal matters when replying and make haste. Those who respond in haste to this call, will get reply°with mercy on that fearful day. So keep your mind on Azan.

MEANING OF CLEANLINESS: When you make your praying cloth pure and clean and your body clean of impurities, don't be indifferent to make your mind pure. Make it pure of impure ideas and thoughts as far as possible, Repent for what you have failed to do and determine not to do it in future. So make your heart pure as it is the object of sight of your Lord.

Meaning of covering private parts. The meaning of covering private parts is to cover your private parts from the sight of men. God looks to your heart. So cover the faults of your heart and know that it is not secret from the sight of God. Your repentance, shame and fear will expiate it. Stand before God just like a fugitive slave who returned to his master being repentant with humility of spirit and bent down head.

MEANING OF FACING THE KA'BA: The meaning of turning your face towards the Ka'ba is to turn your mind towards God after taking it off from all directions and all evil thoughts. Move the external organs to move your secret mind and keep them under control of mind. Keep the face of your mind towards God along with the face of your body. The Prophet said : When a man stands iri prayer and directs his hope, face and mind towards God, he comes out of his prayer as on the day his mother gave birth to him.

MEANING OF STANDING IN PRAYER: Its external meaning is to stand before God with body and mind. You shall ` bend down your head which is higher than your other limbs. The meaning of this bending down of your head is to bend down your. mind free from all self-conceit and pride. Know that you are standing before the mighty and greatest Emperor. You fear king but you don't fear God although He is fit to be feared most. For this reason Hazrat Abu Bakr asked the Prophet : How should we be shameful to God ? He said : You should be shameful to God just as you become shameful to see the most God-fearing man among you.