Salat: Concentration in Prayers III

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Salaat counts no percentage, but the God gives merits to His servants and slaves who are faithful and performing charity, it means the believers. Honorable Imam Syafi'ie says, iman is not in the feel or in the dream but it is in the heart and performed with body parts. It means that we must perform whatever is obliged on us by the God.

The analogy of five times daily prayers is like water rushing swiftly and kicking the door of our houses five times a day. If we shower five times a day in a river where the water flows heavily, thus our sins would be purified without any filth. Prayers cleaning our daily sins. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w says that a prayer to another prayer redeem the sins of a slave while there is no greater sins committed. Another hadiths mentions about other matters which eliminate little sins performed together with daily prayers. Please check them out because they are related to fasting, Friday, and others. Little sins will be redeemed through daily prayers and remembrance to the God while greater sins must be redeemed with repentance and submission to Him.

For example, we perform maghrib prayer, when we perform the prayer, our sins in between asr prayer to maghrib will be forgiven by the God. He will forgive us our past sins. If we are stuck with others, then we have to apologize to the particular person because that is counted as greater sin. If we perform ablution, the body parts where we wash during the ritual will be forgiven for sins committed by them. Here is a tip, perform ma'amad or angkat hadas besar or celupan together with ablution. All of your body will ritually be cleaned up.  

Abu Bakar may Allah be pleased with him says, "go to the fire where you had light it up and quickly quench it out." Fire means sins and the quencher is the prayer or salaat. If we perform daily prayers, the sins before each prayer will be forgiven. That is if the prayer is accepted by the God. If it is not accepted due to lack of concentration or careless in prayer, then there is no forgiveness but only sins. As to say, it is important to be focus in prayers and facing Him for charity.

Says Allah in surah Hud verse 114: "perform prayers at the two edges of the day and some times of the night, indeed charity vanquishes evil, and that is the reminder..." Prayers at the two edges of the day means fajar and asar prayers. Some times at night means maghrib and isya' prayers. Fajar and 'asar prayer times are crucial because the angels who take charge on the time will change their shift. They will report everything to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla. If they witness a servant of the God is performing prayer at time they are leaving, they will say to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla that: "Your servant is praying and we are departing from them." The record will be kept as the witness in the Day of Judgement. The Lord knows everything but He only asks the angels as the witness because He is all Just.

This verse is descended on a case where a guy was kissing with a woman, but it does not reach the act of adultery. Then the guy feels guilty since there are some remnants of faith in his heart and he went to see the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w to get his punishment. This kind of act is actually prohibited by the God although it does not reach adultery as what has been mentioned in the scripture, "do not be close to adultery!" I can't remember which surah, please Allah forgive me my weakness. 

The noble prophet only kept his silence and waiting for maghrib prayer to be performed and the guy is invited to be in the congregation. Then, the revelation which is now included in surah Hud came down on the prophet Muhammad s.a.w heart and it says that the sin of the guy is forgiven by the God. The noble prophet said that the maghrib prayer is cleaning the sins which passed.

Prayers must be sincerely performed with concentration and tranquility. Our daily sins are also cleaned by our charity such as tributes and donations. Begin our day with good words and prayers, and keep it for the day long until we sleep because they are also apart of charity and tributes to the God. Good words are such as recitation of scripture which is Quran, dzikr or remembrance glorifying Him, seeking knowledge, and supplications. All of these banishing little sins and those charity would just clean the filth up without any postponement. 

Greater sins need repentance to be forgiven. We must repent our greater sins if we are not the chosen ones. Of course those chosen ones are His noble prophets and messengers. Even prophet Muhammad s.a.w who is free from the past, the present, and future sins also repents 100 times a day. We also have to be careful with little sins which we intentionally commit. 

In fact, there is no limitation punishment or hudud law on the guy who had kissed the woman who has no marriage relationship, cuddling, or palpating at the time he met the prophet Muhammad s.a.w. There is no 100 times of whipping for such acts like what is prescribed on the adulterer who is not married or stoning to death for those who are married (male and female both, not only female!). 

The guy feels so afraid of the little sins committed although there is no limitation punishment on such acts such as kissing or touching the woman of no marriage relation. The Hadith Qudsi mentions that Allah 'Azza wa Jalla says: "dear sons of Adam, whoever committed sins and he realizes that it is a sin but still committing it, I shall cast him into the hell!!! He will scream an unimaginable scream!" Committing sins although without any worldly punishment, will still get the charge in the hell. The God and His messengers knows more about this.

Finished on our part of tama'ninah and tranquility in prayers. Hopefully ladies and gentlemen including myself who jotting down this note could concentrate more in prayers. Check out the surah al-Mu'minun. Pillars of religion begins with the testimonies and it is related to prayers because testimonies are the speech in prayers posture. 

There are 10 kinds of people whose prayers are rejected are the people who orally recites nothing while praying alone, a person who prays but pays not zakat, and many others please check them all. 

Whoever does not performing whatever prescribed in surah al-Mu'minun will risk themselves to be the enemy of the God! Those who perform and obeys everything prescribed with devotion to Him will inherit His kingdom the Firdawsi and will never taste death in it forever and ever :') That is the greatest and eternal success. - notes of 31st March 2009

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love for brothers and sisters in faith, amin!!!!!

Salat: Concentration in Prayers II

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Our prophet Muhammad, may Lord grant him peace says: "the time will come where my nation will be seen like they are praying but actually they're not." There are many things that could include us into the category mentioned by the noble prophet. Perhaps our acts pillar, or speech pillar are not according to the manner which could brings concentration to us. For example, we might also mispronounce the ه as ح in our Quranic recitation during salaat.  

I had few times talked about pronunciation of divine letter recitations with a Tabligh karkon who was in charge in prayer services in musalla. It is actually for his own benefit because I only talk when I care and love my faithful brothers and sisters. I don't usually pointing errors in front of people because I care about people's around dignity. It's not that I want to teach him or anyone. I don't really pay attention to people around, even looking at people's face would be a big problem for me unless if I feel it is a need to display His love and mercy on others. I actually hope that people around would also do the same to me if I did anything wrong in my practices and other rituals. 

If we are among those mentioned by the prophet in the hadith, then our asset (of the merits) would be in doom since the first would be repeatedly asked to us in the judgement is regarding salaat. If we passed the salaat chapter, then other chapters of ritual would be accepted too. This is only regarding those who perform salaat, while those who leave salaat has another story.

Those incidents happened to our salafi brothers of the past because they understood the levels of salaat in Islamic teachings. Salaat is a pillar of the law of life. Many of us think that salaat has no value at all in our life. In a hadith, there is a mention about salaat is the line which differentiate us with non-Muslims. It's not at our name, ethnicity, racial background, or anything. Whomever leaves salat without any sensible reason, he or she is already a disbeliever. I didn't really perform salaat or pray when I was in lower secondary school as I didn't believe in the God and followed others' way of life, so technically it is counted as infidelity toward the pillars of faith which also ruined my pillars of religion. I recompense them again after my repentance but yet I don't know whether He accepts them. However, honorable Imam Syafi'ie have no courage to put the infidelity stamp on those 'Muslims' who do not perform salaat due to that it is a heavy charge. He only states that those who do not perform salaat as hypocrites. However the real hadith says that those who do not perform salaat are infidels and disbelievers. This is how the good salafi brothers of the past analyze the role of salaat according to the teaching of His path.

When we leave salaat, we are also falling into disgracefulness. Like the ustad said, "nak kata lembu, bukan lembu tetapi orang jugak." In a narration, it says that Allah 'Azza wa Jalla has divided the motions of salaat into 40, 000 lines of angels. It means each line has 70, 000 angels with 10, 000 of them only stands straight without any bowing in their line, 10, 000 others bowing while others glorifying the God in another line but do not prostrate, and 10, 000 others are prostrating without rising up their heads.

Angels of the God have intelligence but they have no lust or physical feelings. So, they won't feel tired in those acts of prayers. Human like us if we stand for long, we would feel like we are going to pass out. Then many things appear in our mind such as, "this imam isn't going to pass out??? why is he bowing so long without prostration???" The God is standardizing our acts of prayer with the act of prayers of the angles. However, we do those four acts of prayer alternately in a unit of prayer and with rests because the God knows that we are limited and can't do prayers exactly like those angels. Angels never disobey the God. They will remain like the acts of prayer such as prostrating, bowing, glorifying Him or standing straight in their lines where they are ordered to be in until the Resurrection. This is different from the TV serials like Supernatural jah. We have no time to mock metaphysical matters like the movie makers in the States.

We human are so banyak srongeh lah (fussy). If we are in charge as imam, we must be fair with modest acts of prayer. Before we raise up for takbeeratul ihram or respecting the Lord the Greatest, we must look at the people who follows us in the acts of prayer. Whether there are elders who can't stand long, whether there are travelers who can't stay long because they are in rush, or whether there are breast-feeding mothers. Don't be like... we are memorizing the divine letters until we care less about people behind us by reciting like three pages of divine letter. Simplify the salaat and prayers as possible if there are elders and other disables in the congregation behind as the ma'mum (followers). 

to be continued, inshiAllah...           

Salat: Concentration in Prayers I

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!
Notes from the lecture of Ustad Yeop Sa'idin 

All praises belongs only to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla, Lord of the Universe. Praising Allah, the King of kings... O our Lord, open up for us Your Wisdom and gather for us from the bountiful of Your blessings. O the One who is Merciful full of Blessings! 

Our title today is about tama'ninah in salat. It means that our body stays still according to the pillars of fi'lee (acts) where it consists of i'tidal (bowing) and tama'ninah. 

Tama'ninah means that we stay still in our salaat while chanting glory be to Allah. Tama'ninah in this sense means, concentration and tranquility. There is a narration about Rabi' bin Haitham while he was performing his salaat. Rabi' bin Haitham is an example of a salafi or the earliest followers of the prophet s.a.w. While he was performing his salaat, there came a thief and stealing his horse. People around who witnessed the incident cursed the thief. Rabi' said that he saw the thief and he realized that he untied the rope which ties his horse. People around asked: "then why don't you stop your salaat and chase after him????!"

This incident has shown us that salaat is among important things for these people. Rabi' bin Haitham said that his salaat and prayers is more important than his horse. He can just stop his salaat if there are urgent things coming up like nature calls but he said that his horse is not as urgent as his obedience to the God. He can stop his salaat and chase after the thief but he refused to. He wanted to concentrate on his salaat and prayers because he had made his promise in the iftitah (opening) prayer in salaat: "I turn up my face only to You who creates the heavens and earth..." thus he must not go against his promise in prayers. 

We must strive hard to concentrate in our salaat due to that He prepares us the place of torment which is the Unfortunate Hell and losing focus in prayers is a sin (surah al-Ma'un). The God knows that we are able to concentrate because if we have no capability to do that, why did He asks us to do it? Let us check surah al-Mu'minun verses 1-9. Who are the ones achieving success in the world and the hereafter? It says that indeed the ones who are successful among the faithful servants males and females are the ones who concentrate in prayers and salaat.

The first source for us to achieve concentration in salaat and prayers is that we must take a good care on our food sources. They must be halal (legal) and no doubtfulness in it. We need to be careful with something which looks physically legal but it brings doubt because doubtfulness will lead us to prohibition or haram. Sometimes prohibited stuffs could look like the legal ones. Our noble prophet peace be upon him said, many people care less about doubtful stuffs and it is not good for heart purification. How could we concentrate in salaat with doubtful stuffs that we take? Through salaat and heart purification, we will gain the success in the world and the hereafter.

We pray and supplicate to Allah for us to be given goodness in the world and the hereafter, being saved from the torment of the hell. We can concentrate in our salaat. Our Lord gives us only one heart. If we have two hearts, then it would not be wrong if we think of many things while performing salaat which leads us to lack of focus to Him.  

There was an incident of another salafi brother of the past who prayed in an orchard and he saw birds in the orchard flying here and there. He was astonished with those birds and careless in his salaat. He had forgotten that he was in salaat, so he lament himself after he realized that. He sold out his orchard for charity because he had done a great sin. These people had reached the level faith where they feel so sinful although the error is only in one salaat. 

We aren't yet at that level of faithful servants. But we still need to strive hard so that we won't be careless in our salaat and prayers. At least we could imagine the letters of the divine revelation in the salaat, since we might not all understand Arabic because it is not our mother tongue or daily language. This is a jihad or an effort on our selves. It means that we have efforts to perform something diligently to please the Lord and not being an irresponsible servant of the Lord. We are not only performing salaat according to the thirteen pillars of salaat but also with our heart and soul facing Him. 

If jihad is about to kill others with swords or bombs, then we would have to bomb or kill ourselves because we are careless in salaat, hahaha. What a crazy notion. I hope cable medias could stop this nonsense sense on jihad or at least learn Arabic. Don't show that Western civilization are of the people who are lazy in pretext of academics because many people respect Western civilization especially after the establishment of the European Union. 

The same should also goes to the States. It is among the champion of humanity where many had fled to the States due to the messy situation in the Europe in the past. No need to be a Muslim to understand Arabic. It is among ancient dialects of Semitic world like Hebrew and Aramaic.

The meaning of certain words in these languages would be broadly translated. English only began as a rough tongue of barbaric Germanic and Scandinavian tribes in British Island around the 6th C while Arabic had been around the world since BCE with ancient Arabian tribes who were the nomadic people of the Middle East descended from Shem the son of Noah.

Umar bin al-Khattab may Allah be pleased with him had also cried while performing salaat until his beard becomes wet because of his tears. Abu Bakar may Allah be pleased with him can still concentrate in salaat while the house is burned down in a fire. He could feel the burning of hell fire if he runs away without completing his salaat and turning his face away from Him while in obedience.  

Allah 'Azza wa Jalla would at least would prevent us from the torment if we have the efforts because He knows that we have the effort to concentrate although the concentration is not coming. Honorable Imam al-Ghazali had said that keeping the salaat means that performing the salaat in term of the physical acts of salaat and concentration in salaat with care. 

There are 13 physical acts of salaat. We can check it in furu'uddin or the branches of the path. For example our forehead should not being covered with our scull cap since our neck should be lower (for male), or else our salaat wouldn't be complete. Because a physical part of salaat which is prostration is not complete. There are 7 parts of prostration which are the forehead, palms, knees, and six fingers at our feet.     

to be continued...