INTERNAL PREREQUISITES OF PRAYER: ACTIONS OF THE HEART
The Need for Humility and Conscious Awareness
Many Quranic Verses and Traditions could be cited in evidence of this, including the words of God, Exalted is He:
‘And perform the Prayer to remember Me.’ [Ṭā Hā, 20:14]
(Wa-aqimi-Iṣalāta li-dhikrī.)
The obvious force of the imperative is to make something obligatory.
Since heedlessness is the opposite of remembrance, how can someone who is heedless throughout his Prayer be performing it in remembrance of God? The Exalted One said:
‘Do not be one of those who are neglectful.’ [al-A’rāf, 7:205]
(Wa-lā takun mina-Ighāfilīn.)
Here we have a negative imperative, with the obvious force of a prohibition.
God, Great and Glorious is He, also says:
‘… until you know what you are saying.’ [al-Nisā’,4:43]
(ḥattā ta’lamū mā taqūlūn.)
This explains the reason for debarring those who are intoxicated [from the Mosque], but the term ‘intoxicated’ applies by extension to those who are wholly preoccupied with temptations and worldly thoughts.
When the Prophet, on him be peace, said: ‘The Prayer is nothing but submissiveness and humility …’ he used a particularly definite and emphatic construction in Arabic.
51
The Prophet, on him be peace, said: ‘If a man’s Prayer does not deter him from indecency and mischief, he gains nothing from God but remoteness.’ Heedless Prayer does nothing to deter a man from these vices.
The heedless are alluded to in the Tradition: ‘Many of those who pray derive nothing from their Prayers except weariness and strain.’
52
The Prophet, on him be peace, said: ‘A man gets credit only for that part of his Prayer of which he is conscious.’
53 This is confirmed by the Tradition: ‘When performing the Prayer, one is conversing intimately with one’s Lord.’
54 Speaking in a state of heedlessness is certainly not what is meant by intimate conversation with the Lord.
To clarify matters further, let us consider the contrast between ritual Prayer, on the one hand, and
Zakāt,55 Fasting and Pilgrimage on the other. A man may pay his Alms without being consciously attentive, yet the very act of parting with money runs counter to greed and is hard on the lower self. The case of Fasting is similar: since it subdues the natural forces and breaks the hold of the passions, which are the tools of God’s enemy, Satan, its purpose may well be achieved in spite of heedlessness. As for Pilgrimage, it presents physical hardship and difficulty and involves painful struggle, whether or not its actions are performed in full awareness.
In contrast to these other religious duties, ritual Prayer consists only in remembrance, recitation, bowing, prostration, standing erect and sitting down. As for remembrance, it is proximity to God, Great and Glorious is He, and communion with Him. If its purpose is not conversation and dialogue, it must be a verbal and vocal exercise, set to test the tongue in the same way as the belly and the genitals are tested by abstinence during the Fast, as the body is tested by the ordeals of Pilgrimage, or as one is tested by having to part with beloved money on paying the Alms. Without a doubt, this latter supposition must be wrong, for nothing comes more easily to the heedless than idle tongue-wagging. It cannot, therefore, be a simple physical exercise. The sounds produced are significant only when they form articulate speech. Articulate speech must be expressive of what is in the heart and mind, and this is not possible without conscious awareness.
What is the point of praying: ‘Show us the Straight Path,’ if one is in a state of absent-mindedness? If it is not intended as a humble entreaty and supplication, why bother with the idle mouthing of the words, especially if it has become a habit?
The purpose of Quranic recitation and expressions of remembrance (at various stages in the ritual Prayer) is undoubtedly praise and glorification, supplication and entreaty, addressed to God, Great and Glorious is He. But the veil of heedlessness screens the heart from Him. Far from seeing or witnessing Him, the heedless worshipper is not even aware of Whom he is addressing, as his tongue moves purely from force of habit. How remote this is from the purpose of ritual Prayer, which was prescribed for the refinement of the heart, the renewal of Divine remembrance, and to secure the knot of faith!
We have been discussing the case of recitation and remembrance, but our strictures in this matter are by no means relevant only to the spoken elements in ritual Prayer, as distinct from the physical postures. As for bowing and prostration, their purpose is definitely veneration. While one could be venerating God, Great and Glorious is He, through one’s action, although unaware of Him, one might just as well be unconsciously venerating an idol set before one, or even the wall in front. It then ceases to be an act of veneration and is reduced to mere movement of the back and head, devoid of any hardship that might make it a real test.
Ritual Prayer has been made the chief pillar of religion, the criterion for distinguishing between unbelief and Islam. It takes precedence over the Pilgrimage and other forms of worship. It is unique in having capital punishment as the penalty for its abandonment. I do not believe that ritual Prayer enjoys all this special dignity by virtue of its external motions, unless these are linked to the purpose of intimate communion with God. That is what has priority over Fasting, Zakat, Pilgrimage and so on; indeed, over sacrifices and offerings which entail self-denial through financial outlay. As God, Exalted is He, says:
‘It is not their flesh nor their blood that reaches God: it is your devotion that reaches Him.’ [al-Ḥajj, 22:37]
(Lan yanāla-Ilāha luḥūmuhā wa-lā dimā’uhā wa-lākin yanāluhu-Itaqwā minkum.)
What is meant here by ‘devotion’ (taqwā), is a quality that gains control over the heart, disposing it to comply with the commands it is required to obey.
What, then, of the ritual Prayer, if its actions are without purpose?
* * *
You may say that I am going against the consensus of the jurists, if I make the validity of Prayer dependent on conscious awareness, since they stipulate such attention only at the initial ‘Allāhu Akbar!’ But the jurists do not concern themselves with the inner life or the way of the Hereafter. Their job is to formulate the outer rules of religion, with reference to external physical behaviour… As for what is beneficial to the afterlife, this is beyond the scope of jurisprudence, since no consensus can be claimed.
Sufyān al-Thawrī, an early legal scholar, is reported as saying: ‘Without humility and awareness, one’s Prayer is invalid.’ It is related that al-Ḥasan said: ‘Any Prayer performed without conscious awareness is a short cut to punishment.’ According to Mu’ādh ibn Jabal: ‘A man gets no credit for a Prayer in which he deliberately notices those on his right and left.’
According to an authenticated Tradition, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace, said: ‘Though he performs the whole Prayer, a man may be credited with no more than one sixth or one tenth of it. A man gets credit only for that part of his Prayer of which he is conscious.’
56 If this had been transmitted on lesser authority, it would surely have become a dogma, so why should it not be taken seriously?
‘Abd al-Wāḥid ibn Zayd said: ‘The scholars are unanimously agreed that a man gets credit only for that part of his Prayers of which he is conscious.’ According to him, there is actually a consensus to this effect.
* * *
In short, conscious awareness is the very spirit of ritual Prayer. Attentiveness to the initial ‘Allāhu Akbar!’ represents the bare minimum required to keep the spark of this spirit alive… Of God we beg His gracious support!