Friday, May 6, 2011

Prayer

Amber asked me about how I pray if I don’t follow the hadith. Well, let’s see what the Qur’an says about prayer.

1. How are you supposed to pray?

7:29 “Say: “My Lord has enjoined justice and set your faces upright when prostrating. Call upon Him sincerely, turning to Him exclusively in religion, even as He brought you forth in the beginning, so to Him shall you also return.”

23:1-2 “Successful, indeed, are the believers, who are humble while offering their supplications.”

107:4-5 “So woe unto those who pray – while being heedless to (the commandments of) their prayers.”

We are to pray sincerely, humbly, and minding what those prayers command, turning to God exclusively and calling on Him.

2. What form is prayer to take?

9:112 “(These are) they who turn to God (seeking forgiveness), who worship Him, praise Him, fast, bow down, prostrate themselves…”

18:110 “Say: “Call upon God, or call upon Ar-Rahman (the Beneficient); whichever you call upon, to Him belong the best names. And do not say your prayer too loudly, and do not say it too softly either, but seek a middle course between these two (extremes).”

We are to bow and prostrate ourselves, and to say our prayers aloud, but not shouting or whispering them.

3. When are we supposed to pray?

2:238 “Be strict in observance of the prayer and (in particular) the midday prayer, and stand up in devotion to God.”

11:114 “Establish prayer in the two ends of the day, and at the approaches of the night. Indeed the good deeds take away the evil ones; this is a reminder for the (believers who are) mindful (of their Lord).”

17: 78-79 “Establish prayer (regularly) from sunset until the darkness of the night, and the recital at dawn; verily the recital at dawn is witnessed. And (in a part) of the night, awake from sleep for performing the prayer, as a supererogation for your own good, perchance your Lord will bring you to a praised position.”

20:130 “So be patient with what they say, and glorify your Lord by praising Him before the rising of the sun and before its setting, and in some hours of the night glorify Him, and during parts of the day, that you may achieve the Pleasure (of your Lord).”

30:17 “So glory be to God when you approach the eve or the morn.”

62:9 “O you who believe! When the call is made for prayer on Friday, then hasten, all of you, to remembering God, and abandon all trading; that is better for you, if you only know.”

We are to pray in the morning at dawn, at midday, and in the evening before the sun sets. Waking up for prayers during the night is encouraged as something extra that is good for us, but not a requirement. We should be especially attentive to prayer on Fridays and the midday prayer.

4. Under what circumstances is prayer to be postponed?

4:43 “O you who believe! Do not approach prayer when intoxicated until you know well what you say, nor if you have had intercourse, unless you are traveling, until you bathe. If you are sick, or on a journey, or if one of you comes from the privy, or you have touched women and you do not find water, then take pure earth and wipe (with it a part of your face and hands); God is Pardoning, Forgiving.”

So, if you’re drunk or high (that you shouldn’t be should go without saying), you shouldn’t pray until you’re sober. If you’ve been intimate with your spouse (unless traveling), if you’re sick, or traveling, if you’ve used the bathroom, or (once again) been intimate with your spouse – NOT just touched a woman – prayer should be postponed until you can do the ritual purification. You are to use dirt if water isn’t available. Nowhere does it say that women can’t pray, touch or read the Qur’an, fast, etc, during their periods. The hadith on this were just men being all grossed out by a process they couldn’t understand. What God makes is not unclean, and He never prohibited women from fulfilling their religious obligations at any time.

9 comments:

  1. Man if Islam actually worked this way I may have converted after all! But other people were involved in what type of Islam I converted to :( Well explained dear.

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  2. but from where you gather the correct sequence of moves and what about ablution
    and from those verses anyway, you cant clearly state the 5 times

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  3. Assalaamu Alaykum,

    I just want to let you know that you do such a wonderful job at explaining our faith, masha'allah. I converted to Islam in 2009 and I often have a difficult time explaining things to non-muslims. You do it beautifully! May Allah reward you my dear sister. Ameen.

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  4. LK: LOL! I know! It's so simple when you take all the cultural crap and hadith and everything that has bogged down the pure simplicity of Islam. :) Thank you!

    Balqis: Who is to say that there is really a "correct sequence" of moves? Based upon the verses detailing how we should pray -- humbly, calling upon Allah (SWT) alone, and mindful of the content of our prayers -- versus form -- just that we should prostrate ourselves and bow to Allah (SWT) -- I think God cares more about how we approach prayer and Him than the outward forms. It's people who are obsessed with form. As for ablution, it says to wash your face and hands, with dirt if no water is available, and prayer is 3 times, as I've listed in the blog entry. Thanks for commenting.

    Elisa: Waleikum salam. Thank you, sister! ^_^ I find it's very easy to explain when I do my homework (research the Qur'an) and consider what I'm writing carefully. Alhamdilullah, Allah (SWT) is giving me the answers as I seek them. All praise to Him!

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  5. Balqis De Cesare:

    Ablution:
    "O ye who believe! when ye prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands to the elbows; Rub your heads; and your feet to the ankles. If ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity, bathe your whole body. But if ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands, Allah doth not wish to place you in a difficulty, but to make you clean, and to complete his favour to you, that ye may be grateful"
    Allah is perfectly clear in the above verse, stating how wudu should be done. All this"wash three times, water up your nose" stuff is the word of man and not the word of God.
    Do you not believe Allah in the Quran when he says that he has not run out of words or forgotten anything? That the Quran is complete and perfectly detailed?

    If Allah did not add these other 'sunnah' steps to wudu or prayer, then they must not be important, otherwise he would have.

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  6. Thanks! I did read the article you sent me to and it explained it as well. Hmmm... I need to think of more things to ask! Nikki already covered hijab...

    Oh! Okay, this is a thing I have. It's my understanding that Muslims believe Christ was not crucified, but that either someone else was made to look like Him and be crucified in His place, or that it was a hologram. My issue with this is that either way it makes God a deceiver. And it's my understanding of God that, as ultimate goodness, He cannot be responsible for a lie. So how does that work? Can God lie?

    I kind of feel like my questions might seem argumentative to people who don't know me, so I just want to assure everyone I'm not being a nasty person or anything. I'm genuinely curious and while I've gotten answers from other Muslims, Heather (and Sarah) are a new breed of Muslim to me. So their answers might be different.

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  7. Heathers going to have to explain this one. I'm still laughing about 'hologram'. That is awesome. lol I can just see Jesus, very slightly flickering in and out. ^_^

    Heres one thing I will say though: Muslims(well, Quran alone muslims atleast) don't believe Allah is 'ultimate goodness'. He is merciful and compassionate but he cannot be considered 'good' by our definition b/c he creates both 'good' and 'evil'.

    Hes neutral. He has to be, in order to allow us to make our own decisions,where we could potentially do things that are harmful. Also,we do not think the devil is a fallen angel in control of evil either.

    Iblis or Satan is created by Allah and who can be controlled by Allah, should he so choose.He has freedom of choice, just like human and jinn and unlike the angels. Even the shaytans, Iblis' servants, bow down to Allah. So there is not this God= good, Devil= evil. We don't even believe the Devil is evil by nature or that he creates evil.

    His only power is to whisper things into the hearts of humans that may lead them astray from the straight path Allah calls us to. I think it would be safe to say Iblis is more of a trouble maker, mischievous.

    His goal is to lead humans astray so that they will be sent to Hell too on the Day of Judgement, just as Iblis will be- his punishment from Allah after he refused to bow down to Adam. I think the Quran says Iblis was made of smokeless fire and was a jinn, while Adam was made of clay and that this was the reason for his disrespect. He felt he was superior, even though Allah had given Adam knowledge superior to Iblis.

    lol It is not so black and white as people think.

    Take it from here Heather.Its time for dinner with my husband soon and since hes coming back from the field, I want to be ready when he arrives. I would send him here to continue the Jesus topic (hes very knowledgeable about this kind of thing) but this is sisters only, right?^_^

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  8. I'm still laughing about 'hologram'. That is awesome. lol I can just see Jesus, very slightly flickering in and out. ^_^

    And thus do I out myself as a scifi geek!

    *reads explanation* Huh. Okay. I understand what you're saying, I just don't agree with it. It's a matter of an entirely different perspective, I guess.

    God is good. Period. He did not create evil, but because of free will, He allows it because we choose it. It's a bugger, but there it is.

    I know that Muslims don't believe the devil is a fallen angel because they don't believe that angels have free will. I'm not so much on board with the 'fallen' portion, but I do believe that he's an angel.

    We are taught that, in theory, even Satan could repent, if he so chose and so it's not really our place to say that he is going to hell, because we don't know, just as we don't know about any one else's fate.

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  9. Wow.. I'm not much of a writer so sorry. But I absolultey love come here. Heather and Sarah. The two of you are so informative. You both have the same views as myself. Now my question to the two of you or who ever feels like answering is, Do/ Have you thrown out all the hadiths or are there some you agree with? Also, which ones? Thank you again.

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