Prayer...a personal thing....

Karima

Junior Member
Asalamualikum,

I am 'learning' the way to pray, accordiing to the way Muhammad instructed, through a 'Prayer' book. The words are both in English for me to understand, and also in Arabic.

When I get up for the Fajr prayer, I go through the wudu routine of washing, then go to the prayer mat, as instructed, while covererd.

It has been a couple of weeks that I have been going through these motions.

What I would like to ask is this: What do you experience during your prayer to Allah?

Please understand that prayer is very private, and this is not to pry into anyone's personal business.

I have been amazed at all the people who pray the same way, while watching the videos about the life of Islam. Do all these people at the same time have their hearts towards God/Allah....or do some do this out of just 'having' to do it?

I ask this, because coming from a different background than Islam, I did my prayers to God with my own words...and not a form to memorize. And my heart was in this towards God.

I would like to learn of your experiences while praying, because, for me, this is still strange to do, even though the words I read from the 'Prayer' book, are beautiful, and are towards Allah. It just is not the same for me as praying with my own words.

I would like it to be deeper for me when I do this form of prayer. This is why I am asking about this.

Forgive me for being 'slow' to catch on to this beautiful form of submission to Allah. I want so much to understand this better.

Sallam,
Kristina :)
 

Mabsoot

Amir
Staff member
Assalamu Alaykum,

When we pray to Allah the 5 obligatory prayers, we are doing an act of worship. This act of worship must be in accordance with the Quran and the Sunnah. The Prophet :saw: taught us how to do our prayers and what to read in them. There are many different prayers that we could choose to read, and of course we can pick and choose various Surah(chapters) and choose ayah (verses) from the Qur'an.

I have been amazed at all the people who pray the same way, while watching the videos about the life of Islam. Do all these people at the same time have their hearts towards God/Allah....or do some do this out of just 'having' to do it?

What someone feels in the prayer is indeed different for each person.
There are however, two things that one needs to understand that can have effect on how we do our prayers: Iman and Ihsan. Which inshaAllah will be explained.

A Muslim strives to pray with Ihsan, What is Ihsan? The Following Hadith, which is often called Hadith Jibreel. The Hadith of Gabriel, teaches us many lessons, and scholars of the past have written books simply explaining this one hadith. One of those lessons is about Ihsan.. i will put the beautiful hadith here for you to read:

Umar ibn Al Khattab (ra) said:
"One day we were sitting in the company of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when there appeared before us a man dressed in pure white clothes, his hair extraordinarily black. There were no signs of travel on him. None of us recognized him. He sat with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

Resting his knees against his and the palms of his hands on his thighs, he said, 'O Muhammad, tell me about Islam'.

The Messenger of Allah replied, 'Islam is to testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish the prayer, pay the zakat, observe the fast of Ramadan, and perform the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so'.
He said, 'You have spoken the truth,' and we were amazed at him asking and then verifying that he had spoken the truth. He then said, 'Inform me about Iman'.

He replied, 'It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and in the divine destiny of both good and evil'.

He said, 'You have spoken the truth'.

He then said, 'Tell me about Ihsan'.
He said, 'It is to worship Allah as if you see Him, for though you do not see Him, surely He sees you'.

He then said, 'Inform me about the Hour'.
He replied, 'The one who is asked knows no more than the one who is asking'.

He said, 'Tell me some of its signs'.
He said, 'That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress, and barefoot, destitute shepherds will compete with one another in the building of magnificent buildings'.
Then he (the questioner) went on his way but I stayed with him (the Prophet) for a long while. He said to me, 'Umar, do you know who this questioner was?'
I replied, 'Allah and His Messenger know best'.
He said, 'He was Gabriel. He came to instruct you in your religion'.''
(( hadith in bukhari))

Ihsan is highest level of worship. It is where we are concentrating and are focussed on our prayers, We pray with sincerity towards Allah as if we are infront of and can see Allah, however the Prophet :saw: said if we can not be in that state of mind, we should know that Allah can see us.

Having ihsan can make one to feel love, hope, trust and fear Allah more. And it increases the Iman (level of faith) a person has. So we can feel Allah's mercy and love for us, his believers.

The Prayer we have been talking about thus far is the (Salah). Salah is the 5 obligatory prayers that we do in the day.

Apart from these prayers there are also other forms of worship and prayer.

Dua - Supplication. After our prayers we can do Dua. Dua is when we pray and ask God for help by putting our hands infront of us with the palms facing up.


We can use our own words in this prayer. In this supplication we can use many of the names that Allah has shown us in the Quran, such as ar-Rahman (the Most beneficent) ar-Raheem (the most merciful) .. al a'la (most high) ... al Khaliq (the creator).... al Wahab (the bestower) .

We glorify Allah and speak to Allah directly in it.

So, you can use your own words :) but, only in certain forms of worship. Such as the supplication which was explained briefly above.


Wasalam.
 

zarah

Islam
Staff member
Assalamu Alaikum

:bismillah:

:salam2:

:ma: brother Mabsoot,they were well explained.

May Allah(Swt) reward you for your efforts!:)

May Allah(Swt) guide us all to the straight path and protect us from evil. (Ameen):biggrin:

Jazzak-Allah khair for the question(sister Kristina) and the answer(brother Mabsoot)

:wasalam: :)
 

Karima

Junior Member
Asalamualikum,

Yes, thank you for a very clear explaination to this. I hope it can help others as well as it has done for me to understand better what is going on during the prayers.

This is an answer to my prayer this morning. Alhamdulillah for your well-written response.

Sallam,
Kristina
 
:salam2:
Fist, i have to say that Salat (prayer) is part of IMANE belief and in IMANE there are degree al-IMANO DARAJATE i.e. Belief is degrees and as brother Ameer explained IHSANE is the highest level of worship.

Now i will not give an answer about the purpose of Salat etc. but i will give a short answer about the act of memorizing one ayah, one surah etc.
Every one who wants to pray must learn al-FATIHA (the first surah of the Quran) in all Raka'ates plus one small different surah in the two first Raka'ates : for example in Dohur in each of 2first Raka'ates we learn al-FATIHA+small surah (the first small surah must be different of the second for example The unity al-IKEHLASS in the first RAKA'A after al-FATIHA and The Dawn (al-FALAQQ) in the second Raka'a after al-FATIHA, and in the 2others RAKA'ATES we learn only al-FATIHA.
Or for example in MAGHREB in each of the two first RAKA'ATES we learn al-Fatiha+small surah and in the third and last RAKA'A we learn only al-FATIHA.
Because the prophet :saw: said that who did not learn al-FATIHA in his/her prayer it will not be accepted from him/her.
HOWEVER, some people eventhough they spoke arabic language they could not learn and memorise a small surah like al-Ikhelass (The unity) or even al-FATIHA, then they asked the prophet :saw: for this.
The prophet :saw: told to those people, who asked him, to do as he told to them to recite al-Fatiha+small surah but they asked him that they couldn't, then he told to them to learn just one Ayah (i.e. a small sentence from the Quran) from any surah but they asked for less; in that moment the prophet :saw: asked them to invoke Allah in their prayer temporarily by dua' (small words) that they knew if they couldn't memorize even one Ayah.
But the prophet :saw: encouraged them, with time, to try to learn by heart al-Fatiha and one small surah or Ayah like : The unity (al-Ikhlass) OR The Dawn (al-Falaqq).

Wa Allaho A'lam Allah knows best
 

haadii

New Member
I would share with you by how i always feel when in prayer

Kristina said:
Asalamualikum,

Yes, thank you for a very clear explaination to this. I hope it can help others as well as it has done for me to understand better what is going on during the prayers.

This is an answer to my prayer this morning. Alhamdulillah for your well-written response.

Sallam,
Kristina

Whenever there prayers to do or even doing dzikir(remembrance)to the Lord, I always have that strange feeling inside me which hard to explain what actually is . I feel and breathe something strange cool air go through my heart and it beautiful to feel more and more. Seem like I communicating to something but I still don't know what it is and had happened since I started to do dzikir in the heart for non stop almost more than three months. No matter what is it, I feel great with that beauty of feel whenever I doing prayers, dzikir and good deeds, make myself continuously to do good things in Islam for the LORD.
 

zarah

Islam
Staff member
Assalamu Alaikum

:bismillah:

:salam2:

:jazaak: brother Adil for sharing.

May Allah(Swt) reward you for your efforts.:)

:wasalam:
 

Karima

Junior Member
Asalamualikum,

To all who have posted on this: the guidance you have shared I thank Allah...because they are from your hearts, and from the knowledge that Allah has blessed you with.

Sallam,
Kristina
 
Assalamo Alaikoum
You are welcome sister Kristina and thank you for you too for all your posts:)
Allah says in Surah al-Baqqarah the Cow N°2 verse 286:
Allah does not impose upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability; for it is (the benefit of) what it has earned and upon it (the evil of) what it has wrought: Our Lord! do not punish us if we forget or make a mistake; Our Lord! do not lay on us a burden like that which You did lay on those before us, our Lord! Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Pardon us and grant us Forgiveness. Have mercy on us
salam
 

Emelianenko

New Member
One thing which i was also advised, before prayer if you have time, sit down and contemplate. Contemplate on the ahadith on the virtues of prayer, contemplate on the greatness of Allah swt and who you are about to present urself before. Try learning the meanings of the Surah Fatihah etc so you know what you are saying to Allah swt. Also never being content and wanting to improve even more is a good sign. Theirs a saying "One who is content with their Imaan and Islam, this is a sign of the beginning of the decline of their Imaan and Islam".


Abu Hurairah RA narrates: the Holy Messenger said, "Almighty Allah says that I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant. Half of it is for Me and half for MY servant and I give whatever he asks me for. When the servant says 'All praise is for the Lord of the universe,' Allah replies, 'My servant is grateful to me' When he says, 'Most Gracious, Most Merciful,' Allah says 'My servant has praised Me.' When he says 'Master of the Day of Judgement, ‘Allah says, "My servant has exalted Me' When the servant says, 'You do we worship and Your help do we seek,' Allah says This portion is shared between Me and My servant. I bestow whatever he asks.' When he says,' Guide me to the straight path, the path of those whom You blessed, not of those who earned Your anger or went astray.' Allah says, 'This is for My servant and bestow what he has asked for." (Muslim)
 
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