Most people pray ritualisticly, worshipping Allah SWT. In Islam, prayer is much more than this…. The Two Parts To prayer.
In the name of Allah most Beneficient ever Merciful
Our Holy Prophet Muhammad (Salallahu Alayhe Wa-Aalihi Wasallam) has said in a ‘Hadis e Qudsie’ that there are two parts to ‘Surah Fatihah’… one belongs to Allah and consists of praises to Him while the second part is for us which consists of us making of a ‘dua’ – (prayer). Al Hadis 3:34:12:222.
In other words, The first part is about worshipping Allah SWT and the second part is about us seeking Allah’s aid or making a “dua”.
The first part is about praising Allah, the Creator of the Heavens and the earth, the most Merciful, The Owner of the Day of Judgement….
When we pray regularly then we will face a Great challenge. We must be careful not to get swollen headed and think that we are special because we pray.
Know that thinking that we are pious and trying to use this to create a name for ourselves is something that we would all most certainly feel and we need to overcome this greed of our carnal desires for recognition.
This is a very great sin which goes against the very spirit of this prayer. Instead of submission and humility we’re inculcating pride and superiority in ourselves by thinking in this manner. The hadith warns us that this secret greed for recognition as being pious will lead us to the Valley of grief which is the very worst part of hell. In this first part we must learn humility and submission,
What’s more is that such feelings of piety would hamper us from fulfilling the second part.
The second part:
To do full justice to our prayer, we also have to fulfill the second part as well which comes with a different set of challenges. The first part is like saying “I love you” and this second part is like having to to do, sometimes difficult things, to live up to the “I love you part”..
In this second part, Allah SWT firstly teaches us what to pray (ask) for. It’s not worldly comforts but He teaches us to seek His (Allah’s) Guidance so that we can fulfill the purpose of life, which is to fully develop ourselves especially our souls so as to eventually know Allah.
Allah SWT enlightens us further by telling us how we can get access to His guidance. He teaches us that His guidance can be attained by following His Chosen ones. We have to find a spiritual guide who will guide us on the straight path. And when we do, then we have to submit to him, love him and follow him. This is not easy and these are all life-long strivings that go far beyond the prayer mat…
This surah then goes on to teach us to also pray to be saved from those that misguide. This is a huge topic on its own and if we look into how people end up being misguided then we would realise that it’s happening all around us. Very few people are saved from misguidance.
Shaitaan is behind this misguidance and he is a formidable enemy. Only help from Allah SWT, through our spiritual guide, can save us from his misguidance.
So this second part amounts to a life time of striving. In fulfilling this second part, we end up growing our spirituality so as to become the enlightened beings that Allah SWT created us to be.
So, we see that ‘Salaah’ is not just a ritualistic, outer act of worship devoid of reason and logic but it is the start of a journey to unlocking or growing our spirituality. We must never be complacent with just ritualistic praying but we must always be searching for guidance that would lead us towards knowing our Creator or attaining ‘Emaan”.
In Ihya Uloom Ud Deen, Imaam Gazzali RA states that “it is essential to know soul and its attributes which is the root of religion. (Chapter – soul and its attributes)
“Salaah” is therefore, the gateway to attaining faith, attaining the answers to life and liberating ourselves from the shackles of our worldly desires, providing we do it correctly..
The important point that we’re trying to stress is that our prayer is not only about us worshipping our Creator five times a day. It’s not just about ritual prayer but our prayer is also about us seeking guidance by finding a spiritual guide, implementing all of Allah’s teachings into our lives and then developing our spirituality which would in turn help us to know our Creator better (attain ‘Emaan’.) So religion is something that should influence everything we do.
Most Muslims think that if they pray ritualistically, they have done their religious duty. As we can see, this is not so. Prayer must lead to improving our character and growing our spiritulity. Whats more, It is in growing our spirituality that we would expierience the true meaning of life.
Note: This article about prayer was based on the most important part of our five daily prayers, “Surah Al Fatiha”. This Surah is read in every cycle of prayer. The Holy Prophet Muhammad Salallahu Alayhe Wa-Aalihi Wasallam has said that this opening chapter of the Holy Qur’an is ‘Ummul Khitab’, the mother of the Book.
Visit our website : anjumanwm.co.za to read more content about Surah Al Fatiha, “salaah” in relation to other aspects of Islam in articles such as “Beyond The Five Pillars“ (tap link) and “Salaah The Complete Picture” .
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