WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS CONCEPT OF SALAAT ?
I think, Dr Sohail has a valid point when he says : "The reason why I always stress more on the subject of salath is that majority of us is considering the Quranic salath as physical worship without thinking about the effects and results of salath in individual and society's character." The physical prayer is, in fact, a commitment and a reminder of our duties and responsibilities towards God, towards people, and towards ourselves. If we are unaware of these duties or do not care to fulfill these then our prayers are nothing but a show of ignorance or hypocrisy. True worship does not consist in the mere form of prayer, without the heart and mind being earnestly applied to seek the realization of the presence of God, and to understand and do His holy Will. For prayers it is only right that we should collect our whole minds and approach God in a spirit of reverence. In prayers when we say : " Thee do we worship and Thine aid we seek ", it means we are fully committing ourselves to God. We have full realization of His presence. We realize in our souls His love and care, His grace and mercy, and His power and justice. Thus, when we realize the presence of God, we see both our shortcomings and His all sufficient power and we seek His guidance : " Show us the straight way ". The traditional salaat ends here. After 'Fateha' we read some more verses at random, bow, prostrate and then back to the pavilion. But this is not the whole Salaat. This is just a commitment and a reminder of obligations. In this part of the Salaat we sought God's guidance. Unless, we follow His guidance our salaat will not be complete. Now the question remain, where could we get God's guidance ? Undoubtedly, the answer is in the Quran. So, the true Salaat would be to act upon Quran. May I ask to our friends who often mock us for the definition of Salaat, what is wrong with this concept ? Do they want a Salaat without following Quran ? Salaat without following Quran is nothing but an hollow act of piety. It has got nothing to do with devotion to God, service to people, and self-improvement. A futile and fruitless effort which will yield, on the day of judgement, only shame and disgrace. God forbid ! Bashir Abid --- sohail qureshi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Salam to all > The reason why I always stress more on the subject > of salath is that majority of us is considering the > Quranic salath as physical worship without thinking > about the effects and results of salath in > individual and society's character.According to the > promise of God if we will establish salath there > will be no fear and sorrow on this planet but this > result is not seen,so we have to consider it very > seriously to know why God is repeatedly mentioning > in Quran about Salath and it will be better if we > don't label each other of any sect while discussing > this very important issue.This will show our > sympathy and sincerity towards humanity without > considering ourselves as authority. > I want to write the comments of few of my friends > on this subject. Waleed wrote"Salaat as prayer > ALREADY > EXISTED among those who remembered Ibrahim". > Hind wrote"Ritual prayers have accompanied humanity > since its beginning",and > Mubashir wrote: "It is true that the method of > ritual prayer is not given in the Qur'an, but we > find references to call to prayer, shortening of > salat, ablutions before salat, rukooh, sujood". > It is better to go in the background of physical > worship.Just imagine the time of creation of man,he > was alone,sun was brightly shining on his head,no > protection,no > shelter,hot,cold,flood,thunder,rain,other horrendous > creation around made the seen horrified and > scary.Man with his little vision was surrendering in > front of all these natural forces.With the passage > of time slowly and gradually he started conquering > the forces and therefore the numbers of gods reduced > to few.Prophets were coming in their periods and > were giving the message to the humanity of improving > character and making a just society.Some evil forces > with the help of religious class controlling the > means of production reverting the freedom of > mankind.This religious class supported(still > supporting) the slavery and preached the majority a > lesson of not interfering in the affairs of this > imperialist and capitalist class.They also made this > poor class busy in rituals so they just work and > don't interfere with the > interest of controlling class.In each story of > Prophets given in Quran there was a job given to > every prophet like moses for "freedom",Shoaib for > maintaining the balance in economy,Saleh for making > a classless society.In last Prophet's time > slavery,economic imbalance,social classes,family > background were at top but considering the wisdom of > mankind a last message given through this last > prophet to remove all these evil values from the > society and fills this gap with righteous values > given in last message(QURAN).Last Prophet like other > past Prophets as usual made a team to preach, > challenge and implement these values.For this job to > done he needed a place to do meetings for the > purpose of preaching,discussion and consensus, this > separate place was given the name of masjid(mosque) > and for attending these meetings they were advised > by the God they should be physically cleaned(5/6 now > traditionally called wadoo)as it is the prerequisite > of any disciplined meeting in our time.Last > Prophet and his team's commitments were to make > exemplary character for others,to get free state for > making just society so people restrain from unjust > and shameful deeds and later these commitments were > fulfilled and an example was established as a > timeless precedence for all the humanity. > In matter of deen practical implementation of values > given in the book of God and its objectivity is the > basic building block.Any job we do in the light of > guidance of God is called ibada and complete > submission in front of God's guidance is called > rukoo and sujood(48/29, 2/43).This is the > satisfaction which will appear on our faces after > this complete submission(rukoo and sajood) in front > of God's guidance(48/29). > In the light of above can we say salath is physical > worship only or can we say physical worship is the > part of salath and was it the sunnah of all > prophets.Physical worship and dua(prayer)are > different things.Struggle,practical efforts and > later asking the help of God is necessary or > sometime we need private conservation(individually > or collectively) with God in the form of dua and > this will be there till the time will reach when > there will be no fear or sorrow and peace on this > planet.One may ask then where is the God here,yes > God is very much there because we cannot achieve > this goal without following the guidance of Author > of Quran,THE ALLAH,THE GOD. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! 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