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Prayer is the soul of religion. Where there is no prayer,
there can be no purification of the soul. The non-praying man
is rightly considered to be a soulless man. Take prayer out of
the world, and it is all over with religion because it is with
prayer that man has the consciousness of God and selfless love
for humanity and inner sense of piety. Prayer is, therefore,
the first, the highest, and the most solemn phenomenon and
manifestation of religion.
The way in which prayer is offered and the words which are
recited in it explain the true nature of religion of which it
is the expression of man's contact with the Lord.
Prayer in Islam gives in a nutshell the teachings of Islam.
The very first thing which comes into prominence in Islamic
prayer is that it is accompanied by bodily movements. It
implies that Islam lifts not only the soul to the spiritual
height, but also illuminates the body of man with the light of
God-consciousness. It aims at purifying both body and soul,
for it finds no cleavage between them. Islam does not regard
body and soul as two different entities opposed to each other,
or body as the prison of the soul from which It yearns to
secure freedom in order to soar to heavenly heights." The
soul is an organ of the body which exploits it for
physiological purposes, or body is an instrument of the
soul" (Iqbal, Reconstruction of Religious Thought in
Islam, p 105), and thus both need spiritual enlightenment.
Secondly, Islamic prayer does not aim at such a spiritual
contact with God in which the world and self are absolutely
denied, in which human personality is dissolved, disappears
and is absorbed in the Infinite Lord. Islam does not favour
such a meditation and absorption in which man ceases to be
conscious of his own self and feels himself to be perfectly
identified with the Infinite, and claims in a mood of ecstasy:
My" I" has become God, or rather he is God. Islam
wants to inculcate the consciousness of the indwelling of the
light of God in body and soul but does allow him to transport
himself in the realm of lnfinity. It impresses upon his mind
that he is the humble servant of the Great and Glorious Lord
and his spiritual development and religious piety lies in
sincere and willing obedience to Allah. The very first step
towards the achievement of this objective is that man should
have a clear consciousness of his own finiteness and
Infiniteness of the Lord, and clearly visualise and feel that
he is created as a human being by the Creator and Master of
the universe, and he cannot, therefore, become demi-god or
god. His success lies in proving himself by his outlook and
behaviour that he is the true and loyal servant of his Great
Master. Islamic prayer is, therefore, the symbol of humble
reverence before the Majesty of the Glorious Lord.
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