Prayer: The most important worship ritual of Islam

The objective of Islam is purification of the soul. Attainment of excellence in this purification relies on a person's relationship of servitude with the Almighty. The stronger this relationship, the greater a person is able to achieve purification both in his concepts and in his deeds.
Love, fear, sincerity, faithfulness and gratitude as an acknowledgement of His innumerable favours and blessings are the inner manifestations of this relationship. In the life of a person, this relationship manifests in the form of the following three: worship, obedience and support.
In the religion of the Prophets, worship rituals are prescribed to serve as a reminder for this relationship. Prayer, zakah, 'umrah and animal sacrifice are worship, the rituals of Fasting and i'tikaf are a symbolic expression for obedience, while the ritual of hajj is a symbolic expression for offering support and help for the cause of Allah.
The most important worship ritual of Islam is the prayer. A little deliberation shows that the essence of religion is comprehension of God and, with emotions of fear and love, an expression of humility and meekness before Him. The most prominent expression of this essence is worship. Invoking and glorifying Him, praising and thanking Him and kneeling and prostrating before Him are the practical manifestations of worship. The prayer is nothing but an expression of these manifestations and, with graceful poise, combines all of them.
The prayer occupies extra-ordinary importance in religion. The status monotheism occupies in beliefs is exactly the same as the prayer occupies in deeds. It has been made mandatory to ingrain the remembrance of God in a person. It is evident from the Qur'an that the prayer is the foremost consequence of the comprehension of Allah which one gets after being reminded by His revelations and, as a result of this comprehension, of the emotions of love and gratitude that appear for the Almighty or should appear in a person.
It is the pillar of Islam and is among the requisites for a person to be called a Muslim both in this world and in the Hereafter. It is a means to remain steadfast on Islam, a vehicle for countering hardships and wipes out sins. It is the identity of true preaching, a means of perseverance on the truth and the nature of every object of this universe and real life.
When the comprehension of God, His remembrance and memory and the feeling of His nearness reaches their pinnacle, it becomes the prayer. All the sages of the world are unanimous that real life is the life of the soul and this life is nothing but the remembrance of God, His cognisance and the sense of nearness to Him. Only the prayer can furnish and afford such a life to man.
HISTORY OF THE PRAYER: The history of the prayer is as old as religion itself. The concept of prayer is present in every religion and its rituals and timings are also identifiable in these religions. The hymns sung by the Hindus, the chants of the Zoroastrians, the invocations of the Christians and the psalms of the Jews are all its remnants. The Qur'an has informed us that all the Prophets of God have directed their followers to offer it. It also occupies the most prominent position in the religion of the Prophet Abraham (sws) which the Prophet Muhammad (sws) revived in Arabia.
When the Qur'an directed people to pray, it was nothing unknown to them. They were fully aware of its pre-requites and etiquette, rituals and utterances. Consequently, it was not required that the Qur'an mention its details. Just as it used to be offered as a practice of Abraham's religion, the Prophet (sws) at the behest of the Qur'an promulgated it with certain changes among his followers and they are offering it generation after generation in the same manner.
PRE-REQUISITES OF THE PRAYER FOLLOWING ARE THE PRE-REQUISITES OF THE PRAYER:
A person must have done the ceremonial ablution (wudu) and in case of janabah or menstruation or puerperal discharge must have taken the ceremonial bath.
In case of being on a journey or being sick or in case of non-availability of water, a person can offer the tayammum (dry ablution) if it becomes difficult for him to do the ceremonial ablution and the ceremonial bath.
A PERSON MUST FACE THE QIBLAH:
The method of doing wudu is that first the face shall be washed and then hands up to the elbows shall be washed and after that the whole of the head shall be wiped and after that the feet shall be washed.
Once wudu is done, it remains intact as long as something which terminates it is not encountered. Consequently, the directive of wudu is for the state in which it no longer remains intact except if a person does wudu in spite of being in the state of wudu for the sake of freshness.
If, in the case of a journey, sickness or unavailability of water, wudü and the ceremonial bath become difficult, the Almighty has allowed the believers to do tayammum (dry ablution). It is done in the following way: hands should be rubbed on a clean surface and wiped over the face and hands. It suffices for all type of impurities. It can thus be done both after things that terminate the wudu and after having sexual intercourse with the wife in place of the ceremonial bath. Moreover, in case of being on a journey or being sick, tayammum can be done even if water is available.
Tayammum, no doubt, does not clean a person; however, a little deliberation shows that it serves as a reminder of the real means of achieving cleanliness and as such has special importance. The temperament of the shari'ah is that if a directive cannot be followed in its original form or it becomes very difficult to follow it, then lesser forms should be adopted to serve as its reminder. One big benefit of this is that once circumstances return to normal, one becomes inclined to follow the directive in its original form.
PRAYER TIMINGS: It is incumbent upon the Muslims to pray five times a day. The time of each prayer is as follows: fajr, zuhr, asr, maghrib and 'isha. When the whiteness of the dawn emerges from the darkness of the night, then this is fajr. When the sun starts to descend from midday, then this is zuhr. When the sun descends below the line of sight, then this is asr.
The time of sunset is maghrib.
When the redness of dusk disappears, this is 'isha.The time of fajr remains till sunrise, the time of zuhr remains till asr begins, the time of asr remains till maghrib, the time of maghrib remains till 'isha and the time of isha remains till midnight. The times of sunrise and sunset are prohibited for praying since the sun used to be worshiped at these times. These timings have remained the same during the era of other Prophets as well.
CONCESSION IN THE PRAYER: If the time of the prayer arrives in dangerous, disturbing, or disorderly circumstances, the Almighty has allowed a person to pray while on foot or riding in whatever way possible. In these circumstances, it is evident that there shall be no congregational prayer, facing the qiblah shall not be necessary, and, in some situations, it shall not be possible to offer the prayer according to the prescribed method.
If such a situation arises during a journey, the Qur'an has further said that people can shorten the prayer. In religious parlance, this is called qasr. The sunnah established by the Prophet (sws) in this regard is that the four rak'at prayer shall be shortened to two. No reduction shall be made in two and three rak'at prayers. Consequently, the fajr and the maghrib prayers were offered in full in such circumstances. The reason is that while the former already has two rak'at, the latter is considered as the witr of daytime, and this status of the maghrib prayer cannot be changed.
From this concession granted in the prayer, concession has also been deduced in the times it is offered. Consequently, in such journeys the zuhr and the asr prayers can be combined and the maghrib and the 'isha can also be combined and offered together.
THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER: Although the prayer can be offered alone, it is desirable that it be offered in congregation and if possible in a place of worship. For this very purpose, the Prophet (sws) built a mosque as soon as he reached Madinah and with this the practice of building mosques in all localities and settlements of Muslims was initiated. Praying in a mosque and showing diligence in praying in congregation is a highly rewarding practice earning the blessings of the Almighty. Though women are exempted from this, men should not deprive themselves of this without any valid reason.
Following is the prescribed way of offering the congregational prayer. a. Before this prayer, the adhan shall be called out so that people are able to join the prayer after hearing this call.
b. If there is only one follower, he will stand adjacent to the imam on his right side and if there are many followers they shall stand behind him and he shall stand in the centre ahead of them.
c. The iqamah shall be called before the prayer begins. All the words of the adhan shall be uttered in it; however, after the words (the prayer is ready to be offered) shall be said by the person who says the iqamah.
d. The words of the adhan can be repeated more than once for the purpose they are said.
e. The words of the iqamah also can similarly be repeated if there is a need.
- Courtesy Renaissance