Most Muslims do their Salat or daily prayers today strictly as a ritual and in doing so they miss to understand the essence of the concept of Salat. Judging from the content of the Salat and the action of most Muslims it is not wrong to deduce that they do not know the purposes of their commitment as most of them do not even understand what they are saying in their Salat. God admonishes those who do their Salat without understanding as of those being intoxicated:
S4:43 O ye who believe! Approach not prayers (Salat) with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say….
To understand what one has to say in the Salat it is proper to understand the purposes of Salat so as one can opt with the right recitation from the Qur’an
to establish one’s own Salat. Below is a list of the various purposes of establishing the daily obligatory prayers from the Qur’an
To acknowledge God’s presence by Remembrance
In the Qur’an there are many verses regarding establishing the Salat but more than not the Salat will normally be accompanied by the command to pay the zakat or alms. In Islam this goes hand in hand because if one pays only the alms and does not establish the obligatory prayers or Salat he will not enter the kingdom of heaven as he does not acknowledge the existence and the presence of God Almighty.
There is no denial that some of the atheists do good deeds in this world by giving charity to the poor, caring for the old aged, they feed them a good meal and clean their toilet but since they refused to acknowledge the presence or the existence of God, they are actually a people arrogance who thought that they can exist in this world without the help and grace of God Almighty and thus it is only fair that they will not be rewarded of paradise for their arrogance.
Similarly, if one establishes the Salat and does not pay the zakat he will also not be rewarded to the kingdom of heaven as he does not acknowledge the presence of the poor and the needy to be helped. God who provided them with good provision and good health expects them to return by serving Him in helping others who are in need. Both duties must be done as a duty to God to help others who are in need and at the same time to worship God as He had ordained in His guidance.
But as Muslims we believe in the Unseen God, we believed in His Book the Qur’an to establish the Salat and to pay the dues of the fruits we have harvested.
S20:14 “Verily I am God: there is no god but I so, worship Me and establish Salat for My remembrance.”
S6:155 And this is a Book which We have revealed as a blessing: so, follow it and be righteous, that ye may receive mercy.
Being humility by calling on God
As a servant it is a duty one has to do to call on the Master as we are not independence of Him and He reminds us to call on Him and implore the good things in this world for our sustenance and show our humility to Him and in return He will respond as He reassured us:
S2:186 And when My servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close to them: I listen to the call of prayer of every suppliant when he calls on Me: let them also with a will, listen to My call and believe in Me: that they may walk in the right way.
S7:155 Call on your Lord with humility and in private: for God love not those who trespass beyond bounds.
The humility is not only in action of standing, bow to prostrate but also in reciting words of humility when we surrender to Him in our prayers.
Glorify him with His good names and celebrate his Praises
The Names of God in the Qur’an have special meaning and in essence it gives the attributes of God. And His good Names are to be called upon and He is to be glorified by celebrating His Praise when performing the Salat.
The commands to call by His names and to praise Him:
S87:14-15 Prosperous is he who purifies himself, and glorifies the Name of his Lord and then performs Salat.
S50:40 And during the night celebrate His praise and after the posture of prostration.
S55:78 Blessed be the name of thy Lord, full of Majesty, Bounty and Honor.
S7:180 The most beautiful names belong to God, so call on Him by them, but shun such men as use profanity in His Names: for what they do, they will soon be requited.
To magnify God in salat
Salat is to magnify God and to extol Him by expressing His attribute as the Greatest.
The command in the Qur’an to call upon Him in a moderate tone when doing the salat.
S17:110-111 “Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name ye call upon Him, (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Neither speaks thy Salat aloud, nor speaks it in a low tone, but seek a middle course between.”
“Praise be to Allah, who begets no son, and has no partner in (His) dominion: Nor needs He any to protect Him from humiliation”; yea, magnify Him for His greatness and glory!”
S56:74 Then celebrate with praises the name of your Lord, The Supreme!
S57:1-3 Whatever is in the heavens and the earth let it declare the Praises and Glory of God: for He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise. To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: it is He Who gives life and death; and He has power over all things. He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent: and He has full knowledge of all things.
Make repentance in the Salat on our wrongdoings
God created mankind to worship Him but by characteristic we are a weak creature and are exposed not only to the influence of the Devil but also to the whisper of our own soul that can suggest evil action against what have been taught in the Qur’an. Even the Prophets were not free from sin and none of them were free from making repentance to God and even the Prophet Muhammad (AS) during his lifetime also made his mistake to God as proven by these verses in the Qur’an:
S66:1 – O Prophet! Why do you prohibit what God has made lawful to you? You seek to please your consorts. But God is All forgiving,
As a prophet the test was greater and he had many experiences because of many events that happened during his times, the Prophet was all the time constantly seeking forgiveness and making repentance to God.
And Allah is ever forgiving and some of the examples the prophet did to seek the grace of God:
S4:105-106 We have sent down to thee (Muhammad) the Book in truth, that thou might judge between men as guided by God: so be not used as an advocate by those who betrayed their trust; but seek the forgiveness of God; for God is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.
S40:55 Patiently, then, persevere: for the Promise of Allah is true: and ask forgiveness for thy fault, and celebrate the Praises of thy Lord in the evening and in the morning.
Only to God is true Prayer (Salat)
True prayer is only for the love of God, the reference must also mean it is our responsibility to do the prayers constantly irrespective whether the situation of our life is good and happy or arduous. By keeping constantly in touch with Him as in good times we express words of gratitude and at more difficult times we seek with words asking His solace and His mercy. He will certainly not forsake to answer our prayer if it is done with the right intention in actions and words and be constantly in contact with Him. However, most of us engage in prayers only when we are in trouble.
S41:51 And when We bestow a blessing on mankind, he turns away and withdraws himself aside, but when evil afflicts him, he is full of prolonged prayers.
S10:12 And when mankind is afflicted, he calls upon Us, laying on his side, or sitting or standing, but when We remove his affliction from him, he passes on as if he had never called upon Us when affliction besets him. Thus do the deeds of the transgressors seem fair in their eyes?
Seeking help against Satan and whisper from our own dark Souls
Our souls are not only exposed to the influence and evil suggestions of the Devil but we are also exposed to the suggestions of our own soul to do evil. The Devil sworn to God he will entice mankind to deviate from the right path. He was subjugated by his dark soul when he became arrogant by disobeying God’s command to prostrate to Adam. He failed the test and disobeyed God’s command not because of anyone’s influence but only because of his ego and he was never repentance but instead continue to pledge to divert mankind to follow his evil path and to become astray from the guidance of the Qur’an:
S15:39 Iblis said: “O my Lord! Because you have me astray, I shall make evil alluring to them and I shall lead them all astray; except Your devoted servants among them.
Likewise, without the influence of the Devil and anyone else, men still have the freedom of choice to follow the suggestions of their good souls to take the guidance indicated in God’s Book or to follow the ego of their souls which are prone to evil. Pharaoh is an example of an arrogance soul claiming himself to be God in defiance of the True God –
S28:38-39 And Pharaoh said: “O Chiefs, I do not know of any god for you other than myself, burn for me bricks of clay, O Haman, and build for me a tower, that I may climb up to the God of Moses, for I consider him to be a liar.” And Pharaoh and his soldiers were unjustly arrogant and proud of the land, and they deemed that they should never return to Us.
From the people of Moses, a person named Samiri, is another example when he made an idol in the shape of a calf diverting his people from worshipping the true God. The same error is shown by one of the two sons of Adam who was deluded not by the Devil but by his own selfish interest that leads him to killing his brother. Both verses described the characters respectively:
S20:95-96 Moses said: “And what do you have to say O Samiri? He replied: “I saw what the people did not see, and I grasped a handful of dust from the footprint of the apostle and cast it into it, thus my soul prompted me.”
S5:30 Then his soul prompted him to kill his brother and he killed him, and became among the losers.
When there arises a feeling of disturbing suggestion on the soul then seek the help of God to recite in the Salat:
S23:97-98 “O my Lord! I seek refuge with thee from the suggestions of the Evil Ones. And I seek refuge with thee my Lord from their presence.
S7:23 “Our Lord, we have wronged our own souls, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall certainly be among the losers.
We were commanded to pray for provision in this world and to be rewarded paradise in the next World
One of the purposes to perform the Salat is to ask provision from God for this world and paradise in the hereafter. Although we are created to toil to earn our living for provision to sustain and maintain our families, there is no guarantee that we will surely achieve what we aimed for. But through prayer there is hope, and hope is a strong tool in expecting patiently and waiting for His mercy:
S4:32 And in no wise covet those things in which God has bestowed His gift more freely on some of you than on others: to men is allotted what they earn and to women what they earn: But ask God of His bounty; for God has full knowledge of all things.
S20:132 Enjoin Salat on your family and be constant therein. We ask you not for provision, but We provide you. And the hereafter is for the pious.
God is the Provider for our sustenance, it is Him that feeds us but He is not fed. It is not only the provision of this world we are to beg on Him but beg even for the good of the hereafter.
S25:15-16 Say: “Is this better, or the Eternal Gardens, promised to the pious, and that is their reward and destiny for they shall have what they please and dwell there forever; it is a promise to be prayed for from your Lord.”
S26:85 And Abraham prayed for the Garden saying “Make me one of the inheritors of the Garden of Bliss.
S2:155-156 Be sure We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere, who say, when afflicted with calamity: “To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return”.
The content of our Salat expresses our true intention in term of actions and words as we take the guidance from the Qur’an. We have the right of choice to put the appropriate words that reflect our current situation in humble supplication and put forward for God in our Salat the words of our repentance and of words of praise and glorification on Him.
Pondering with Saifuddin's index 