Salah: The Meaning of the Muslim Prayer
Ever seen a Muslim at prayer? Ever wondered
what are they really doing? Are they saying some meaningless chants, mantra's, or maybe just complaining to God about something?
Well, now is an opportunity for you know!
When the time for prayer arrives, we perform
udhu (ablution) to clean ourselves before standing in
prayer before God. We face toward the Kaaba (The
House of Allah in
Allah is the Greatest.
All Glory be
to Thee, O Allah! And Praise be to Thee; blessed is Thy Name and Exalted Thy
Majesty; and there is none worthy of worship besides Thee.
I seek protection from the deception
of Satan, and I begin in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the
Merciful.
Then we recite the first sura
(chapter) of the Qur'an, called Fatiha,
meaning the Opening:
All Praise is due to Allah, Lord of
the worlds, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Master of
the Day of Judgement. Thee alone we worship and Thee
alone we ask for help. Show us the straight path, the path to those whom Thou
hast favored, not (the path of) those who earn Thine
anger nor (of) those who go astray. Amen.
After this we recite another sura (chapter) from the Qur'an of
our choice (but keeping the order in mind). Then we go to ruku
(bending), and we say (usually three times),
How Glorious is my Lord, the Great!
And then we stand up straight, and say,
Allah has listened to him who has
praised him.
Then we go for sejda
(bowing), placing our forehead on the ground, and say three times,
All Glory be to my Lord, the Most
High.
Then we come to the sitting position to go
back to bowing again. In between we say,
O Allah! Forgive me and have mercy
upon me.
After the second bowing we go back to our
standing position depending on how many rakah (phases
or rounds) of prayer it is. And repeat the process. And at the end, we remain
at the sitting position and say the followings,
All reverence, all worship, all
sanctity are due to Allah. Peace be on you O Prophet! And the Mercy of Allah and His Blessings. Peace be on us and all the righteous servants of Allah. I bear
witness to the fact that none is deserving of worship except Allah and I bear
witness to the fact that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger.
O Allah! Shower Thy Blessings on
Muhammad and his descendants as Thou did shower Thy Blessings on Abraham and
his descendants; verily, Thou are the Praise worthy, the Glorious.
O Allah! Bless Muhammad and his
descendants as Thou did bless Abraham and his descendants; verily, thou art the
Praise worthy, the Glorious.
O Allah! I have been extremely unjust
to myself and none grants forgiveness against sins but Thou; therefore forgive
me Thou with the forgiveness that comes from Thee and have mercy upon me.
Verily, Thou art the Forgiver, the Merciful.
At the end of the prayer we give salutation
to the Angels on the right and the left shoulder who are constantly recording all
our actions and activities, by saying,
Peace be upon
you and the mercy of Allah.
And thus the prayer formally ends.
Now you know the detail of our prayer.
Therefore, if you ever happen to employ a Muslim in your business or
organization who requests you give him or her some consideration or break
during prayers, please be considerate and approve it. By doing so, you would
not only make God happy, but also the Muslim happy. Who in turn would be
thankful and considerate to your needs and demands.
Although unfortunate, but true, majority of
the Muslims around the world do not understand Arabic. And we recite all of the
above in Arabic. Which most Muslims memorize without
understanding. Therefore, many Muslim would not know the meanings
presented above, unless he or she is Arabic speaking.
Courtesy: The B.C. Muslim Association,