The Manner of the Prayer of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace

They said: Describe to us the prayer of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, in a way that brings it near to us, removing any perplexity or complication.
I said: How slow you are in your religion! And how negligent you are in its most serious concern! Is not the prayer the very first obligation that a Muslim learns, both in its law and in its performance? Is it not what he reflects upon and seeks to perfect? It is the pillar of his religion, the bond between him and his Lord, through which he draws near to Him and converses with Him.
They said: Indeed, but we have been confounded and alarmed by the differences of the jurists in its form.
I said: What differences do you mean?
They said: Their divergence of opinion—should the worshipper raise his hands parallel with his shoulders or his ears? Should he raise them only at the opening takbīr or at every bowing and rising? Should he place his hands on his chest, or beneath the navel, or leave them by his sides? Should he begin his prayer with “al-ḥamdu lillāh rabb al-ʿālamīn” or with some supplication? How should he bow and prostrate? How should he sit between the two prostrations? Should he recite the tashahhud reported by Ibn Masʿūd, or that reported by Ibn ʿAbbās, or that which was current in Madīnah? Should he end with one rakʿah for witr, or three rakʿahs, with one salām or with two?

I said: You have erred, and done badly, in confining the prayer to its subsidiary issues and restricting it to its secondary details. What you have mentioned amounts only to an adornment and embellishment of the prayer, like the final touch in carving a statue or painting a picture.
They said: We look to you to unveil for us what has been obscured.
I said: Let me give you an example.
They said: Do so, if it will aid us in our understanding of what we face.

I said: Suppose you were given the choice between a beautiful maiden, radiant, charming, graceful in figure and delightful in character, and an ugly, deformed, repulsive crone, lifeless and spiritless. A hairdresser comes to them both and lavishes her care upon each to beautify and adorn them. Which of the two would you desire and compete for?
They said: The first.
I said: But was it not the same hairdresser who beautified them both?
They said: Yes, but the first differs from the second in two matters: the first is alive while the second is dead, and the first is fresh and soft in body while the second is a shrivelled hag.
I said: So what, then, is the worth of the hairdresser’s art to you?
They said: It is the very last thing that crosses our minds.

I said: Such is the prayer. It has a body, a spirit, and an adornment. The Qurʾān described its body and spirit, while the Sunnah described its adornment—just as the Qurʾān described for us the wuḍūʾ in body and spirit, and the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, taught us its adornment and perfection.

They said: What then is its body?
I said: The outward form of the prayer is that a purified Muslim should turn his face towards the Sacred Mosque, stand and recite something of the Book of God with due recitation, bow and prostrate, and preserve it in its appointed times and in the houses of God, together with His righteous servants.

They said: What then is its spirit?
I said: It is humble obedience, inward devotion, remembrance of God, performance for His sake alone, and mindfulness. God said: “And stand before God in devout obedience”, and: “Successful indeed are the believers, those who are humble in their prayers”, and: “Establish the prayer for My remembrance”, and: “Pray to your Lord”.
They said: And what do you mean by mindfulness?

I said: God’s words: “O you who believe, do not approach the prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying”, and: “So woe to those who pray, who are heedless of their prayers.” It is reported from some Companions of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace: “A person is credited from his prayer only that part of which he was mindful.” Similar is reported from later generations, and some have ascribed it to the Prophet, but it is not authentic.

They said: And what is its perfection and beauty?
I said: This was narrated from the Companions of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, but they differed, and so did those after them. If these matters of difference had belonged to the essential foundations of the prayer, they would have been accused of failing to transmit the most important obligation from their Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace. But they transmitted its outward form and inward reality in perfect completeness—that is the prayer upon which depends the success of God’s servants who believe. As for what they differed about, it concerns perfection and adornment, where different forms and styles do no harm but rather count as breadth and mercy. Just as a beautiful woman is not troubled by how her hair is combed or her face beautified, so long as her hairdresser is skilled, likewise the worshipper who has grasped the outward form and the spirit of prayer has no blame if he takes its perfection and adornment from the fiqh of Abū Ḥanīfah, or Mālik, or al-Shāfiʿī, or Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, or any of the godly scholars of this Ummah, in accordance with the Sunnah of their Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and its etiquettes.

I said: Such is the prayer that soothes the eyes and consoles the souls, heals hearts and breasts, enriches hearts and relieves the distressed. It is the refuge of the fearful who guard themselves, the destination of friends who yearn, and the sanctuary of the pure who love. You see them bowing and prostrating, their sides forsaking their beds, calling upon their Lord in fear and hope, falling on their chins weeping, and it increases them in humility. It is the prayer of the prophets and messengers. It is of this that the Father of Prophets, the Friend of the Lord of all worlds, said: “My Lord, make me one who establishes the prayer, and from my offspring also.” It was this prayer that Zachariah was engaged in when the angels called him. It was this prayer that God commanded the woman whom He set as an example for the believers: “O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord, and prostrate and bow with those who bow.” It was to this prayer that our Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, turned whenever a matter pressed upon him. And he prayed in it while his chest was heaving like the sound of a boiling pot, from weeping. It is of this that our Lord, exalted be He, said: “Prostrate and draw near.”

They said: We have prayed all our lives a prayer other than this, without noticing it or finding companionship in it.
I said: Go and pray—for you have not yet prayed.

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Disclaimer: This article was translated by AI. Original post: https://t.me/DrAkramNadwi/7086