What are the requirements of the Prayer? What are the common mistakes that people practice when they offer the Prayer? What are the things that affect the validity of the Prayer? How should a Muslim perfect his ablution?

Watch this episode of the Prophet’s Prayer series presented by Dr. Muhammad Salah on Huda TV to know the answer to these questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2ClnCrg38

Requirements That Make the Prayer Valid

What do Muslims say in the bowing and prostration positions? Is the second Rak`ah different from the first one?

Step by Step Guide to Prayer (2)

True worship comes through humility of the soul.

By Jinan Bastaki

When we recite the Qur’an, we know we should have khushu` (devotion) because we are reciting the words of Allah. When we go into sujud (prostration), we know that God answers our du`a’ (supplication), so we try hard to concentrate. Yet what do we feel when we go into ruku` (bowing)?

Fulfilling the Needs of the Soul

We all have certain daily needs. A parent cannot wait to get home from work to embrace their children, and even if the children are asleep, the parent will give them a kiss just to fill that space. When we feel hunger, we sometimes become tired and cranky until we eat.

Just like we have emotional and physical needs, we also have spiritual needs. The soul thirsts for the worship of God. Many people feel an emptiness, and try to fill it with other things. But just like a hungry person cannot satisfy his hunger by running—we would find that absurd—this spiritual thirst cannot be fulfilled except through the true worship of God.

Humility through Ruku`

True worship comes through humility of the soul, and ruku` represents a part of that. One of the Arabs, Hakim bin Hizam, when accepting Islam, told the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he would fulfill all of the commandments except ruku` during Prayer because of the humility it involved.

Thus when we go into ruku`, we should make a conscious effort to make the straightening of our backs, the lowering of our heads, and the uttering of “subhan rabbiya al-`azheem” (Perfect is my Lord, the Supreme) a reflection of our internal state.

When we say “subhaan rabbiya al-`azheem,” we are disassociating Almighty Allah from anything. “Rabb,” as with many other words, does not just have one meaning—rabb means the Lord, the Sustainer, and the Cherisher. When we think of what we have—the clothes we wear, our wealth, our health, our loved ones—who has provided them? So, how can we not humble ourselves to our Lord? And how can we not feel a special closeness to Him—that He is my Lord?

Glorifying Allah, the Supreme

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:  “In the ruku`, therefore, glorify the Supremity of the Lord, Mighty and Sublime.” (Muslim)

When you recognize the supremity of Almighty Allah, and the words are reflected in your heart, you should then have reverence for everything associated with Him. Almighty Allah has said in the Qur’an:

And whoever honors the symbols of Allah—indeed, it is from the piety of hearts. (Al-Hajj 22:32)

Thus, reverence during ruku` is from piety of the heart and we should all strive to perfect it. Ibn Al-Qayyim, a medieval Muslim scholar, stated that the ruku` is almost an introduction to sujud, when we take one form of humility before Almighty Allah to a deeper level. This effort that goes into feeling humility in ruku` can only increase our love for Him, and is one way of manifesting the meanings in the famous hadith qudsi:

“If my servant comes closer to Me a hand span, I come closer to him or her an arms-length; and if he or she comes to Me walking, I come to him or her at speed.” (Muslim)

As we increase in good deeds to grow closer to Almighty Allah, He loves us, and what more could we want than Allah’s love? This is why the Prophet would lengthen his ruku`, such that his ruku`, his standing after ruku`, his sujud, and his sitting in between the two prostrations, were nearly equal in length (Al-Bukhari & Muslim).

Bear in mind that his ruku` was also almost as long as his standing before ruku`, where he would sometimes recite five sections (ajza’). (Muslim)

Muslim bin Makki once described `Abdullah bin Al-Zubair  (may Allah be pleased with him) as he was praying. He said that he saw him go into ruku`, and in that time, Muslim read chapters Al-Baqarah, Aal `Imran, An-Nisaa’ and Al-Ma’idah, and `Abdullah bin Al-Zubair was still in ruku`.

Some of us may be inspired by this, but others of us may think, “I can never reach this level,” and not even try. However, let us remember the hadith above about servants who try to move closer to Almighty Allah by as little as a hand span—as long as we are trying to change the state of our Prayers, we have fulfilled this part of the hadith.

May Allah allow us to taste the sweetness of ruku`.

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This article first appeared at suhaibwebb.com. It is republished with slight editorial modifications.

Jinan Bastaki is a graduate of the LSE and currently resides in the Gulf.

Ruku`: The Internal Component

In this four-part series, Sheikh `Abdul-Hadi explains all rulings related to the performance of Prayer, such as the intention, the initial takbir, standing, and reciting Al-Fatiha and other verses. Watch this video to be knowledgeable about this key obligation.

Prayer In Focus

Prayer: Life's Forgotten Purpose

By Yasmin Mogahed

Man has taken many journeys throughout time. But there is one journey that nobody has ever taken. Nobody—except one.

On a vehicle no man has ever ridden, through a path no soul has ever seen. To a place no creation has ever before set foot. It was the journey of one man to meet the Divine. It was the journey of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to the highest heaven. It was al-Israa’ wal-Miraaj (the magnificent journey).

On that journey Almighty Allah took his beloved Prophet to the seventh heaven—a place not even angel Jibreel could enter. In the Prophet’s mission on earth, every instruction, every commandment was sent down through angel Jibreel. But, there was one commandment that was not. There was one commandment so important, that rather than sending angel Jibreel down with it, Allah brought the Prophet up to Himself.

That commandment was Salah (Prayer). When the Prophet was first given the command to pray, it was to be fifty times in a day. After asking Allah to make it easier, the commandment was eventually reduced to five times a day, with the reward of the fifty.

Reflecting upon this incident, scholars have explained that the process of going from fifty to five was a deliberate one, intended to teach us the true place Prayer should hold in our lives. Imagine for a moment actually praying fifty times a day. Would we be able to do anything else but pray? No. And that’s the point. What greater way than that to illustrate our life’s true purpose? As if to say, Prayer is our real life; all the rest that we fill our day with… just motions.

And yet, we live as if it’s exactly the opposite. Prayer is something we squeeze into our day, when we find time—if that. Our ‘lives’ don’t revolve around Prayer. Prayer revolves around our ‘lives.’ If we are in class, Prayer is an afterthought. If we are at the mall, the Macy’s sale is more urgent. Something is seriously wrong when we put aside the very purpose of our existence in order to watch a basketball game.

And that is for those who even pray at all. There are those who have not only put aside their life’s purpose, they have abandoned it completely. What we often don’t realize about the abandonment of Prayer is this: No scholar has ever held the opinion that committing fornication makes you a disbeliever. No scholar has ever held the opinion that stealing, drinking or taking drugs makes you a disbeliever. No scholar has even claimed that murder makes you a non-Muslim. But, about Prayer, some scholars have said he who abandons it, is no longer Muslim. This is said based on a hadith such as this one: “The covenant between us and them is Prayer, so if anyone abandons it, he has become a disbeliever.” (Ahmad)

Imagine an act so egregious that the Prophet would speak about it in such a way. Consider for a moment what Satan did wrong. He didn’t refuse to believe in Allah. He refused to make one prostration. Just one. Imagine all the prostrations we refuse to make.

Consider the seriousness of such a refusal. And yet, think how lightly we take the matter of Prayer. Prayer is the first thing we will be asked about on the Day of Judgment, and yet it is the last thing that is on our mind. The Prophet said: “The first thing which will be judged among a man’s deeds on the Day of Resurrection is the Prayer. If this is in good order, then he will succeed and prosper, but if it is defective, then he will fail and will be a loser.” (At-Tirmidhi)

On that Day, the people of Paradise will ask those who have entered Hell-fire, why they have entered it. And the Qur’an tells us exactly what their first response will be:

What led you into Hell Fire? They will say: ‘We were not of those who prayed.’ (Al-Muddaththir 74:42-43)

How many of us will be among those who say “we were not of those who prayed, or we were not of those who prayed on time, or we were not of those who made prayer any priority in our lives?”

Why is it that if we are in class or at work or fast asleep at the time of Fajr and we need to use the restroom, we make time for that?

In fact, the question almost sounds absurd. We don’t even consider it an option not to. And even if we were taking the most important exam of our lives, when we need to go, we will go. Why? Because the potentially mortifying consequences of not going, makes it a non-option.

There are many people who say they don’t have time to pray at work or school, or while they are out. But how many have ever said they don’t have time to go to the bathroom, so while out, at work or school have opted instead to just wear Depends? How many of us just don’t feel like waking up at Fajr time if we need to use the bathroom, and choose instead to wet our bed? The truth is we’ll get out of bed, or leave class, or stop work, to use the bathroom, but not to pray.

It sounds comical, but the truth is we put the needs of our body above the needs of our soul. We feed our bodies, because if we didn’t, we’d die. But so many of us starve our souls, forgetting that if we are not praying, our soul is dead. And ironically, the body that we tend to is only temporary, while the soul that we neglect is eternal.

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Source: www.suhaibwebb.com.

Yasmin Mogahed received her Bachelors in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Masters in Journalism/Mass Communications from UW -Madison. Yasmin is a freelance writer, whose work has appeared in publications around the world. She is currently a writing instructor at Cardinal Stritch University and a Youth Director for the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.

Prayer: Life’s Forgotten Purpose

Prayer is not merely physical movements that one performs inattentively. In this four-part series, Dr. Muhammad Salah lays out some tips on how a Muslim can attain khushu` and humility while performing Prayer.

How to Develop Khushu` in Prayer

Click here, then type your home address or your zip code, and press “Go”. The red line inside the map will indicate the direction of the Qiblah.

Qiblah Finder

The Islamic or Hijri calendar is based on a lunar month of 29 to 30 days, with the day starting at sunset. The Islamic year consists of twelve months: (1) Muharram, (2) Safar, (3) Rabi` Awwal, (4) Rabi` Thani, (5) Jumada Awwal, (6) Jumada Thani, (7) Rajab, (8) Sha`ban, (9) Ramadan, (10) Shawwal, (11) Dhul- Qi`dah, and (12) Dhul- Hijjah.

Hijri Calendar

The sole purpose of this production is to assist and develop the basic rules and actions of Prayer. It introduces Prayer to those who do not know how to pray at all, or to those who have some idea or to those who want to perfect their Prayer.

Download link

Introduction to Prayer

Prayer Times

A detailed presentation that teaches you how to make wudu’ (ablution) in a perfect way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEDRS08jHqk

Cleaning Before Prayer

Why Do Muslim Pray to the East? Can a Muslim offer the Prayer without facing the Qiblah? Click to know the answer to these questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr10G_IEfTA

Why Do Muslim Pray to the East?

Why do Muslims put their faces on the ground when they offer the daily Prayers? What is unique about prostration in Prayer? Click to know the answer to these questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ypWz5uP-oI

Prostration in Prayer

The five daily Prayers are a gift from Almighty Allah to those who believe in His Oneness. But, how and when did Almighty Allah enjoin the Prayers upon Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and his followers?

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How and When the Prayer Was Made Obligatory

What is the importance of Prayer in Islam? How many prayers do Muslims offer a day? What are the rewards of Prayer? How does the Prayer connect Muslims with their Creator? Watch this series by Sheikh Assim Al-Hakeem to learn more about Prayer in Islam.

Importance of Prayer