English book · The Five Pillars of Islam

Prayer (Salah

English book, p. 12

By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

devotion to God. The ultimate acknowledgement of ano­ ther’s greatness being the repetition of the words, “He is the Greatest,” the words, Allahu Akbar, are uttered time and time again in prayer. Verbal acknowledgement is thus made of the absolute quality of God’s greatness in compari­son to that of ordinary mortals. Physically, the ultimate recognition of another’s greatness is the act of self-prostration; no physical act is more obviously a testament to the greatness of another than this. Performed repeatedly during prayers, it is a practical reminder and a clear demonstration of one’s belief in the incomparable grandeur of God. The giving of one’s entire attention to God is underlined by turning one’s gaze towards the House of God. The direction in which one must face in order to pray is, therefore, of great religious sig­nificance, for it not only focuses one’s attention on the deity, but also demonstrates

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