Prayer (Salat

The Four Pillars One day the Prophet called on Bilal to deliver the adhan. These were the words that came to the Prophet’s lips: Bilal, make ready for prayer; and comfort us thereby (Abu Dawud). The ideal way to pray is not by reciting the entire Quran once, or even twice in the course of the prayer. The most important feature of prayer is one’s pondering over the verses of the Quran as one recites them. One who treats recitation of the Quran as an outpouring of feeling for God, who remembers God as he repeats His words, cannot possibly recite the whole of the Quran once or twice in a day. Only one who mechanically repeats words learnt by heart can do that. Sometimes the Prophet would spend one whole night reciting a single chapter of the Quran. It is related by ‘A’ishah that when the Prophet was told about certain people who recited the whole Quran once or twice in a single night, he replied, “They recite, but they do not really recite at all.” (Ahmad). “I used to stay up the whole night with the Prophet,” ‘A’ishah continues. “He used to read the chapters Al-Baqarah, Al-Imran, and An-Nisa only. When he reached a verse in which there was some warning, he used to seek refuge and invoke God’s protection. When he reached a verse which contained good tidings, he would show eagerness and pray to God.” Zakat Zakat, in essence, is a form of sacrifice. Its purpose is to fulfil God’s desire for a society in which people are ready to give rather than take; in which people seek opportunities to benefit rather than exploit others; in short, everyone should feel responsible for the welfare of his fellow men. Zakat, designed to create a spirit of social co-operation, makes each individual fully aware of his having duties rather than rights in this world. The great importance of zakat in the religious system is evident from an exchange which took place between the Prophet and