Prayer in Islam - Research Paper Example

? Prayer in Islam Prayer is that spiritual communication to God or an object that is being worshiped, it is making a petition to God, an object of worship or a god. Throughout history prayer has been in practice in different religions all over the world. Prayer has different meanings and practices around the world where there is the use of postures like kneeling, walking and bowing the head which is seen as a way of showing devotion. In some places prayer involves asking for forgiveness, praise and worship and thanks giving. Some religions have a certain or standard way of praying, for example, the Lord’s Prayer which is often said by a group of worshipers. Islam is based on the five pillars which are the foundation of the Islamic life. The first pillar is the I-man or faith where Muslims believe in the oneness of Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger. This declaration or Shahada is the believe that serving and obeying Allah is the only purpose one has in their life and this is normally achieved through the teachings and practices of Prophet Muhammad. Prayer is the second pillar which involves declaring a testimony of faith. Prayer in Muslim is seen to be important since it is a way of worshiping and establishing a close relationship with Allah who is the creator. It is seen as way of acknowledgement ones weakness and need to ask for Devine grace, forgiveness, mercy and abundance which is believed to be of interest to every Muslim. Prayer in Islam is referred to as Salat and is believed to have been made a mandatory obligation by Allah for every Muslim to follow it as per the Hadith where Prophet Muhammad was asked, “which of the actions is best?” And he replied that it is observing prayer early in its period (Abu Dawud 2: 426). This can also be seen where Prophet Muhammad said that prayer is a pillar of the religion (Islam) and the one who establishes it establishes the religion and he who destroys it destroys religion (Tabrani). It is also believed that there are benefits when one has established salat which include; that feeling of spiritual joy where one enters in a private conversation with Allah with sincere humbles that also one gains peace of the heart and tranquility from prayer. Prayer is also believed to be able to prevent one from all immoral or sinful deeds and strengthens the relationship and bond between Muslims, that bond of unity and love. Prayer breaks all differences that exist among Muslims because every individual prays at the same time, facing the same direction and this can also be seen when all Muslims gather together in Mosques to pray and listen to sermons. Prayer involves certain body movement while reciting passages of the Quran and consists of defined movements and recitations of passages of the Quran. For the Muslim community prayers can be done in any place that is considered to be clean; however, it is believed that prayers done from a mosque will bring 27 times more blessings. Muslims believe that when one begins a prayer session, they should not stop until they are through but there is an exception, for example, in a situation where a woman sees her child in danger, she can save her child while reciting the prayer as per the teachings of the Quran [2:239] "Under unusual circumstances, one may pray while walking or even riding. Once one is safe, one shall commemorate God as He taught them what they never knew."   There are several pre-requisites to make a prayer valid which include; the prayer time where prayers have to be during the specific times of the day. Mosques normally help the congregation note the prayer time through the Adan or call to prayer which translates to; God is the greatest (x 3) I confirm that there is no one worthy of worship except God (x2) I testify that Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of God (x2) Come for prayer (x2) Come for success (x2) God is the greatest (x2) there is no one worthy of worship except God. Pre-requisites in making a prayer valid also include the purification rituals or Taharah which have to be followed so as to remove all kinds of impunities. The body must be clean from any kind of impunity before praying (Glasse?, Cyril, and Huston Smith 35). Another pre-requisite is covering oneself where it is important for men to cover their knees and navel. Quran 7: says "Muslims should take their adornment by covering themselves by wearing clean cloths while praying". Another pre-requisite is for one for facing Mecca while praying. According to the Quran 2:144, the teaching teaches people to face the direction of al-Masjid al Haraam which are in Mecca while praying and also as per the teachings in the Quran [2:150] "Wherever you go, during Salat you turn your face towards the Sacred Mecca wherever you may be, you shall turn your faces to face it". This is believed that it will help in expressing a direct contact with God without the use of intermediaries. Women are not allowed to pray while they are in their menstrual period they are exempted from praying until the end of the period. Prayer is performed five times a day where each prayer has a set movements referred to as a rakah. It is the obligation of every Muslim who reaches puberty to follow this where Puberty is determined by the change in the physical appearance of an individual like pubic hair and by reaching the age of 15. Prayer is performed at different times of the day. The first one being performed before sunrise and is referred to as the down prayer or Salat-ul-Fair which includes two units or rakas. The second prayer is the noon prayer or Salat-ul-Zuhr which is performed when the sun begins to set and consists of four units or rakas. The afternoon prayer or SA la t-ul-Asr is the third prayer which is normally performed between noon and sunset and has four rakas. The sunset prayer or Salat-ul-Maghrib is normally performed immediately after sunset which consists of three units. The final prayer is the night prayer of Salat-ul-Isha that is normally performed before mid night and consists of four units. Muslims believe that missing any one of this prayer is a sin and should be recovered as soon as possible and they are also advised to avoid delaying prayers. Muslims also have a Friday afternoon prayer which is the one time that a Muslim is expected to come together and listen to sermons in the mosques. Men come together and sit with their legs crossed or they kneel on their prayer carpet while the Khatib who is the preacher gives a fifteen to thirty minutes sermon. There are also monthly prayers, for example, those done during the holy month of Ramadan when the Muslims are fasting. While praying the first step is to stand, rising both of their hands and tips of the fingers need to be parallel with the individual’s ears or shoulders and the palms should face upwards. This should be done while proclaiming that Allah is great. The second step is to place both hands on the chest area while standing with the right hand being placed over the left hand. This should be done while one is saying that they seek refuge with Allah from Satan. The next step is to recite the Surat al- faith which mainly consists of praising Allah and asking for mercy. The forth step involves reciting a chapter in the Quran; this is mainly for the first or second rakar. For the third and forth rakar or unit, only the recitation of faith is required. The fifth step is to proclaim that Allah is great while standing as per the first step. In the sixth step one has to bow and glorify Allah, this is done three times. After this one has to come up to a standing position while saying that Allah listens to the one who praises him. The eighth step is to stand with the hands by the side while glorifying Allah. This is followed by getting in a prostration position with the nose and forehead touching the ground or mat and the palms should be put down with fingers put together. The knees need to be on the floor and the toes upright. After this one is required to be in a sitting position, sitting the left thigh, with the right foot in an upright position. The hands need to be placed on the knees and the toes of the right foot should face Qiblah. Finally one has to get back to the prostration position again and glorify Allah. These steps complete the first step; the final step includes standing from the prostration position while glorifying Allah, then repeating the third to eleventh steps from the first unit. After this, one gets to a sitting position to recite the faith while raising the index figure of the right hand. To complete a prayer one has to turn the head to an individual’s right side then to the left side while giving peace and this is called Tasleem. There are two sect of Islam; these are the Sunni and the Shiets sect. The Sunni are referred that way since they follow the saying or doing of Prophet Muhammad while the Shiets on the other hand follow the Ali ibin abi Talib who is the prophet’s cousin. The difference in the two sects can be seen their way of praying, although both sects use a small rag or carpet when performing a prayer and they both bend and kneel the Sunni touch their foreheads to the ground or carpet but the Shiets touch their foreheads to a small stone which is called turba and is normally from the holy city of Najaf. Another difference in their prayer style if that the Sunni, during prayer keep their arms one folded over another below the rib cage but the Shiets keep their arms down. There are also differences in the times in which the two sects perform their prayers where the Shiets perform prayers minutes before the Sunnis. This also extend to there fasting time where during Ramadan, they celebrate the ‘Id one day or two apart. When looking at praying places, for both sects women are expected to pray at home, however, whereas Sunni men pray in mosques that have domes and minarets the Shiites pray often in Husseiniya which do not have domes or minarets. Even though the Shiites do prayers five times a day like the Sunni, they combine the second and the third prayer, the fourth and the fifth prayers together which make them look as if they do three prayers a day. However, these prayer times vary according to the time of the year and the location. Before performing a prayer Muslims must perform purification rituals this is referred to as Taharah which involves the removal of filth or najas and the performance of ablution. In the Islamic culture there are some things which are regarded as being filthy which include things like feces, urine, pus, vomit and blood, and which need to be removed before prayer. To clean off filthy substances, one should, for example, pour water after cleaning oneself with a tissue paper after urinating and should be done in the area where there was urine so as to remove any trace of the urine. There are ablutions which are obligations that a Muslim should perform before praying. Ablution is also referred to as Wudu and involves washing all parts of the body which are exposed to dust, smog or dirt as it is believed that an individual should be in a good shape and be in a pure condition. These elements include washing of the face that involves cleansing of the nostrils and rinsing of the mouth with water which is done three times or if it is possible, it is however encouraged to brush the mouth instead. Washing the faces is normally done from the forehead to the chin by using both hands. Ablution also includes washing hands including the elbows three times and then wiping the whole head inclusive of the ears once. Finally there is the washing of the feet inclusive of the heels three times starting with the right foot. These are as per the teaching in the Quran [5:6] “To those who believe, when observing salat one should wash their faces, their arms to the elbows, should wipe your heads, and wash their feet to the ankles. If one was sick or in a journey or had any digestive excretion, or had sexual contact with the woman and cannot find water, they should observe Tayammum by touching clean dry soil, then rubbing their faces and hand.”. It is also advised that during ablution, there should be utterances that glorify Allah. Once this is finished, one is considered to be ready for prayers (Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah 29). In cases where something happens that invalidates ablution like loosing consciousness or getting in contact with a person of the opposite sex, a new ablution should be performed. If this happens during prayer one should stop praying and perform ablution again before praying again. Before performing a prayer, there are requirements involving the dress code where for men, they must wear loose close which should not be transparent and should cover the front and back. The cloths should also cover the knees, shoulders and navel. Women are also required to wear loose cloths, covering the whole body and the cloths should also not be transparent. This way of dressing is so as to ensure there is no form of impunity during prayer in the clothing, body or place of prayer. There are obligatory and recommended prayers in Islamic culture where the obligatory prayers are those which a mandatory to every Muslim. These mostly include the five daily prayers which a Muslim has to perform without any delay (Fisher and Mary 19). The recommended prayers which are meant to complement the less perfect obligatory prayers. One of the recommended prayers is the night prayer in Ramadan. There are also the Sunan-ur-Rawaatib prayers which are recommended in order to get extra reward. They are used to make up for faults during the obligatory prayers. These prayers can be done at any time other than between when the sun has reached its zenith until when it set or after the afternoon prayer until when the sun sets and also after the down prayer until when the sun has raised a spear’s length. Another recommended prayer is one just before leaving for a trip which is the du’a or prayer which is meant to honor Allah and ask for his protection. The prayer when translated to English is; “In the name of Allah, and Praise be to Allah. Glory to Allah, who made this journey possible for us. And unto our Lord we shall return”. Muslims are also encouraged by the scriptures to appreciate everything around them and to acknowledge that Allah created them and sustains them, "Allah is He, who created the sun, the moon, and the stars governed by laws under His commandment." Quran 7:54 “It is Allah who created the night and day and the sun and moon. All (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its orbit. (Quran 21:33) “The sun and the moon follow courses precisely computed”. Quran 55:05 In the acknowledgement of his favors Muslims are recommended to make the salatul-kusuf prayer during the solar and lunar eclipse in a congregation. Muslims are recommended to give thanks to Allah for all their blessings by reciting simple phrases repeatedly to give thanks and glory to Allah and use the sobha which are prayer beads in most cases to help them keep track on the number of repetitions. After the death of prophet Muhammad Abu Bakr was chosen as khalif. He practiced prayer by uniting Muslims who had started disagreeing after the death of Prophet Muhammad and by collecting and preserving the texts of the Quran. He liked helping the poor and secures freedom for many Muslim slaves and through his faith, genius and excellent leadership he was able to preserve unity among the Muslims. He was the primary Khalif who gave instructions on how to recite the secret Kalima as a means of purification of the heart. Another khalif was Umar who was chosen after the death of Abu Bakr (rar). He put efforts in establishing justice and showed his dedication to practice prayer through his devotion to the moral teaching to the Quran and treated every individual equally despite their ranks. He introduced the art of folding hands while standing during prayers and thus introduced the science of Hadith. After Umar (ra), Uthman (ra) was chosen as khalif between 644 and 656. He had an excellent memory of the Quran and the hadiths. Ali (ra) followed and he is well known for his achievement in establishing education for Muslims. He gave a detailed description of Islamic prayer. These are the five compulsory prayers of the day.     Work Cited Rafiabadi. World Religions and Islam: A Critical Study. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2003. Print. Khalifa and Rashad. Quran: The Final Testament; Authorized English Version, with the Arabic Text. Fremont, CA: Universal Unity, 2001. Print. Glasse?, Cyril, and Huston Smith: The New Encyclopedia of Islam; Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2001. Print. Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah W. Islam. Oxford [U.K.: Heinemann, 1995. Print. Fisher, Mary P. Living Religions: An Encyclopedia of the World's Faiths. London: I.B. Tauris, 1997. Print. Cornell, Vincent J. Voices of Islam. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 2007. Print. Read More