"‘Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr used to prostrate in prayer
until the birds would settle on his back thinking he was a wall.”
“When Ibn Az-Zubayr was performing the prayer, it was as if
he was a branch shaken by the wind and catapult shots would be falling here and
there and he would be heedless of them.”
Maymoon ibn Mihraan said, "I never saw
Muslim ibn Yasaar turning his head while praying. Once, a part of the Masjid
collapsed and the noise terrified the people who were as far away as the
market, and he was inside the Masjid praying and he never even moved his
head."
Maymoon ibn Mihraan also said, "When
Muslim ibn Yasaar entered the house, those who were there would become silent,
and when he stood up for prayer, they would start talking and laughing."
Dear reader,
The young person who is reading these incidents is either
one of two:
First: A young person who reads them for the first time
and therefore he will be surprised and ask himself: how did such people attain
this degree of humble submission?
Second: A young person who knows these situations and
read them before and therefore he will say to himself: whenever I read these
situations, I try to be humbly submissive in prayer and I do so for several
days and then return to my previous state.
Whatever the case may be, you are kindly invited to answer
this important question:
Do you imagine the degree of humble submission that our
righteous predecessors reached?
A person on whose back birds would alight when he was in
prostration and he would not feel their presence was not, at that moment, in
this worldly life. Rather, he was absorbed in his prayer to the marrow. You can
imagine that there are people whom birds wake up from their sleep, not merely distract
them from prayer.
A person near whom a side of the Masjid collapses while he
does not even make a simple turn to know what happened -- certainly his mind
and heart were out of the Masjid. They were there, with Allah The Almighty.
When we talk about those who are humbly submissive in
prayer, we do not mention these situations in order to get frustrated and
disappointed when we compare them to our current state in prayer. Rather, we
mention them in order to clarify that the prayer is not just an act of worship
that when a person performs he will enter Paradise
and when he leaves he will be punished by Allah The Almighty; rather, it is
something greater than this.
Once we were talking about humble submission in prayer and
one of our Muslim brothers told me something that I will never forget. He
said, "If the callers to Allah managed to perform the prayer
correctly, the Ummah's state would immediately change."
Prayer is a special world filled with pleasure. If a person
is able to live in this world, then he has got the most pleasant thing in this
world -- which is, talking privately to Allah The Almighty.
Therefore, it is necessary that our view of the prayer
should change. It is not just a set of movements that we perform; rather, it is
an act of worship which revives the heart, purifies the body, refines the mind
and blesses one’s life.
The important question now is: How can I be humbly
submissive in prayer and enter into this delightful world that we have just
talked about?
First: you are required to avoid acts of disobedience
as much as possible, particularly those which are related to sexual desire
including giving free reign to your eyesight, masturbation, and so on. Many
youths complain that they are unable to be humbly submissive in prayer because Satan
comes to them at the beginning of prayer and starts to recall sexual images and
scenes from their memories. Thereupon, the young man tries to ward this off but
he fails and ends the prayer while he is more grieved than before. The only
means to avoid this is to keep away one's memory from these things in
principle. If your memory is indeed full of these things, you have to start
deleting them and then refill it, but this time with the Quran.
Second: you must exalt the prayer and know that you
will not worship Allah The Almighty with something more beloved to Him than the
prayer. As the Messenger of Allah, , indicated, you should
know that Allah The Almighty only accepts the prayers when the servant is
attentive and humbly submissive. This should be your first and main concern
when you start the prayer.
Third: you should supplicate Allah The Almighty to
grant you humbleness in prayer and accept it even though you do not perform it
perfectly. This is one of the most important reasons because supplication is
the believer's weapon, as the Messenger of Allah, , told us.
Fourth: you should learn the correct manner of prayer
including all the positions of prostration, bowing and standing, as the
Prophet, , performed it. You should
try to imitate him as much as possible in your prayer.
Fifth: read what the scholars wrote about the secrets
of prayer and the rationale behind each of its pillars; or listen to what the
callers to Allah The Almighty say about this matter.
Sixth: try as much as possible to perform a voluntary
prayer before performing the obligatory one in order to get yourself ready for
it.
Seventh: you should be keen to perform the prayer in
congregation at the Masjid. Try as much as possible to attend
the Takbeerah of Ihram (saying Allaahu Akbar while one
is standing at the beginning of the prayer) along with the Imam. When
Allah The Almighty sees how keen you are to perfectly perform the prayer, He
will grant you humble submission in prayer.
Finally: Do not feel despair despite making numerous
attempts, because, believe me, it is worth it.
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