One of the essentials of prayer is having firm faith in
Allah. In situations in which one feels desperate, people feel no doubt
about Allah’s existence and His help. Yet a person ought also to feel
Allah’s existence, might and grandeur while praying during times of
ease. In fact, not only during prayer, but at every instant of daily
life, a believer should retain this awareness.
At every moment he must feel Allah’s existence and
closeness and pray, for only someone who is cognizant of Allah’s
existence acknowledges the meaning and importance of prayer. Prayer is
an intimate and personal bond between people and Allah. Through prayer,
people express all their troubles and wishes to Allah and implore Him to
assist them. In return, Allah answers His servants’ prayer.
Prayer in the Qur’anic sense can by no means be limited to a few rituals. As the verse “… remember Allah standing, sitting and lying on your sides.”
(An-Nisaa’ 4:103) maintains, one can bring Allah to mind and pray to
Him at any time and under all conditions, without necessarily performing
any particular ritual or ceremony. That is because what matters is not
the outward performance but one’s sincerity.
Misunderstanding this strips prayer of its actual meaning and causes
it to be perceived as a form of magic or spell. We can see this by the
superstitious practices of some ignorant people such as fastening
clothes to trees or blowing into water. It is well to remember that
superstition is the opposite of the Qur’anic rationale. Instead of
directly turning to Allah and asking for their needs from Him, these
ignorant people devise some superstitious rituals or symbols and pray
through these means. Meanwhile, they are unaware on whom they call. They
attribute supernatural power to those objects they pray to, yet they
fail to describe the nature of this power. This includes the
superstitious practice of visiting tombs and praying to the dead to ask
for help, whereas visiting tombs should be to remind us of death and the
power of Allah.
A believer who complies with Allah’s command which says, “Remember the Name of your Lord, and devote yourself to Him completely.” (Al-Muzzammil 73:8) turns to Allah alone, and submits and pleads to Him.
Striking a Balance between Hope and Fear While Praying
In the Qur’an, Allah refers to Himself as, “… the Most Merciful of the merciful…”
(Al-Anbiyaa’ 21: 83). It is also stated that, provided that one asks
for repentance, anyone who does evil will find Allah forgiving.
(An-Nisaa’ 4:110) For this reason, people must reflect upon this
attribute of Allah and pray with hope. No matter how serious an error a
person may have committed, and is in deep remorse over it, it is not a
reason for him or her to despair of Allah’s forgiveness. Thus, the state
of mind caused by erring and committing a sin must never become an
impediment for a prayer of hope for forgiveness, for Allah states in the
Qur’an that only disbelievers lose hope in Allah’s mercy:
We must remember that prayer is both an important duty towards Allah and a means that will help us attain our next lives.
… Do not despair of solace from Allah. No one despairs of solace from Allah except for people who disbelieve. (Yusuf 12:87)
In addition, no one is immune to punishment in Hell. Indeed Allah warns people against this, saying, “No one is safe from the punishment of his Lord.” (Al-Ma`arij
70:28) For this reason, everyone must fear Allah as much as he or she
can. Human beings, whose life is a test, are always vulnerable to
Satan’s cunning deceptions and are thus very likely to go astray and
turn away from the righteous path. Nobody is guaranteed a place in
Paradise. This makes a person fear failing to attain Allah’s good
pleasure, while hoping for Allah’s mercy.
Indeed, one of the attributes of a true believer that
distinguishes him from all others is his fear of Allah, since a
disbeliever doubts even the existence of Hell. Believers, however, are
fully cognizant of Hell’s existence, and they see it as a very serious
threat. Having an unswerving faith in the Day of Judgment, they feel the
greatest fear. Only a person who has faith in Allah and avoids
arrogance is influenced in her conduct by this fear: she feels no doubt
about the existence and severity of the torment of Hell, and never
assumes an attitude or behavior that may involve the risk of being
thrown into it. She only aspires to the life in the hereafter that
abounds with infinite beauty and makes every effort to distance herself
from torment. The fear a believer feels for the hereafter manifests
itself in his or her prayer.
That is why we find the concepts of fear and hope side
by side in the Qur’an. If a person fails to fear the torment of Hell
while praying, this is due to an essential failure of thinking and
comprehension. Just as how eagerly a person prays to attain Paradise, so
must he, for avoidance of Hell. In other words, through fear of Hell,
he hopes to attain Paradise. Some of the verses that mention this are as
follows:
Do not
corrupt the earth after it has been put right. Call on Him fearfully and
eagerly. Allah’s mercy is close to the good-doers. (Al-A`raf 7:56)
Their sides eschew their beds as they call on their Lord in fear and
ardent hope. And they give of what We have provided for them. (As-Sajda 32:16)
As is seen, fear and hope are the two essential feelings
that are proper to prayer as described in the Qur’an. In fact, a
careful scrutiny of the Qur’an reveals the vital importance these two
concepts represent for all forms of worship and in every instant of
one’s life.
We must remember that prayer is both an important duty
towards Allah and a means that will help us attain our next lives, for
in the Qur’an Allah states that the end of those who fail to offer
prayers to Allah will be the eternal torment in Hell.
Your Lord says, “Call on Me and I will answer you. Those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell abject”. (Ghafir 40:60)
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The article was
first published in Harun Yahya’s book: Prayer in the Qur’an. Here taken
with kind permission from www.harunyahya.com.
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