Hope for Salat

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful

Asalamo-Alaikum, 

This is a very important topic, especially with Ramadhan coming up. I will not be able to do justice to this topic, but I will still try my best. I will be jumping with joy if just one person is able to improve their Salat in the least bit as a result of this post.May Allah enable me so.

Let me first clarify the importance of Salat. We all know the five pillars of Islam: Shahada, Salat, Zakat, Sawm, Hajj. Shahada and Salat are so closely linked that they cannot be separated without losing the other. Now reflect on Zakat, Sawm, and Hajj. How important is Salat? It is so important that Allah has been prescribed 5 times a day. Not once a year like Zakat, or one month a year like Sawm, or once in your life like Hajj.

Don't give up hope if you have not been able to establish Salat 5 times a day. If you have faltered earlier, I am sure it is only because nobody has given you direction in this matter. To me it is more worrisome that many offer their prayers daily but are only doing it ritualistically. Ritual prayer is not true Salat, only those who have tasted true Salat even for a minute moment can understand this reality. 

I can give you hope that there is more past these rituals, and anyone who strives for it, can taste true Salat. I can affirm this from personal experience. Although I have not achieved true Salat in every prayer, I have been able to taste moments of true Salat several times a week. It is a continuous effort and struggle to bring every prayer to what can be called true Salat. This effort is like a child who finds a lighter and fervently rolls the wheel trying harder and harder to light a flame. As the sparks fly with each attempt there is great hope that a flame would be lit. One should never give up,  as what is now sparks will soon be a flame.

I will leave a few quotes that brought me out from a state of offering no prayers, into mostly ritualistic prayers. And now where I can often taste moments of true Salat. This taste is sufficient to begin a chase in hopes of deriving pleasure from every single moment in Salat. 

For each quote, please read it, read it, and read it. Then when you have understood it completely, please read it again. They are very deep, and you will not grasp the deep wisdom and meanings at once. Again, personal experience here.

What is Salat? It is a supplication addressed to the Lord of Honour without which a person cannot be truly alive, nor can he procure any means of security and happiness. When God Almighty bestows this grace upon a person it is only then that he obtains true comfort. From that moment he will begin to feel pleasure and delight in Salat. As he derives pleasure from delicious food he will begin to derive pleasure from his weeping and crying in Salat. Before he experiences that condition in his Salat it is necessary that he should persist in Salat as he swallows bitter medicine so that he may be restored to health. In the same way it is necessary for him to persist in Salat and in making his supplications while he derive no pleasure from them. In such condition he should seek pleasure and delight in Salat with the supplication:  

Allah! Thou knowest how blind and sightless I am, and at the moment I am like the dead. I know that in a little while I shall be called and shall present myself before Thee and no one will be able to stop me. But my heart is blind and unenlightened. Do Thou cause to descend upon it such a flame of light that thereby it may be inspired with Thy love and devotion to Thee. Do Thou bestow upon me such grace that I shall not be raised up sightless nor join the blind.

When he supplicates in this manner and persists in the supplication he will see that a time will arrive when something will descend upon him while he is engaged in such type of prayer which will melt his heart. 

The way of the Holy Prophet (saw) was that at a time of difficulty he made his ablutions and stood up in Salat and made his supplications in the Salat. My experience is that nothing takes one so near to God as Salat. The various postures of the Salat demonstrate respect, humility and meekness. In Qiyam (standing posture) the worshipper stands with his arms folded as a slave stands respectfully before his master and king. In Ruku‘ (bowing) the worshipper bends down in humility. The climax of humility is reached in Sajdah (prostration), which indicates extreme helplessness. 

I tell you again that if you wish to establish a true relationship with God, hold fast to Salat in such a way that your body and your tongue and your spiritual designs and emotions should all become a true embodiment of Salat.

InshAllah I will post more on how to establish Salat. I felt it was it is important to first get an idea of what one is aiming to establish.