General Issues Pertaining to the Prayer |
The Benefit of the Worshipper's Standing Before His Lord |
Source: From the Introduction to 'al-Khushoo fis-Salat' of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali |
Article ID : IBD050006 [28627] |
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The Prayer is a sanctified and holy
moment (mauqif) for the worshipper in the presence of his Lord
and Deity in truth. He
fulfils (by its performance) his covenants, obligations and
statements of confession which
are contained within and are required by the testimony that:
"There is nothing
which has the right to be worshipped except Allah and that
Muhammed is His
Messenger"
and by whose attestation one becomes a muslim.
These covenants,
obligations and resolutions: among them
are those of belief, those of speech and those of action; and the
explanation of
that is as follows:
Firstly: The Takbeer: This
is a compulsory acknowledgement for the worshipper, both in belief
and speech,
that Allah is the greatest, greater than everything in His Essence,
Attributes
and in the rights (owed to Him). Among His rights are the obeying of
His
commands and refraining from His prohibitions in regard to beliefs,
acts of
worship, characteristics and manners; in all moments and situations.
This
acknowledgement penetrates into the various postures of the
worshipper during
his prayer, from the qiyaam to the rukoo', to the sujood, the verbal
confessions
he makes and after that into the submissiveness in action; so there
does not
remain any moment of heedlessness or innattentiveness and there does
not remain
in his heart that which pushes out the (awareness of the
responsibility of
fulfilling) the rights of Allah upon His servant; whether it is
persons,
property, money, family or progeny and among His rights are (His)
Magnification,
Love (for Him greater than for all else), Fear (of His displeasure
and
punishment), Hope (in His Mercy) and Obedience.
Secondly: The
Rukoo': This
is an obligation in action. The worshipper bends his back and (bows)
his head
during it out of obedience, lowliness and humility to his Deity. So
by this he
fulfils his covenants of being constant in his obedience, carrying
out the
orders of his Deity, refraining from His prohibitions, ruling by His
Sharee'ah
in happiness, adversity and every other situation. The worshipper
returns (to
fulfil) these covenants and obligations every time he performs the
rukoo' both
in the obligatory prayers or the supererogatory. Whoever bends his
back in the
prayer in obedience to Allah and after that rebels from some of His
commands or
shows boldness towards some of His prohibitions due to the calling
of his desire
or whim, then he has contradicted his fulfilment of this obligation
to the
extent of the evil of his action.
Thirdly: The Tasbeeh:
This
is the statement which the worshipper makes during his rukoo' "How
free
from every imperfection is my Lord, the Mighty" (Subhaana-rabbiyal-
adheem)
and in his sujood "How free from every imperfection is my Lord, the
Highest" (Subhaan-rabbiyal-a'laa). This is an obligation in speech
by which
the worshipper declares his Deity free from every defect and
shortcoming in His
attributes, actions and His rights (over the creation). Among His
rights are the
declaration of His mightiness in every situation, the placing of
obedience to
Him before obedience to ones soul or parents, leaders and others
besides them.
Whoever declares Allah to be free from all imperfections during his
rukoo' and
sujood and then shows boldness towards His disobedience when he
departed from
the prayer, he has reduced/diminished his glorification of his Deity
to the
extent of his disobedience to Him.
Fourthly: The Sujood:
This is the extremity
in, or the end result of humility; when the worshipper places
his noble limbs upon the
dust or the earth. The sujood is a covenant in action. It is an
obligation due to the
absolute obedience owed to the Deity in truth in all situations.
There is no exception in
this absolute obedience for moments of desire or moments of the
whims of the soul (this
absolute obedience incorporates all moments and situations).
Whoever covers his face with
dust (due to the performance of sujood) out of extreme humility,
then departs from his
prayer and returns to the obedience of the soul in disobedience
to Allah, obedience to the
creation in disobedience to Allah and the following of whims in
disobedience to Allah,
then he has been false to himself to the extent of his
disobedience (or sin). But whoever
does that, then he must repent hastily as the Messenger of Allah
has said: "All
the progeny of Aadam (constantly) errs and
the best of those who constantly err are those who (constantly)
repent"[1]
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