Islam fixed stated times for ritual prayer and embellished them with certain precise, accompanying rituals. It stipulates rules for the prayer’s correctness, outlines conditions under which it is fruitless and clarifies the objectives of worship that must be reached in order for the prayer to be accepted in its real sense.
These conditions weave from the spiritual atmosphere and the rites a sacred formula encompassing the entire scope of prayer. Islam made every dimension of this formula a fact and a realizable state of consciousness, drawing a line on the map of perfection for the soul. When these lines and factors converge, they result in an inspired deed with concerted results and effects on the soul of the person maintaining prayer and on that individual’s way of life.
These conditions and dimensions are:
1. The Time of Prayer
When offering our prayer five times a day, most of us may not ask why this correlation between prayer and time? Why is it compulsory for us to offer our prayers at the beginning of every new part of the day? Why is prayer connected to the astronomical changes, and the general, natural cycle of the universe?
أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِدُلُوكِ الشَّمْسِ إِلَىٰ غَسَقِ اللَّيْلِ وَقُرْآنَ الْفَجْرِ إِنَّ قُرْآنَ الْفَجْرِ كَانَ مَشْهُودًا
“Keep up prayer from the declining of the sun till the darkness of the night and the morning recitation, surely the morning recitation is witnessed”. (1)
فَاصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا يَقُولُونَ وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ قَبْلَ طُلُوعِ الشَّمْسِ وَقَبْلَ غُرُوبِهَا وَمِنْ آنَاءِ اللَّيْلِ فَسَبِّحْ وَأَطْرَافَ النَّهَارِ لَعَلَّكَ تَرْضَىٰ
“Bear then patiently what they say, and glorify your Lord by the praising of Him before the rising of the sun and before its setting, and during hours of the night do also glorify (Him) and during parts of the day, that you may be well pleased”. (2)
This connection and relationship is neither a random choice nor a harmonious circumstance created by the worshipper. It is actually the sagacious divine hand that leads man to the ladder of perfection. It prepares for him the atmosphere for devotion, surrounding which is the ultimate of the prayer’s goals: glorifying Allah, acknowledging His grace, and expressing deep gratitude to Him.
The Most Exalted has tied man’s desire for worship with certain times, that he may observe the greatness and omnipotence of his Creator. He then imbibes the essence of submission and its connection to the Great Creator’s will. Man becomes so habituated that after every time cycle, he greets the coming one with prayer and thanks.
He celebrates the praise of Allah. The daily, natural changes etch submission and acknowledgement of Allah’s greatness and glory on every aware soul that discovers the true rhythm of this world, comprehends its movement, and the direction towards which it moves.
The Qur’an refers to this sense in many places and in every instance wherein it, wants to turn the human beings’ attention to the Creator of this world, like in the following verse:
وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ خِلْفَةً لِمَنْ أَرَادَ أَنْ يَذَّكَّرَ أَوْ أَرَادَ شُكُورًا
“And it is He Who made the night and the day to follow each other for him who desires to be mindful or desires to be thankful”.(3)
2. Purification
Bodily purification, basic cleanliness of the devotee’s clothes, and the place of prostration are essential conditions for ritual correctness. The purification demanded here is from any state of uncleanness stemming from nocturnal pollution, menstruation, breaking wind, bodily excretions such as urine, blood and excrement… etc., and removing its traces by washing with water or effacing it with earth.
Purification then is a bodily and psychological readiness to attain cleanliness, thus perceiving the loftiness of the Creator in front of Whom one must stand, and the exaltedness of the position to which one aspires, accustoming the worshipper to be always clean and purified.
The individual’s inclination for immaculateness achieved by getting rid of the physical and spiritual impurities will grow into a sense of Creator consciousness, interrelated with worship and the desire to be closer to Allah:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ ۚ وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُوا ۚ وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ مَرْضَىٰ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ مِنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لَامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ مِنْهُ ۚ مَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ حَرَجٍ وَلَٰكِنْ يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
“O you who believe, when you rise up to prayer, wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe a part of your head, and your feet to the ankles. If you are in Junub, then cleanse yourselves, and if you are sick or on a journey, or one of you come from the privy, or you have been in touch with women, and you can find no water, then do Tayammum on clean earth and wipe a part of your faces and your hands with it. Allah desires not to make any uneasiness on you, but He desires to purify you, and to complete His blessing upon you, so that you may be thankful.” (4)
لَمَسْجِدٌ أُسِّسَ عَلَى التَّقْوَىٰ مِنْ أَوَّلِ يَوْمٍ أَحَقُّ أَنْ تَقُومَ فِيهِ ۚ فِيهِ رِجَالٌ يُحِبُّونَ أَنْ يَتَطَهَّرُوا ۚ وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُطَّهِّرِينَ
“…certainly, a masjid founded on piety from the very first day is more deserving that you should stand in it; in it are men who love that they should be purified, and Allah loves those who purify themselves”. (5)
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ
“…surely Allah loves the repentants and loves those who cleanse themselves.” (6)
Islam emphasizes heavily physical purity, i.e. that of the body, clothes, house, environment… etc. Simultaneously, it underlines spiritual cleanliness, purification of the heart and conscience of evil, corruption, and deviation. This path links piety and repentance – the two aspects of behaviour essential for correcting the intention and stimulating action toward purity.
Islam, by no means, wants, to attend to man’s physical appearance, bodily state and environment, while ignoring that of the soul and conscience, lest purity be partitioned in the Muslim’s conscience, as in the European man, who expresses annoyance with the dirtiness of the street, his clothes and the seat on a bus, while he is inwardly dirty, fetid, and ignorant of his soul’s filth, but is never annoyed by telling lies, or swindling others.
To be continued!
NOTES:
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1. The Holy Quran 17:78
2. The Holy Quran 20:130
3. The Holy Quran 25:62
4. The Holy Quran 5:6
5. The Holy Quran 9:108
6. The Holy Quran 2:222
