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| gencnurCom | The
Ninth Word In
the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Brother!
You ask me concerning the wisdom in the specified times
of the five daily prayers. I shall point out only one of
the many instances of wisdom in the times. Yes,
like each of the times of prayer marks the start of an
important revolution, so also is each a mirror to Divine
disposal of power and to the universal Divine bounties
within that disposal. Thus, more glorification and
extolling of the All-Powerful One of Glory have been
ordered at those times, and more praise and thanks for
all the innumerable bounties accumulated between each of
the times, which is the meaning of the prescribed
prayers. In order to understand a little this subtle and
profound meaning, you should listen together with my own
soul to the following five ‘Points’. FIRST
POINT The
meaning of the prayers is the offering of glorification,
praise, and thanks to Almighty God. That is to say,
uttering Glory be to God by word and action before
God’s glory and sublimity, it is to hallow and worship
Him. And declaring God is Most Great through word
and act before His sheer perfection, it is to exalt and
magnify Him. And saying All praise be to God with
the heart, tongue, and body, it is to offer thanks before
His utter beauty. That is to say, glorification,
exaltation, and praise are like the seeds of the prayers.
That is why these three things are present in every part
of the prayers, in all the actions and words. It is also
why these blessed words are each repeated thirty-three
times after the prayers, in order to strengthen and
reiterate the prayers’ meaning. The meaning of the
prayers is confirmed through these concise summaries. ____________________ 1.
Qur’an, 30:17-18. The
Words / Ninth Word - p.52 SECOND
POINT The
meaning of worship is this, that the servant sees his own
faults, impotence, and poverty, and in the Also,
the perfect power of dominicality requires that through
understanding his own weakness and the impotence of other
creatures, the servant proclaims God is Most Great
in admiration and wonder before the majesty of the works
of the Eternally Besought One’s power, and bowing in
deep humility seeks refuge in Him and places his trust in
Him. Also,
the infinite treasury of dominicality’s mercy requires
that the servant makes known his own need and the needs
and poverty of all creatures through the tongue of
entreaty and supplication, and proclaims his
Sustainer’s bounties and gifts through thanks and
laudation and uttering All praise be to God. That
is to say, the words and actions of the prayers comprise
these meanings, and have been laid down from the side of
Divinity. THIRD
POINT Just
as man is an example in miniature of the greater world
and Sura al-Fatiha a shining sample of the Qur’an of
Mighty Stature, so are the prescribed prayers a
comprehensive, luminous index of all varieties of
worship, and a sacred map pointing to all the shades of
worship of all the classes of creatures. FOURTH
POINT The
second-hand, minute-hand, hour-hand, and day-hand of a
clock which tells the weeks look to one another, are
examples of one another, and follow one another.
Similarly, the alternations of day and night, which are
like the seconds of this world -a vast clock of Almighty
God- and the years which tell its minutes, and the stages
of man’s life-span which tell the hours, and the epochs
of the world’s life-span which tell the days look to
one another, are examples of one another, resemble one
another, and recall one another. For example: The
time of Fajr, the early morning:
This time until sunrise resembles and calls to mind the
early spring, the moment of conception in the mother’s
womb, and the first of the six days of the creation of
the heavens and earth; it recalls the Divine acts present
in them. The
Words / Ninth Word - p.53 The
time of Zuhr, just past midday:
This resembles and points to midsummer, and the prime of
youth, and the period of man’s creation in the lifetime
of the world, and calls to mind the manifestations of
mercy and the abundant bounties they contain. The
time of ‘Asr, afternoon: This
is like autumn, and old age, and the time of the Final
Prophet (PBUH), known as the Era of Bliss, and recalls
the Divine acts and favours of the All-Merciful One
present in them. The
time of Maghrib, sunset: Through
recalling the departure of many creatures at the end of
autumn, and man’s death, and the destruction of the
world at the commencement of the resurrection, this time
puts in mind the manifestations of Divine glory and
sublimity, and rouses man from his slumbers of
heedlessness. The
time of ‘Isha, nightfall. As
for this time, by calling to mind the world of darkness
veiling all the objects of the daytime world with a black
shroud, and winter hiding the face of the dead earth with
its white cerement, and even the remaining works of
departed men dying and passing beneath the veil of
oblivion, and this world, the arena of examination, being
shut up and closed down for ever, it proclaims the
awesome and mighty disposals of the All-Glorious and
Compelling Subduer. As
for the nighttime, through putting in mind both
the winter, and the grave, and the Intermediate Realm, it
reminds man how needy is the human spirit for the Most
Merciful One’s mercy. And the tahajjud
prayer informs him what a necessary light it is for the
night of the grave and darkness of the Intermediate
Realm; it warns him of this, and through recalling the
infinite bounties of the True Bestower, proclaims how
deserving He is of praise and thanks. And
the second morning calls to mind the Morning of
the Resurrection. For sure, however reasonable and
necessary and certain the morning of this night is, the
Morning of the Resurrection and the spring following the
Intermediate Realm are certain to the same degree. That
is, just as each of these five times marks the start of
an important revolution and recalls other great
revolutions, so through the awesome daily disposals of
the Eternally Besought One’s power, each calls to mind
the miracles of Divine power and gifts of Divine mercy of
both every year, and every age, and every epoch. That is
to say, the prescribed prayers, which are an innate duty
and the basis of worship and an incontestable debt, are
most appropriate and fitting for these times. The
Words / Ninth Word - p.54 FIFTH
POINT By
nature man is extremely weak, yet everything touches him,
and saddens and grieves him. Also he is utterly lacking
in power, yet the calamities and enemies that afflict him
are extremely numerous. Also he is extremely wanting, yet
his needs are indeed many. Also he is lazy and incapable,
yet life’s responsibilities are most burdensome. Also
his humanity has connected him to the rest of the
universe, yet the decline and disappearance of the things
he loves and with which he is familiar continually pains
him. Also his reason shows him exalted aims and lasting
fruits, yet his hand is short, his life brief, his power
slight, and his patience little. It
can be clearly understood from this how essential it is
for a spirit in this state at the time of Fajr
in the early morning to have recourse to and present a
petition to the Court of an All-Powerful One of Glory, an
All-Compassionate All-Beauteous One through prayer and
supplication, to seek success and help from Him, and what
a necessary point of support it is so that he can face
the things that will happen to him in the coming day and
bear the duties that will be loaded on him. The
time of Zuhr just past midday is the time
of the day’s zenith and the start of its decline, the
time when daily labours approach their achievement, the
time of a short rest from the pressures of work, when the
spirit needs a pause from the heedlessness and
insensibility caused by toil, and a time Divine bounties
are manifested. Anyone may understand then how fine and
agreeable, how necessary and appropriate it is for the
human spirit to perform the midday prayer, which means to
be released from the pressure, shake off the
heedlessness, and leave behind those meaningless,
transient things, and clasping one’s hands at the Court
of the True Bestower of Bounties, the Eternally
Self-Subsistent One, to offer praise and thanks for all
His gifts, and seek help from Him, and through bowing to
display one’s impotence before His glory and
tremendousness, and to prostrate and proclaim one’s
wonder, love, and humility. One who does not understand
this is not a true human being. As
for the time of Asr in the afternoon, it
calls to mind the melancholy season of autumn and the
mournful state of old age and the sombre period at the
end of time. It is also when the matters of the day reach
their conclusion, and the time the Divine bounties which
have been received that day like health, well-being, and
beneficial duties have accumulated to form a great total,
and the time that proclaims through the mighty sun
hinting by starting to sink that man is a guest-official
and that everything is transient and inconstant. Now, the
human spirit desires eternity and was created for it; it
worships benevolence, and is pained by separation. Thus,
anyone who is truly a human being may understand what an
exalted duty, what an appropriate The
Words / Ninth Word - p.55 service,
what a fitting way to repay a debt of human nature,
indeed, what an agreeable pleasure it is to perform the
afternoon prayer. For by offering supplications at the
Eternal Court of the Everlasting Pre-Eternal One, the
Eternally Self-Subsistent One, it has the meaning of
taking refuge in the grace of unending, infinite mercy,
and by offering thanks and praise in the face of
innumerable bounties, of humbly bowing before the
mightiness of His dominicality, and by prostrating in
utter humility before the everlastingness of His Godhead,
of finding true consolation of heart and ease of spirit,
and being girded ready for worship in the presence of His
grandeur. The
time of Maghrib at sunset recalls the
disappearance amid sad farewells of the delicate, lovely
creatures of the worlds of summer and autumn at the start
of winter. It calls to mind the time when through his
death, man will leave all those he loves in sorrowful
departure and enter the grave. It brings to mind when at
the death of this world amid the convulsions of its
death-agonies, all its inhabitants will migrate to other
worlds and the lamp of this place of examination will be
extinguished. It is a time which gives stern warning to
those who worship transient, ephemeral beloveds. Thus,
at such a time, for the Maghrib prayer,
man’s spirit, which by its nature is a mirror desirous
for an Eternal Beauty, turns its face towards the throne
of mightiness of the Eternal Undying One, the Enduring
Everlasting One, Who performs these mighty works and
turns and transforms these huge worlds, and declaring God
is Most Great over these transient beings, withdraws
from them. Man clasps his hands in service of his Lord
and rises in the presence of the Enduring Eternal One,
and through saying: All praise be to God, he
praises and extols His faultless perfection, His peerless
beauty, His infinite mercy. Through declaring: You
alone do we worship and from You alone we seek
help,2 he proclaims his worship for and
seeks help from His unassisted dominicality, His
unpartnered Godhead, His unshared sovereignty. Then he
bows, and through declaring together with all the
universe his weakness and impotence, his poverty and
baseness before the infinite majesty, the limitless
power, and utter mightiness of the Enduring Eternal One,
he says: All glory to My Mighty Sustainer, and
glorifies his Sublime Sustainer. And prostrating before
the undying Beauty of His Essence, His unchanging sacred
attributes, His constant everlasting perfection, through
abandoning all things other than Him, man proclaims his
love and worship in wonder and self-abasement. He finds
an All-Compassionate Eternal One. And through saying, All
glory to my Exalted Sustainer, he declares his Most
High Sustainer to be free of decline and exalted above
any fault. Then,
he testifies to God’s unity and the prophethood of
Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him). He sits, and
on his own account offers as ____________________ 2.
Qur’an,1:5. The
Words / Ninth Word - p.56 a
gift to the Undying All-Beauteous One, the Enduring
All-Glorious One the blessed salutations and benedictions
of all creatures. And through greeting God’s Most Noble
Messenger, he renews his allegiance to him and proclaims
his obedience to his commands. In order to renew and
illuminate his faith, he observes the wise order in this
palace of the universe and testifies to the unity of the
All-Glorious Maker. And he testifies to the Messengership
of Muhammad the Arabian (Peace and blessings be upon
him), who is the herald of the sovereignty of God’s
dominicality, the proclaimer of those things pleasing to
Him, and the interpreter of the signs and verses of the
book of the universe. To perform the Maghrib
prayer is this. So how can someone be considered a human
being who does not understand what a fine and pure duty
is the prayer at sunset, what an exalted and pleasurable
act of service, what an agreeable and pleasing act of
worship, what a serious matter, and what an unending
conversation and permanent happiness it is in this
transient guest-house? At
the time of ‘Isha at nightfall, the last
traces of the day remaining on the horizon disappear, and
the world of night enfolds the universe. As the
All-Powerful and Glorious One, The Changer of Night
and Day, turns the white page of day into the black
page of night through the mighty disposals of His
dominicality, it recalls the Divine activities of that
All-Wise One of Perfection, The Subduer of the Sun and
the Moon, turning the green-adorned page of summer
into the frigid white page of winter. And with the
remaining works of the departed being erased from this
world with the passing of time, it recalls the Divine
acts of The Creator and Life and Death in their
passage to another, quite different world. It is a time
that calls to mind the disposals of The Creator of the
Heavens and the Earth’s awesomeness and the
manifestations of His beauty in the utter destruction of
this narrow, fleeting, and lowly world, the terrible
death-agonies of its decease, and in the unfolding of the
broad, eternal, and majestic world of the hereafter. And
the universe’s Owner, its True Disposer, its True
Beloved and Object of Worship can only be the One Who
with ease turns night into day, winter into spring, and
this world into the hereafter like the pages of a book;
Who writes and erases them, and changes them. Thus,
at nightfall, man’s spirit, which is infinitely
impotent and weak, and infinitely poor and needy, and
plunged into the infinite darkness of the future, and
tossed around amid innumerable events, performs the ‘Isha
prayer, which has this meaning: like Abraham man says:
I do not love those that set,3 and through
the prayers seeks refuge at the Court of an Undying
Object of Worship, an Eternal Beloved One, and in this
transient world and fleeting life and dark world and
black future he supplicates an Enduring, ____________________ 3.
Qur’an, 6:76. The
Words / Ninth Word - p.57 Everlasting
One, and for a moment of unending conversation, a few
seconds of immortal life, he asks to receive the favours
of the All-Merciful and Compassionate One’s mercy and
the light of His guidance, which will strew light on his
world and illuminate his future and bind up the wounds
resulting from the departure and decline of all creatures
and friends. Temporarily
man forgets the hidden world, which has forgotten him,
and pours out his woes at the Court of Mercy with his
weeping, and whatever happens, before sleeping -which
resembles death- he performs his last duty of worship.
And in order to close favourably the daily record of his
actions, he rises to pray; that is to say, he rises to
enter the presence of an Eternal Beloved and Worshipped
One in place of all the mortal ones he loves, of an
All-Powerful and Generous One in place of all the
impotent creatures from which he begs, of an
All-Compassionate Protector so as to be saved from the
evil of the harmful beings before which he trembles. He
starts with the Sura al-Fatiha, that is, instead of
praising and being obliged to defective, wanting
creatures, for which they are not suited, he extols and
offers praise to The Sustainer of All the Worlds,
Who is Absolutely Perfect and Utterly Self-Sufficient and
Most Compassionate and All-Generous. Then he progresses
to the address: You alone do we worship. That is,
despite his smallness, insignificance, and aloneness,
through man’s connection with The Owner of the Day
of Judgement, Who is the Sovereign of Pre-Eternity
and Post-Eternity, he attains to a rank whereat he is an
indulged guest in the universe and an important official.
Through declaring: You alone do we worship and
from You alone do we seek help, he presents to Him in
the name of all creatures the worship and calls for
assistance of the mighty congregation and huge community
of the universe. Then through saying: Guide us to the
Straight Path, he asks to be guided to the Straight
Path, which leads to eternal happiness and is the
luminous way. And
now, he thinks of the mightiness of the All-Glorious One,
of Whom, like the sleeping plants and animals, the hidden
suns and sober stars are all soldiers subjugated to His
command, and lamps and servants in this guest-house of
the world, and uttering: God is Most Great, he
bows down. Then he thinks of the great prostration of all
creatures. That is, when, at the command of “Be!,”
and it is,4 all the varieties of creatures
each year and each century -even the earth, and the
universe- each like a well-ordered army or an obedient
soldier, is discharged from its duty, that is, when each
is sent to the World of the Unseen, through the
prostration of its decease and death with complete
orderliness, it declares: God is Most Great, and
bows down in prostration. Like they are raised to life,
some in part and some the same, in the spring at an
awakening and life-giving trumpet-blast from the command ____________________ 4.
Qur’an, 2:117, etc. The
Words / Ninth Word - p.58 of
“Be!” and it is, and they rise up and are
girded ready to serve their Lord, insignificant man too,
following them, declares: God is Most Great! in
the presence of the All-Merciful One of Perfection, the
All-Compassionate One of Beauty in wonderstruck love and
eternity-tinged humility and dignified self-effacement,
and bows down in prostration; that is to say, he makes a
sort of Ascension. For sure you will have understood now
how agreeable and fine and pleasant and elevated, how
high and pleasurable, how reasonable and appropriate a
duty, service, and act of worship, and what a serious
matter it is to perform the ‘Isha prayer. Thus,
since each of these five times points to a mighty
revolution, is a sign indicating the tremendous dominical
activity, and a token of the universal Divine bounties,
it is perfect wisdom that being a debt and an obligation,
the prescribed prayers should be specified at those
times. Glory
be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You
have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise.5 O
God! Grant blessings and peace to the one whom You sent
as a teacher to Your servants to instruct them in
knowledge of You and worship of You, and to make known
the treasures of Your Names, and to translate the signs
of the book of the universe and as a mirror to its
worship of the beauty of Your dominicality, and to all
his Family and Companions, and have mercy on us and on
all believing men and women. Amen. Through Your Mercy, O
Most Merciful of the Merciful! ____________________ 5.
Qur’an, 2:32 |
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