The Existence of God

One in whom this feeling does not arise will not, as regards his faith in God, be held to be reliable in the eyes of God. According to a hadith: “One who does not beseech God, invites the wrath of God.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 3373) Prayer is an act of great delicacy which takes place between God and man. During this act, no third person exists. It is a fact that the best prayer is that in which one pours out one’s heart in solitude. According to a tradition, “One virtue of such a believer is that of remembering God in solitude and then his eyes filling with tears.” (Sahih alBukhari, Hadith No. 660) When looked at in the light of the Quran and Hadith, we learn that prayer is a sublime act of a very personal nature. For every believer, it is an expression of his godly feelings. It is only when you keep this reality before you that you realize that prayer is not something that a senior person should be asked to do for you. Such a request would produce an invalid form of prayer. It is like going to man instead of to God. Similarly, praying on a loud speaker is also lacking in seriousness. Such prayer is not true prayer. Learning some words by rote and keeping on repeating them is also not prayer. Prayer, in reality, is an act which moves your heart intensely: It is not the recitation of a combination of some ritual words. In Sahih al Bukhari, there is a maxim which reads: “Your prayer is your faith.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Iman, ch. 1) This means that just as your faith is, so will