7ay 3ala el Salah – Come to prayer

Everyone says that the single most important religious act is prayer. I stress on act because religion is a matter of the heart and acting is a matter of the world. we don’t pray in our heads or else life would have been so much easier, that’s because if prayer was in the heart and the head only, we’d all hear the Azan, and think “I’m praying now” and forget all about it. The fact that it’s an act is that it requires that we get up, do Wodou’, dress up in a certain way (for girls at least), stand in a certain way, and perform certain rituals that are the sub-actions of praying.

The actions of praying take energy and commitment. Energy because u have to get up and get down and go wash and all that, and commitment because u can go wash and then forget to pray, or get distracted by a phone call. Or even simply forget! So if a person is not committed to praying before actually praying, they won’t pray, will they?!

At some point in my life, I lost both the energy and commitment. I don’t know which was lost first, nor does it matter I think. The point is I stopped praying completely, and it was not easy getting it back without a certain train of thoughts that I am now sharing. So follow carefully.

First argument: there is no doubt that God created us and all that is around us, has bestowed upon us countless gifts, some we understand, others we don’t. So it would only make sense to do what God has asked us as a form of gratitude, or even paying a debt so to speak. If the price of what we have is to pray and fast and all that, then we should do it because we can see and hear and walk and have hands and legs and hearts that beat and brains that keep us alive.

Second argument: it is quite apparent that God does not do anything pointlessly -3abathan, then there is a certain value for praying that I just cannot grasp yet, and maybe if I pray with heart I’ll find it out. Will I pray to figure out the mystery of prayer? Probably not, but I trust God that prayer has some value to me and that value will be revealed to me when I pray with my heart rather than with my head.

Third argument: I love Allah, and I know that even though I may have not been the best follower, He loves me too. Like a parent who is too tired of their child’s mischief, they let them do what they want until they get tired of it and get back to the path on their own, their hearts filled with conviction. So I will do it for my Love, my God, even though I don’t necessarily feel like it. If I do something I’m not necessarily happy about because it would please the person I love on eath, wouldn’t I do something for Him who I love up in heaven?

Fourth argument: God is powerful and scary, so if I don’t pray out of respect for God as the highest power, or for all of the above, then I will pray out of fear of Him.

With that train of thought, I found out that the first thing I think about when I think about God is this utter conviction in His existence, in Islam, and that my salvation is with him and only him, and the absolute last thing was that God should be feared.

Isn’t Allah Grand? Allaho Akbar :)