In Islam, the ritual prayer (i.e., Salat) is one of the branches of religion (i.e., Usul ul-Deen) and the most important act of worship which when accepted by Allah, all other acts of worship will be accepted, but if rejected, all other acts of worship will not be accepted either.
In the Quran, an important philosophy of the ritual prayers is mentioned when it says:
إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنْهى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَ الْمُنْكَرِ
“Surely prayer keeps (one) away from indecency and evil.” (1)
Since prayers remind man of two of the most powerful deterrents – the Origin and the Resurrection – it thus possesses a deterring influence with regard to indecency and evil.
A person, who stands up for prayers, recites “Allahu Akbar” and regards Allah to be superior to and greater than everything else. Recollecting His bounties, he praises Him and offers his thanksgiving. He eulogizes Him for His Compassion and Mercy, and brings to mind the Day of Judgment; professing his servitude, he yearns for His help, seeks the Straight Path from Him and implores Him to protect him from treading the path of the deviated ones and those, who earn His anger (the theme of Suratul Hamd).
Undoubtedly, the heart and the soul of such a person shall experience an impulse towards truth, purity and piety. He goes into ruku’ (genuflection) for Allah and thereafter goes into sajdah (prostration) while placing his forehead on the ground in His august presence. Drowned in His grandeur, he shoves his egoism and superiority complex into oblivion. He testifies to His Unity and the Prophethood of the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a). He sends salutations upon the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a) and beseeches Allah to place him amongst His righteous servants (Tashahhud and Salam).
All these acts create within him a tidal wave of spirituality, which is reckoned to be a strong barrier against sins. This act is repeated several times in a day; when he rises up in the morning he gets immersed in His remembrance; in the middle of the day when he is totally engrossed in the material life, he suddenly hears the ‘Muazzin’ calling the people to the ritual prayers. Interrupting his schedule, he hastens to present himself before Him.
Even at the end of the day and before sliding into the relaxing comforts of his bed, he engages himself in communion with his Lord, illuminating his heart with His Light. In addition to the above, as he engages himself in the preliminaries of the prayers, he washes and cleans himself and keeps away usurped and forbidden things from himself after which he proceeds to present himself before his Friend.
All these things effectively serve as a deterrent, preventing him from treading the path of indecency and evil. But ultimately, every prayer shall only keep one away from evil and indecency in the same measure as the conditions of perfection and the spirit of worship, which it happens to possess. At times it keeps one away from evil, completely and wholly, whereas at other times it does so partially and incompletely.
It is impossible that a person offers his ritual prayers correctly but they do not have any effect on him – however superficial the prayer and however polluted the person. Obviously, the effects of such prayers are less, but had such individuals not been offering these prayers, they might have been in a much more polluted state.
Stating this more clearly, ‘refraining from indecency and evil’ possesses numerous levels and ranks, and every ritual prayer, depending upon the conditions of the prayers that have been taken into consideration (while offering it), possesses some of these ranks.
It has been reported in a tradition that a youth from the Ansar (Helpers) used to offer his prayers with the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a), but despite this, he was prone to committing sins and evil deeds. When this was brought to the notice of the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a), he said:
إِنَّ صَلاَتَهُ تَنْهاهُ يَوْماً
“His prayers deter him one day.” (2)
This effect of the ritual prayers is so significant that some of the traditions refer to it as a gauge for distinguishing the accepted prayers from those that that are not. As Imam as-Sadiq (a.s) said:
مَنْ أَحَبَّ أَنْ يَعْلَمَ أَقُبِلَتْ صَلاَتُهُ أَمْ لَمْ تُقْبَلْ فَلْيَنْظُرْ هَلْ مَنَعَتْهُ صَلاَتُهُ عَنِ الْفَحْشَآءِ وَ الْمُنْكَرِ فَبِقَدْرِ مَا مَنَعَتْهُ قُبِلَتْ مِنْهُ
“One, who desires to know if his prayer has been accepted or not, should observe if it has kept him away from indecency and evil, or not; the measure in which it has kept him away (is the measure of his prayer that) has been accepted.” (3)
Continuing with the verse, Allah says:
وَ لَذِكْرُ اللٌّهِ أَكْبَرُ
“Allah’s dhikr (remembrance) is superior and most virtuous.”
The apparent meaning of the above sentence appears to mention a more important philosophy for ritual prayers. It mentions another effect of prayers – an effect that is even more important than ‘keeping one away from indecency and evil’ – and that is, it causes man to remember Allah – this being the basis of every goodness and the foundation of all felicities. In reality, its superiority and importance are due to the fact that it is the cause for it (keeping one away from indecency and evil).
Basically, remembrance of Allah keeps the hearts alive and sets them at rest, and no other thing can be likened to it in significance and importance.
أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللٌّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ
“Surely by Allah’s Remembrance are the hearts set at rest.” (4)
Essentially, the soul of every act of worship – whether it is a ritual prayer or something else – is the remembrance of Allah. The preliminary acts of the prayer, the recitations and actions in it, the supplications after the prayers – all of these – serve to revive the remembrance of Allah within a man’s heart. Worthy of attention is that an allusion has been made to this fundamental philosophy of prayer in Surat Taha when Prophet Musa (a.s) is addressed as:
أَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ لِذِكْرِي
“And keep up prayer for My Remembrance.” (5)
In a tradition, Mu’adh b. Jabal states:
No deed of man, for protecting him from divine chastisement, is greater than ‘remembrance of Allah’. When he was asked: Not even Jihad in the way of Allah? He replied: No (not even Jihad), for Allah has said: “Allah’s dhikr (remembrance) is superior and most virtuous.”
Although the philosophy of ritual prayer is not something that is hidden from anyone, a more careful study of the text of the Qur’an and the traditions guide us towards some more subtle points in this regard:
1. The spirit, foundation, objective, result and ultimately the philosophy of prayers is the remembrance of Allah – the same ذكر الله, which, in the above verse, has been referred to as the optimum result. However, it should be a remembrance that brings about ‘reflection’ and a ‘reflection’ that leads to ‘deeds’. In a tradition, Imam as-Sadiq (a.s), interprets the sentence:
وَ لَذِكْرُ اللٌّهِ أَكْبَرُ
said:
ذِكْرُ اللٌّهِ عِنْدَ مَا أَحَلَّ وَ حَرَّمَ
“Remembrance of Allah at the time of performing a lawful or a forbidden act.”(6) It means to remember Allah and seek that which is permitted and refrain from that which is forbidden.
2. Prayers are a means for washing away the sins and achieving divine forgiveness since they invite man towards repentance and rectification of the past. Hence we read in a tradition that once the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a) questioned his Companions:
If there flowed, at the doorstep of one of your houses, a river with pure and clean water and if the owner happened to wash himself in it five times a day, would there be any dirt or uncleanness on his body? The companions replied: No.
The Noble Prophet (s.a.w.a) then said: The prayer is similar to this flowing water. Whenever one offers a prayer, the sins committed between two prayers get washed away. (7)
Thus, by means of the balm of prayers, the wounds that get inflicted upon man’s soul as a result of sins get healed and the rust that forms on the heart is eliminated.
3. The prayer is a barrier against future sins. It strengthens the spirit of faith within man and fosters the seedling of Taqwa (piety) within his heart. We know that faith and piety are the strongest barriers against sins and this is exactly what has been referred to in the verse as ‘keeping one away from indecency and evil’.
Similarly, we read in numerous traditions, that when the state of affairs of some sinning individuals was brought to the notice of the pure Imams, they said: “Don’t worry! The prayer shall reform them” and it did!
4. The prayer does away with heedlessness and negligence. The greatest tragedy for those journeying the path of truth is that they tend to forget the purpose of their creation and get drowned in the whirlpool of this material world and its ephemeral pleasures. But the prayer- since it is offered at regular intervals and five times a day – repeatedly warns man and causes him to bring to mind the purpose of his creation and reminds him of his place and position in this world. This, in itself, is a great bounty because man has in his possession a device which alerts him strongly, several times in the course of a day.
5. The prayer serves to shatter pride and egotism. In the course of a day, a man offers seventeen rak’at and in each of them, he places his forehead on the ground twice before Allah, considering himself to be a tiny entity before His greatness – rather, a zero in the presence of Infinity. He tears apart the curtains of arrogance and egotism and shatters his pride and superiority complex.
We can understand why Imam Ali (a.s), in that popular tradition in which the philosophy behind the various acts of worship of Islam have been explained, immediately after referring to faith, speaks about prayers and explains:
فَرَضَ اللٌّهُ الإِيْمَانَ تَطْهِيراً مِنَ الشِّرْكِ وَ الصَّلاَةَ تَنْزِيهاً عَنِ الْكِبْرِ
“Allah made faith obligatory in order to purify (the people) of polytheism, and the prayer, in order to clean (them) of pride.” (8)
To be continued!
NOTES:
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1. The Quran 29:45
2. Majma’ al-Bayan, under the discussion regarding verse 45 of Suratul ‘Ankabut.
3. Ibid.
4. The Quran 13:28
5. The Quran 20:14
6. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 82, pg. 200
7. Wasa`il ash-Shia, vol. 3, pg. 7 (Chapter 2 from The Chapters (regarding) the number of (obligatory) prayers, tradition 3)
8. Nahj al-Balagha, saying 252
