The Philosophy of Prayer

“Wake up dear, pray first…” I say to my son.

At the other times when we’re traveling I say, “We should find a prayer place first, son.”

“Mother, why do you always ask me to pray?” said my son

“Son, a lot of meaning is in our prayer,” I responded.

“Consider why Allah (SWT) commanded us to pray 5 times a day?”

“Why did Allah (SWT) command us to perform ablution before starting the prayer?”

“And when we are in the middle of doing something why are we always ‘bothered’ with times of prayer?”

And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive [to Allah] .[QS Al-Baqarah: 45]

And [recall] when We took the covenant from the Children of Israel, [enjoining upon them], “Do not worship except Allah; and to parents do good and to relatives, orphans, and the needy. And speak to people good [words] and establish prayer and give zakah.” Then you turned away, except a few of you, and you were refusing. [QS Al-Baqarah: 83]

Prayer is part of our identity as Muslims and with prayer we become more disciplined. As we set the pattern for establishing regular prayers we no longer have need for an alarm and can use the prayer times for managing our schedules and for remaining disciplined in our daily lives.

Imagine: at every moment, the call to prayer is echoed turn by turn across the earth.

“My son, have you ever noticed that the earth is always spinning? Similarly, the call to prayer is always echoing on each part of the earth in accordance with the time that has been determined by Allah (SWT). Subhanallah. Allah (SWT) is very close to us, and especially when we pray Allah (SWT) is near.”

Do not let our lives become so busy with our activities that we forget that there is a duty that we must do regularly. Prayer is a responsibility that we cannot leave. 

“When we are busy with our jobs and Allah (SWT) greets us with a call to prayer, take a break, wash ourselves with ablution, purify our words with reciting the Holy Qur’an even if only briefly, remember, child, that with the remembrance of Allah (SWT) our hearts will be calm.”

“My son, take wudhu before starting the prayer. Clean the sidelines between your fingers with clean water, clean all the dirt that you have touched. Clean up your words and rinse your mouth, always intending to say a good word to anyone. Clean your nose from all sorts of dirty things you’ve inhaled.  Clean your face, rub it evenly. Clean yourself as clean as possible from bad things that you have done or seen.”

“Purify your head and get rid of negative thoughts, return everything to Allah (SWT) and always clear your heart by rubbing your head with your ablution. Wipe your ears with running water to remove dirt that has blocked up your ears. Start by listening only to good things. Wipe your hands over your feet, remove the dirt on the toes of your feet.  Always intend with every step to do a good thing in the guidance of your Rabb.”

“My son, everything that we are reading in our prayer is du’a. When you start to raise your hands, you begin to surrender and to testify that you are facing and surrendering yourself to Allah (SWT) who created the entire universe.”

“My son, when bowing, are you doing so with humility? Are you trying hard to bend your body parallel to the knee?”

“Wake up, my child, everyone is equal, parallel, and there is no distinguishing except through charity. Never be arrogant with what has been done, still tawadlu, that Allah (SWT) only judges people who always tawadlu and do good deeds.”

“When you do prostration, Allah (SWT) is so close to us, so Almighty. Humans are powerless when we put our forehead and our body to the ground. What power, child? Only the power of Allah (SWT), the Mighty, and we are helpless in prostration, surrendering only to Allah (SWT).”

“End with salaam, preparing doing good things, when you conclude your prayer.”

May we always keep our prayers and ourselves from affairs that are not good.

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