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CONCENTRATION IN PRAYER
(Part One)
Imam Al-Sadiq (AS) narrates that it is written in
the Torah:
"O'' Son of Man, if you EMPTY yourself, i.e.
disengage yourself from all other pre-occupations to make yourself available
for My worship, I will fill your heart with richness and I will not abandon you
to what you seek and long for. And it will be upon Me to close the door of
poverty upon you and to fill your heart with awe for Me.
And if you don''t empty yourself for My worship, I
will fill your heart with preoccupation with the world. I will not close upon
you the door of poverty and will abandon you to what you seek."
(Al-Kulayni (RA), Usul Al-Kafi,2, "Kitab
Al-''Iman wa1-Kufr'', "Bab Al-Ibadah", Tradition number 1)
IMPORTANCE
OF PRAYER
Prayer is the most effective way of spiritual migration towards Allah
(SWT) and attaining the exalted position of His nearness. When Al-Sadiq (AS)
was asked what was the best deed that brings human beings close to Allah (SWT)
and is also liked by Him, he replied:
After enlightenment of God''s
Essence, I do not know anything better than the Prayer. The most esteemed and
favorite deed before Allah (SWT) is Prayer. Prayer is the last dying will of
all Prophets (AS).
How good it is that a human being
takes a bath or performs ablution, then retires into a secluded corner where he
is not seen by anyone, and has the honor of performing genuflection and
prostration. When a servant bows himself down into prostration and prolongs it,
then Shaytan says, O'', Woe Upon Me! This servant has obeyed Allah (SWT),
while I transgressed, and he has offered prostration that I refused''.
In Falah As-Sail Page 23, Chapter 2, On the Description of the Prayer,
on the authority of As-Sayyid Ali ibn Tawus (RA), As-Sadiq (AS) said:
The Prayer will not be complete except for the one who has full purity
and a mature completeness, and is away from temptation and deviation. He knows
Allah (SWT) and so stands before Him, submits to Him and persists. He thus,
stands between despair and hope, between patience and worry, as if the promises
to him have been done, and the threats upon him have happened, lowering his
fame and manifesting his aim.
He
sacrifices for Allah (SWT) his soul, treads upon the road to Him as his goal
willingly. He severs the relations of interest for the sake of the One to Whom
he bounds and comes, and from Whom he seeks help. Should he achieve all these,
the Prayer would be of the ordered type and of the informed about, and it is
the very Prayer which forbids evil and vice.
In Mustadrak Al-Wasa''il,
Book of the Prayer, Muhammad, son of Ya''qub (RA), quotes As-Sajjad (AS) as
having said:
As regards the rights of the
Prayer, you are to know that it is a visit to Allah (SWT) and that in it you
are standing before Him. If you realized that, you would deserve to be, through
it, in the position of a slave who is humble, desirous, horrified, frightened,
hopeful, distressed, and imploring.
He is also glorifying the state of
the One in front of Whom he stands with complete stillness, solemnity,
submission of the limbs, humility, well supplicating to Him for himself,
requesting Him to free his neck, which is encircled by his faults and consumed
by his sins. And there is no power except by Allah (SWT).
THE REALITY OF PRAYER
Saying your Prayer on time is a
highly recommended act, and none other than Allah (SWT) reminds us of this
obligation:
And when he (the worshipper) knows
that it is time of Prayer and he does not pray, he is indeed careless about Me.
(Hadith Al-Qudsi)
In Wasa''ilush-Shi''ah, vol. 3, Page 90, as-Sadiq (AS) is reported
to have said:
Whoever performed the obligatory Prayer at the beginning of their times
and observed their restrictions, the angels would raise them white and pure
into heaven. The Prayer would say (to the performer): May Allah (SWT)
preserve you as you preserved me and entrusted me to a generous angel''.
But whoever performed them after the appointed times with no excuse, and
did not observe their restrictions, the angels would raise them, black and dark.
The Prayer would shout at the performer: You have lost me, may Allah (SWT)
lose you, and may He not care for you as you did not care for me''.
Prayer has several built in
properties that make the worshipper far better than the angels and makes life worth
living. Only when the true reality of Prayer is understood then one is
awestruck by its daily performance. In explaining the true nature of Prayer,
Al-Ridha (AS) comments:
The reason for Prayer is that it is
the acknowledgment of the Lordship of Allah (SWT) and negating all kinds of
partners and plurality for Him. Prayer is standing before the Omnipotent, with
humility, humbleness and confession (of sins), and begging forgiveness of the
previous sins. Prayer is placing the face on dust five times a day as (a sign
of) recognition and confession of His Greatness.
Prayer is for remembering Him and
keeping away from arrogance and negligence. Prayer leads to humility,
submission and humbleness towards Allah (SWT), and the enthusiasm for the
desire to material and spiritual progress (both in this world and the
hereafter).
Moreover, Prayer enables a person
to constantly engage in remembering Allah (SWT), both day and night, so as not
to forget one''s Lord, Master and Creator, since forgetting will cause rebellion.
Man, while offering Prayer, stays in the presence of His Lord and in the state
of His remembrance, and this very condition constrains and stops him from sins
and many kinds of corruption.
In order for you to be part of manifestation of the authority of Allah
(SWT) on this earth, you must pledge complete submission, bondage and servitude
to the Lord of the Worlds. You must manifest all this in your behavior, in
general, by remembering Allah (SWT) at all times and seeking His Will and
specifically, by performing the ritual acts of worship e.g. giving alms, fast,
etc.
Scholars have noted that if a man does not
fulfill the conditions of this act of Prayer, he defies Allah (SWT) becoming a
rebel and a devil. For man to climb higher in the realm of existence, he must
lower himself to Allah (SWT). The more
he lowers himself to Allah (SWT), the higher he reaches in the realm of
existence.
It has been the practice of Allah (SWT) to
conceal important grace to mankind, and Prayer is no exception. S. V. Mir Ahmad
Ali (RA), in his Commentary of The Qur''an, narrates seven values that
have been kept concealed by Allah (SWT), The Most High:
According to some reports, the
Night of Power (Qadr) is concealed in the year as a whole. This is because man
may ever seek His grace every night as much as he possibly can. Similarly, one
of these several nights in the months of Sha''ban and Ramadhan are said be the
Night of Qadr, the Night of Grandeur.
The Greatest Name of Allah (SWT),
with which one could have everything he desires, is concealed in several names,
so that one may remember and recite all the Divine names of the Lord.
The Prayer Al-Wusta or the
Middle one of the prescribed Daily Prayer is kept concealed in the five Daily
Prayer so that one may offer every one of them with eagerness to earn its
special reward.
In one particular hour of Friday,
every week, it is said, the prayer is heard without fail. However, the hour is
not disclosed particularly so that one may engage in Prayer the whole day as
much as he can.
God''s pleasure is concealed in
Prayer so that one may always worship the Lord.
The displeasure of the Lord is
mentioned to be in sinning in general so that man may abstain from all kinds of
sinning.
The most honorable with Allah (SWT)
is the most pious, so that one may acquire piety for himself and seek the
friendship of the most honorable ones with the Lord; love the pious and the
righteous one, hate impiety, and stay away from disobedience.
The Prophet (S) in his last remaining hours of life further advised his
followers to take Prayer seriously, and pray according to what has been
prescribed upon them.
THE VALUE OF PRAYER
Allah (SWT) manifests Himself to
His perfect friends in a kind manner, and the attraction of love becomes their
guide. As the tradition says that The Prophet of Allah (S) used to be waiting
for the time of the Prayer, his longing ever increasing, until at last he would
say to Bilal (The Prophet''s Caller to Prayer): Relieve us, O'' Bilal''.
(Al-Mahajjat Al-Bayda fi Tahdhib
Al-Ahya vol. 1, Page 377)
In advising Abu Dhar (RA), The Prophet (S)
says:
O'' Abu Dhar! Allah (SWT), Glorious
is His Praise, has made the pleasure of my eye in (daily) Prayer, and has made
me love Prayer like food is made lovable to the hungry and water to the
thirsty. And surely, while the hungry one, when he eats is satiated, and the
thirsty one, when he drinks he is quenched; I am not satiated from Prayer.
O'' Abu Dhar! Anyone who
voluntarily prays 12 units of Prayer, other than the obligatory, he has earned
the right to a House in Paradise.
O'' Abu Dhar! Surely, so long as
you are in Prayer, you are knocking on the door of the Great King, and whoever
knocks long on the door of the King it will be opened for him.
O'' Abu Dhar! There is no believer
that stands in Prayer but falls on him goodness onto what is between him and
the Throne. And, an Angel is appointed for him that calls out, O'' Son of
Adam (AS), if you knew what there is for you in Prayer and whom you are
calling, you would not turn away''.
O'' Abu Dhar! Be like him, who in
a deserted place (though alone), calls Adhan and Iqamah (Call for Prayer) and
says his Prayer. So your Lord says to the Angels, Look at My servant! He is
praying and no one sees him but Me?'' Then descend 70,000 Angels and pray
behind him and seek forgiveness for him until the next day. And a man who
stands in the midst of night and prays alone, prostrates, and falls asleep
while prostrating, Allah (SWT) says, Look at My servant! His soul is with
me and his body is in prostration; and (be like) a man who is in a war and all
his companions flee, but he stays firm fighting until he is killed''.
O'' Abu Dhar! No man puts his
forehead (in prostration) in any place on earth but that place bears witness of
