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Building Khushu' in One's Salah
Building Khushu' in One's Salah
The Purpose of Salah
It is imperative for you to know that salah is, without any doubt, the domain of tranquility for devotees (muhibbin), the enjoyment of the souls of the monothiests (muwahidin), the garden of the worshippers (‘aabidin), the essence of enjoyment of the humble ones (khashi’in), the test of the sincere ones (sadiqin), and the scale measuring the mettle of those embarking the right path (salikin). It is truly a devine Mercy that Allah has gifted to His believing servants that He has Guided them to, and acquainted them with. He delegated His truthful and honest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), to deliver this gift to His believing servants in order that they may attain a noble status with Him. Through its means He dignifies, honors and showers them with His Mercy, and allows them to win His Nearness. He bestows upon His believing servants all this although He is in no need of them, He just wants to lavish them with this gracious gift to show His Favour upon them and bring their hearts and bodies altogether into His servitude.The Internal Condition of The Prayer
There are many works signifying the internal condition of the prayer, but they can be gathered under six points:Servitude in al-Takbir
The ‘abd (of Allah) is then ordered to stand with his face in the direction of the qiblah all the while having his heart facing Him as well (being fully attentive to Him) so as to renounce his previous state of rebellion and to stop turning away (from his Lord). The slave (of Allah) should therefore stand before his Master in humility and submission calling for His Compassion with his hands thrown at his sides and his head low, while at the same time his heart is fully attentive to Him in a state of humility, as he devotes all his senses to His service and glorification by declaring with his tongue and proclaiming in his heart that He is the Greatest, which is to express that Allah is greater than anything he may have in his heart. And he affirms this statement by dismissing everything except Allah from his heart so his heart is completely occupied with Allah and nothing else. This is because occupying himself with anything else would connote that he finds what he is busy with is of more importance or greater than Allah. Indeed, a person whose heart is busied with what distracts him from Allah (in salah) is someone whose heart does not conform to the statement made by his tongue declaring Allah is the Greatest. Having the heart in harmony with the tongue when saying that Allah is the Greatest will strip the heart from the attire of arrogance as such a garment does not befit the state of his enslavement to Allāh. Furthermore, it would prevent the heart from thinking of anything except Allāh. This is because the rights of these two words; Allāh is Greater than everything (no Vail), and the resolve to establish his servitude to Allāh through the takbir protects the heart from the aforementioned defects (being occupied with something else other than Allāh and wearing a garment that does not befit the servitude to Allāh).Servitude in al-Istiftah
سبحانك اللهم و بحمدك
He then glorifies Him and praises Him in repetition with what befits Him, he comes out of the state of heedlessness that stands as a barrier between him and Allah. Then, he greets and praises with expressions that befit His Kingship when someone enters upon Him, to glorify Him and as a prelude to his own needs and requests that he hopes the Kind to grant. This is why praising over and over again is considered from the etiquettes of expressing one’s servitude to Allah and glorifying Him, and the means whereby the ‘abd receives the attention of Allah as well as His pleasure and approval to fulfill his requests.The State of the ‘abd in al-Qira’ah and al-Isti’adhah
As he is about to recite the Qur’ān, he precedes it by seeking refuge in Allāh from the accursed Satan who never spares any effort in his tireless endeavor, to bring about the downfall of the ‘abd (of Allāh) – especially when the ‘abd is in a station of utmost honor (i.e. șalāh) while seeking to perform the single most beneficial deed for this life and the Hereafter. Hence, he (Satan) is fervently determined to prevent the ‘abd (of Allāh) from praying by any means; failing to do so he wants to see to it that at the very least, his heart does not benefit from it (i.e. the salāh) by casting into his heart all sorts of whispers and thoughts to distract it from fulfilling the duties of servitude to Allāh. Therefore Allāh has ordered His slave to take refuge in Him from Satan (before starting his recitation in salāh) to assure the safety of his salāh, so that his heart may be revived and illuminated by the understanding he acquires from contemplating the words of Allāh as He is the Master in whose hand is the success, grace and life of his heart. This also explains why Satan is keen to distract his heart from understanding the words of Qur’ān when recited.The State of the ‘abd in al-Fatihah
A person should pause a little at the end of each ayah he recites from al-Fātiḥah to wait for the response from his Lord; as if he is waiting to hear Him to say, “My abd has praised Me” when he recites;ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
“All Praises and thanks are due to Allāh, the Lord of all Worlds”
ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
“The All-Merciful, The Most Merciful’’
مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ
“Master of the Day of Judgement
سبإِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
“You Alone we worship and You Alone we ask for help”
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
“All Praises and thanks are due to Allāh, the Lord of all Worlds”
The Meanings of Al-Hamd
The praise entitled to Him fills up this worldly life and the Hereafter as does the heavens and earth and all that is between them and contained within them. The entire universe utters His Praise. The creation, its affairs, existence and non existence as well as its sustainability owe themselves to His Praiseworthiness. Truly, everything exists just to praise Him for it is the objective and purpose of every creature. Every object in existence attests to the praise that He is entitled to; the Messengers He sent and the Books He sent down entail that He be praised; the creation of Paradise and Hell calls for praising Him. Paradise inhabited with its people and Hell inhabited with its people testify to the praise He is entitled for.قَسَمْتُ الصَّلاَةَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ عَبْدِي نِصْفَيْنِ وَلِعَبْدِي مَا سَأَلَ
” I have divided the prayer into two halves between Me and My servant, and My servant will receive what he asks.’
[Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 41]
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