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Reading Islam
» Ask About Islam
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Last Update: 01:45 GMT, Monday, Feb. 08, 2010
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| Question and
Answer Details |
| Name of Questioner |
Sabah
- Yemen
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| Title: |
Humility in prayers |
| Date |
20/Sep/2002 |
| Question |
Assalaam ‘alekum,
Alhamdu-li-Allah, I pray and fast and read the Qur’an. But when I go to pray, things come to my mind about this world like what am I gonna do after praying and things like that. I start thinking while I am praying. I feel I am not praying and am not in kushu’ to Allah (humbly submitting to Allah).
What should I do? I want to pray while I am feeling I am praying and not thinking about this world. I want to feel when I am praying that I am really close to Allah.
How could I do that? Please help me and may Allah help you.
P.S.
I heard that this happens with lots of people. Also they say if you pray and after you are done you still remember what you read, its not haram, but if you are done and you can’t remember what u read, it is I think haram.
When I am done with praying I try to remember what I read but I can’t remember all of them, just sometimes the last things I read.
What should I do?????
Jazakum Allah alf kheir
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| Topic |
Heart & Soul
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| Name of Counselor |
Daud Matthews
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| Answer
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Thanks for your question.
Many Muslims are aware they could pray in a better manner so you are not alone in your concerns. The point as you say is what can be done about it?
Prayer in Islam is a pillar of the religion. Prayer in Islam is not a ‘ritual’ as many people seem to think. It is the establishment of a close and special relationship with our Creator, Allah.
Of course, the prerequisite for prayer is purity. This applies to clothes and to ablution, which are the requirements for physical cleanliness. Then comes the intention, which is the requirement for spiritual cleanliness and purity.
When one stands up in prayer, one begins with ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is Great), raising one’s hands (at least shoulder high), facing the Ka’aba (the direction for Muslims to pray) and entering the state of prayer. It is as if we are saying goodbye to the physical world and ‘entering’ the spiritual world, dwelling in the presence of Allah. It is as if we are entering into the Court of the Greatest Authority, King of Kings and Lord of the universe.
We can start our prayers with Glorification of Allah by saying, in Arabic:
‘Glory to You, O Allah and with Your praise.’
‘Blessed is Your Name.’
‘High is Your station.’
‘And there is no God besides You.’
What a beautiful way of starting a dialogue with our Creator!
Then we recite the opening chapter of the Qur’an, al-Fateha, which starts by:
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;
Surah 1 Verses 1 - 2
He is Lord of all the worlds: my world, your world, the world of every human or creature, the world of the winds, of the oceans, trees, stars and galaxies; all the worlds we know and those we don’t. This is as well as the worlds in each of the seven heavens and the world of the angels, etc.
Thus, the enormity of His Kingdom, His Glory dawns upon us as we praise Him as the ‘Lord of the Worlds’. The magnificence of His creations, His worlds dawns upon us. This creates humility and submission in facing Him – it is the basis of khushu’. How can we not be humble, in front of such a Creator and such an Owner of all things?
Here, Allah says: ‘My servant has praised me.’
Then the fateha continues:Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
Surah 1 Verse 3
His Mercy and His Compassion are for all His creation, whether they believe in Him or not and whether they obey Him or not. His beneficence is flowing for all His creations. Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim mean He is the Most Merciful. According to a hadith qudsi, God’s mercy is divided into 100 parts. One part has been sprinkled throughout the universe and 99 parts have been retained, by Allah, for the believers on the Day of Judgment.
Here Allah answers: ‘My slave has recognized My mercy.’
Then the fateha continues:
Master of the Day of Judgment.
Thee do we worship, ...
Surah 1 Verses 4 - 5
What a promise? None is worthy of worship, only You, O Allah! Experience for yourself the intimacy and closeness and the relationship and humility of the worshipper for the Worshipped...., and Thine aid we seek.
Surah 1 Verse 5
We have complete trust in Him and nobody else.
The answer to this dialogue comes: ‘If the worshipper worships only Me and asks for help from only Me, then help will come.’ And… we know it does! Here, Allah says: ‘My slave shall have what he asks for.’ It is a promise from Allah!
Then the fateha continues:Show us the straight way,
The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.
Surah 1 Verses 6 - 7
Here, Allah says: ‘This is a covenant between Me and My slave, for him is what he asked for… Guidance.’ This guidance then, is giving us the Qur’an, which is complete guidance for all people of all times.
Another important anchor in prayers is ruku’ (kneeling):
We bend down in respect in front of Him. See the personal relationship, how intimate it is? Then we say: ‘Subhana rabbi al-‘Adheem’ (glory to my Lord, the worthy of respect).
Then, we straighten up and then we go down on our knees and put our foreheads on the dusty ground, in complete submission and humility saying: ‘Subhana rabbi al-A’la’ (glory to My Lord, the Most High). While our position, with our head down on earth, is as low as we can make it, our spirit is at it’s sublime height, in front of the Most High!
Well, these are just bits and pieces of a longer dialogue of love, of closeness, humility and submission with full concentration and free choice. According to our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), whose example we follow, you can maintain khushu’ (humility) and khudhu’ (concentration) by doing certain things:
We should learn the meaning of every word we say in the prayer (salat), understand it and make sure we mean it when we say it. Only then, we can maintain and establish the meaning of what we say, not only by our tongues, but deep at our hearts.
Each time you pray, think that this prayer may be your last prayer and give complete attention to it. It might be our last chance to worship Allah and show him our sincere belief! Always think you are in the presence of Allah and worship Him as if you see Him with your physical eyes. This is called ihsan - the best possible practice. If we cannot achieve this spiritual closeness, then we should know that Allah sees us anyway.
A couple of practical tips:
Try to be ready for prayer a little earlier. In a mosque, one uses the time to pray two rak’as (units of prayer), as a salutation and respect to the mosque (tahiyyatul-masjid) and/or in reading Qur’an. This helps one to be in the right frame of mind, to help reduce the clutter we carry in our minds, and to help us feel more devoted to Allah.
Take a little longer in each position. I do not mean to excessively prolong the time in a specific position for prayer. We are required to be stationary in any given position. Sometimes we rush and are hardly steady in one position before we move to the next position.
I must confess, I have never heard that offering prayer and not remembering everything you said is haraam. This would be similar to suggesting the prayer is haraam, which cannot be true. But, I understand that not all of our prayer may be accepted by Allah. If we think of other things, like a problem we are facing in life or getting back to what we are doing; then we cannot really claim that time is given to Allah. Still, we will have a percentage of our prayer accepted by Allah insha’Allah. But, just think of the enormity of Allah, accepting our prayer!
Finally, perhaps I may add, that the one thing we are asking from Allah is guidance. He has sent the guidance in the form of a book – the Qur’an. What is the point then in asking for guidance, receiving that guidance and then not reading the Qur’an?! We should spend a little time, ideally at the time of the morning and evening prayers, in reading the Qur’an and making sure we understand what we read. Then, we should practice what we understand from the Qur’an in our daily lives. This way we put the guidance from Allah – the Qur’an into action, following the practice of Muhammad (pbuh) – the sunnah.
May Allah help us in all our acts of worshipping Him. May we purify ourselves, make the sincere intention, and learn humility and how to concentrate on what we are doing, solely for Him. May our worshiping bring us closer to our Creator in this life and the next, ameen.
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