Prayer with Faith 4 (Part 1) The prayer is a gift from Allah. Don t look at the prayer as a burden; it is an honor and favor from Allah. Abdullah bin Umar and Ibn Aas (R.A) narrated: 'One day while telling about prayer Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said, "For the person who adheres to the prayer, on the Day of Resurrection prayer will become a means for his Nur (light), Burhan (proof) and Najat (salvation). For the person who doesn't adhere to it, there will be no Nur, no Burhan and no Najat. Also on the day of resurrection he will be (resurrected) with Qaroon, Firoun, Hamaan and Ubay bin Khalaf". [Ibn Hibban, Ahmed, Darmi] One of the Tabi een, Hatim Al Assam, was praying in the mosque and half of it collapsed. He was one of the most pious people of his time. Everyone in the mosque broke their prayer and ran away except him. He didn t even realize something bad happened; he was too engrossed in the prayer. A person loved prayer so much that he asked Allah to make him pray in his grave. And it was reported that people saw him praying in his grave. Musa loved Allah so much that he wanted to see Allah. And the Prophet said on the Night of `Isra and Mi`raj, "I saw Musa (as) praying in his grave." They are not praying for reward, they feel delight and realize that the prayer itself is a gift from Allah. What level are we when it comes to prayer!? Your test in life: 1) To keep you firm in belief 2) Your prayer. If it is good everything else will be accepted. How can I have Khushoo in my prayer? Hatim Al-Asam was once asked how he was humble during prayer. He said: I stand and say Allah Akbar Imagine Al-Kaaba in front of my eyes, The Sirat under my feet, The heaven on my right, The hell on my left, Death Angel behind me, The messenger of Allah pondering upon my prayer, Think of it as if it is my last prayer so I say Allah Akbar in glorification, I read in meditation, I Kneel with subjecting, I Prostrate in humility, I pray fearing of Allah and wishing his mercy, and I greet not knowing if it is accepted or not
We need to enjoy and appreciate every moment in the prayer. You want to talk to Allah but you need to talk with His speech. We need to beautify our voice because we are in front of ALLAH! Some people like to read a lot, but you need to understand what you are saying. You want to make this prayer with Ihsan (Perfection). When you talk to Allah you need to know what you are saying. When you memorize, you need to memorize while understanding the meaning. This will add so much more beauty to prayer. Most of us have memorized Surah Ikhlas. If we recite it with understanding Allah will appreciate it more than reciting Surah Baqarah without contemplating the meaning. It is important to have the actions of the heart when we recite. When Allah talks about paradise, we should have hope and desire, and ask Allah to admit you into it. You need to interact with the Qur an. If there is a verse about punishment, then you feel scared and ask Allah to protect you. Your fear is an action by itself. The Qur an was not revealed just to be memorized; it was revealed in order to make your heart move towards Allah so that you will increase in faith. The Qur an should have more effect during your prayer than out of it. Imagine if you have to give a speech in front of people; you would prepare it and read it well. Now imagine you are reciting Allah s word while you stand in front of Him. So when you read it don t be hasty. When the Prophet used to read the Qur an he used to read it letter by letter! Don t swallow letters, make sure you give each letter its right. Between every position in the prayer you say AllahuAkbar. Why? You might get distracted and then you will remember that there is nothing greater than Allah. Allah is greater than everything you are thinking of.
Your back should be straight such that if you put anything on your back it will not fall, even a glass of water! Your eyes should be fixed at the place of prostration and your feet should be straight. Your hands are bent. This is one of the positions where you exalt and magnify Allah. After you have that speech with Allah then you want to magnify Him. The prayer is a remembrance of Allah, you are exalting Him. It is as if you are saying, I will never bend my back to anyone except my creator Many people bow when they greet other people. This is wrong as this position is only for the creator. Allah is the One who made your back bent. In every position in the prayer you need to rest until all your joints rest. When the Prophet taught a man how to pray he said, If you stand up for salah say Allahu Akbar. Then read what comes easy for you from the Qur an. Then, bow until you are comfortable in your ruku. Then, stand up until you are standing up straight. Then, prostrate until you are comfortable in your sujood. Then, sit until you are comfortable in your juloos. Then, prostrate until you are comfortable in your sujood. And do this in your entire salah. Your prayer is training for the rest of your life. It should reform you as a person. After your prayer you will not bow or humiliate yourself to someone other than Allah. People exalt other than Allah because they are religious or knowledgeable; you should respect them but not magnify because there is no one greater than Allah. During your Ruku you say:
-> If you want to swim from the beginning to the end without falling you need constant movement with your legs and hands. This is to negate from Allah all imperfections. Don t let anything negative cross your mind regarding your creator. We don t get everything we want in life and many people complain about their situation. We need to be like the swimming person in life, we need to always remove the negative thinking of Allah, especially when things happen to us. Sometimes we see poverty and injustice in the land. We need to deal with this by removing all negative thinking about Allah. And this is what Subhana means. Allah is free from imperfections; He is full of mercy and full of justice. Allah never forgets. We have human beings and creatures in the Universe. The mountains, the birds, the fish, etc make Tasbeeh but we humans do not exalt and magnify Allah. You are bowing to your Lord, the greatest in everything. All His attributes are the most great! People bow to other people because they believe they are great in some way. They may be great in one or two things and they are not perfect in their greatness. When you are bowing to Allah you know He is perfect and great in all His actions! Before you bow, your heart should bow down to Allah. Don t feel disappointed and feel it s difficult, rely on Allah and ask Him to help you! You can say this dua more than three times if you want to. There are other supplications you can say in addition to that while bowing: 1) You can say this Dua while you are in Sujood as well. You are freeing Allah from all imperfections.
2) You believe in Allah because He is the most truthful. To Him only do you surrender and submit yourself. All these meanings will help you when you leave your prayer. The prayer is all about submission and surrendering. You need to practice it within your prayer so Allah will guide you to have it after your prayer. Everything else revolves around the prayer. You will not hear except what Allah wants, you will not see except what Allah wants you to see, etc. Everything is submitting to Allah. It is as if you are saying, My whole body is submitting to Allah It s not like you can make your own dua, these are divine teachings from Allah. It is not from anyone. The problem with sinners is that they don t think about the sin or take it seriously because there is no magnification of Allah in their hearts. We all have desires and wishes. One of the biggest needs we have is the desire of worship. We have imbalance in life, and we feel emptiness but we try to satisfy it by eating more, sleeping more, etc. The reason why Allah created us is to worship Him.
And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.(51:56) You see people worshipping different idols because they are trying to fulfill this need and grant them this satisfaction. When you make rukoo you are satisfying that desire. When you are an obedient slave you will be fulfilling your needs and you will reach Allah at the same time. What a beautiful religion! If you are not surrendering to Allah you will surrender to other gods and idols.