Rituals in Islam

reversing the order of the proceedings. (Hajj involves the performance of a series of rites, and since this was the first proper Hajj, there was some uncertainty about their correct order.) The Prophet allayed their fears by saying: “There is no harm. There is no harm. Real harm lies in the dishonouring of a person.” This saying of the Prophet throws light on how form relates to spirit in Islam. That is, the spirit is the essential factor, while the form, or ritual, is purely a matter of externals. If the believer is in no way found to be lacking in spirit, any deficiency in the form of his worship will be considered tolerable. The converse of this is illustrated by a tradition set down in the books of Hadith. Once the Prophet of Islam was seated in the mosque in Madinah, when a Muslim worshipper came to meet him after duly performing his ablutions and saying his prayers with full observance of their ritual. The Prophet sent him back to say his prayers again, as he said that he had not said his prayers. Here, a clear distinction had been made between form and spirit. In his divine wisdom, the Prophet sensed that this worshipper’s performance of the rituals of prayer had been empty and mechanical, and in no sense imbued with any religious fervour. Indeed, the true spirit of namaz is modesty. But this individual’s behaviour showed that while he was praying modesty was very far from his mind. And if the Prophet told him to go back and say his prayers, it was so that he should concern himself with the inner kernel of prayer and not its outer shell. However punctilious worship may appear in its form, if the true spirit is absent, the performance of the ritual must be held invalid. The mere observance of form does not make worship acceptable in the eyes of God. The word ‘ritual’, in fact, has the same connotation as ‘form’. The only difference is that ‘form’ is a term of general application, whereas ‘ritual’ in respect of its usage, has in the main became a religious term. There is a hadith which tells us that the value of an action depends upon the intention of the doer. That is, a practice must be evaluated on the basis of its motivation, for example, the Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Madinah, which in Islamic history is called the Hijrah. This emigration for the sake of Islam was an act of great religious significance. It meant people abandoning their hearths and homes for the sake of God. However, one of these emigrants was not so pure in intention. He had left Makkah for Madinah with the ulterior motive of marrying a Madinan resident who had agreed to marry him only if he came to Madinah, as she could not come to Makkah. This was his true reason for coming to Madinah alongwith the other emigrants. The Prophet told his