By Haj Ebrahim Abdul Malik David Stokes, Canada
Worship means ‘to value, to consider worthy, to consider of value’.
Prayer requires separation from this life’s daily demands by first doing ritual ablution. Then comes recollection that what we are about to do is nothing less than addressing The Creator, our Rabb, our Sustainer.
These thoughts are foreshadowed by the realization that we do as we have been commanded and for our own good; in fact it is required of everything in existence including humankind and jinn.
“…yusabbihu lahu maa fis-samawati wal-‘ardi wa Huwal-‘Azizul-Hakim”
Everything in the heavens and the earth praises Him; He is the Precious the Knower.
The Prophet of Allah has said
“During prayer, God lifts the veils and opens the gates of the invisible, so that the servant is standing in front of Him. The prayer creates a secret connection between the one praying and the One prayed to. Prayer is a threshold at the entrance to God’s reality”.
The requirements for the perfection of salaat (prayer) are stringent and not easily acquired. It is very surprising that we jump into and out of prayer so quickly.
The Prophet once asked his companions “Can any of you perform even the shortest form of the formal prayer and keep his mind solely on Allah”
No one rushed to answer the challenge until the boldest said he would try it. The Prophet said that if he could do it then he would give him his cloak. The companion began to pray and the Prophet watched closely and intensely.
In the second half the Prophet relaxed his attention and smiled briefly. When the companion finished the prayer he explained that the first half went perfectly and he kept his mind fixed on Allah, but in the second half the thought came to him that the Prophet had two coats and which one would he get.
It is no surprise, then, that we lesser mortals would find true prayer challenging.
A very similar story is told by Ahmed the brother of Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali.
Muhammad had criticized his brother Ahmed for not praying behind him when so many people came from everywhere to follow him in prayer. Ahmed replied “If you stand to lead the prayers and struggle your utmost to say them in the full sense of the word, I will never turn away from following you”.
At the noon prayer Imam al-Ghazzali stood to lead the prayer and half way thru Ahmed, his brother, moved away to a corner of the mosque to complete his prayers.
When the prayer was finished the Imam came to confront his brother and criticize his action. Ahmed replied “We were faithful to our promise. We followed you until you went to the stable to water your camel. We were not able to finish our prayer after that because we lacked an Imam to lead us”.
With affection and friendship, Muhammad replied, “Glory be to God! He indeed has a group of His friends who are spies of our hearts. My brother spoke the truth, for it passed thru my mind as I was delivering the prayer that I had forgotten to give water to my camel”.
This shows a very remarkable gift in Ahmed to know what is in the heart of his brother Muhammad. It also makes clear that our task is to reach the pinnacle of mindfulness if we are to approach even close to true worship. We need help to achieve mindfulness.
Ibn ‘Arabi has said
“Do everything you do in order to come close to your Lord in your worship and prayers. Think that each deed may be your last act, each prayer your last prostration, that you may not have another chance. If you do this, it will be another motivation for becoming heedful and also for becoming sincere and truthful”.
A strong emotional link to thought can help to sharply focus the mind. As Rumi has said
“If you could get rid of yourself just once, the secret of secrets would be open to you.
The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe, would appear on the mirror of your perception.”
We can conclude from this that unless that Self, what we call “I”, is absent we cannot be in the presence of Allah.
To return to Ibn ‘Arabi again, this point is made even more clearly
“One dies when, by Allah’s will, ones borrowed time ends. One’s material being - which is called life – ending at an appointed hour, loses all its character and qualities both good and bad, and nothing remains. In their place Allah comes to be. One’s self becomes Allah’s self; one’s attributes Allah’s attributes.
That is what the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings upon him) meant when he said, “Die before dying”.
It is only recently that I have begun to realized how wildly in error was the French Philosopher Rene Descartes when he said “cogito ergo sum: “I think therefore I am”.
Descartes made the error of equating thinking with Being. Thinking is at the root of the ego. That “I” is exactly what keeps me from knowing Allah. The self cannot merge with the ruh, the soul, if the wayward mind (ego) is always intervening.
Yes, indeed the thinking mind might well define the extent of a person’s existence, but who has complete control over this wayward mind which we mistake for the true self?
What we strive to achieve is to transcend the self to merge with God. Unless the “I” is absent He is not present.
We may be aware of this self, but who or what is the observer? It was Jean Paul Sartre who 300 years after Descartes seems to have first realized this separation of the thinker and the consciousness, but seems not to have fully realized its profound significance. For us this must be the beginning of wisdom and it marks the way forward in the struggle to be in complete mindfulness. Without complete awareness how can we ever pray as did Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali, or better yet with the sensitive, open mind of his brother Ahmed?
Researching this subject of “Power of devotion, Prayer and Worship: awareness of the unseen” leaves me acutely aware how far removed am I from what it means to be called a Muslim i.e. in true submission. After 30 years I now feel unworthy of that title.
But, let us not be discouraged by the lofty challenge that prayer offers. Let us press on doing our best until we too can “Witness Perfection”.