Prayer (Salat

the world of prayer. The lifting of the hands at the beginning of the prayer is a sign that one is leaving one’s environment and going to another world. One then becomes lost in the supplications one makes and the praise that one offers to God. One should, in fact, become oblivious of one’s surroundings, just as one would when totally engrossed in some captivating worldly pursuit, for prayer is a meeting between man and God. The various actions of prayer are stages in that meeting. Finally, the worshipper looks to his right and left and says the words: “Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God.” When he says this, he feels as if he is coming back from another world. He is returning to his old surroundings and greeting those who are there to meet him. Fiqh (Islamic law) divides prayer into various parts. It makes some things obligatory, some essential, and some voluntary. It emphasizes some things more than others. But, in the world of reality, there is no such division in prayer. Prayer which goes no further than this classification is but the mouthing of a robot; it is not the prayer of a human being, a robot can copy the actions of prayer exactly; ritually, its prayer can come up to any standard laid down by Islamic law. But human prayer is more than just a ritual, for it is full of feeling. It is a spiritual experience that cannot be divided into legal compartments, and cannot be explained in legal terms. Submission to God in prayer should become a sign of submission in practical life. When the Prophet Shu‘ayb pointed this out to the people of Midian, and urged them to worship God and obey His commandments, they replied: “O Shu‘ayb, did your prayers teach you that we should renounce the gods of our fathers and not conduct our affairs in the manner we pleased?” In prayer, which “restrains one from indecency and evil” (29:45), one repeatedly bows and prostrates oneself before God. This is a sign that one is ready to accept and act upon God’s commandments. The Quran makes it clear that to succumb to one’s desires is to neglect the true spirit of prayer. The generations who succeeded the early Israelites “neglected their prayers and succumbed to their