I sat down intending to write a small article about Salah as a private conversation with Allah. Four pages later, I found myself humbled by a realization: this is how Allah intended for us to come to Him all along.
This is what our beloved Prophet ﷺ tried to teach us. Salah was never meant to be a series of mechanical movements performed to fulfill an obligation and move on with our day. Beneath the rulings and routines lies an invitation to something far more profound: a meeting with our Lord.
Somewhere between rushing through what we “have to do” and fearing the consequences of what we neglect, many of us forget that Allah calls us to bring not only our bodies to prayer, but our hearts as well.
These are not scholarly insights or new discoveries. They are simply reflections from someone who slowed down long enough to notice the beauty that had been there all along.
No one realizes the magnitude of standing for Salah. To be on that mat before the All Mighty. Many go through it like routine rituals, the obligation I must do because it was a command. I know I used to do that until I slowed it down. Really slowed it down, broke it down into parts, and searched into it. The implication of the tremendous blessing and opportunity that we have, as muslims, through our Salah is beyond comprehension.
Let me take you through my spiritual view of it.
1. When you stand in front of Allah to pray, you need to start with the intention of the act of worship. That is the first and most important principle in Islam — your intention. Narrated `Umar bin Al-Khattab: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The rewards (of deeds) are according to the intention, and everybody will get the reward for what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for Allah’s and His Apostle’s sake, his emigration was for Allah and His Apostle; and whoever emigrated for worldly benefits, or to marry a woman, then his emigration was for the thing for what he emigrated for.” Sahih al-Bukhari 5070.
So the Niyyah (your intention) is a mandate before the start of the Salah, and intentions are not to be spoken; they sit silently within the heart, for the Muhaymin to see and witness.
So then, how to establish a sound intention? Let me help you. As you stand there ready to perform your prayers, close your eyes and answer these 3 questions:
- What act do I intend to do? (Think of your prayers, or your wudu, or your fast. Bring that thought forward)
- Confirm with your nafs, your inner self — is this act purely for the sake of Allah? Or am I doing it because I have to, so people can say I did, or because people are watching me, or so I can brag about it?
- Then think — is the act that I intend to do — to follow the command of Allah and His Prophet’s guidance?
Answer these sincerely in your heart — and establish your intention to pray.
2. When you are about to raise your palms and bring them up next to your face to glorify Allah with “Allahu Akbar” … pause a moment and think.
Allahu Akbar means Allah the greatest/ Allah is greater than (in Arabic, the superlatives are the same). Think of 1 or 2 things in your life that are troubling you immensely, and you know will distract you in your prayers. An upcoming exam, money problems, family unrest, work challenges, health issues — whatever they may be.
Bring them forward to your mind, then you mentally think — my Lord, Allah, is greater than you. He is greater than all the troubles, greater than all the challenges, greater than all the humans combined, and the Heavens and Earth and all that is in between. I am in the presence of the Great One — and confidently dismiss all that worries you and say, Allahu Akbar, and start your prayers.
3. Did you know that when you recite Surah Al Fatiha (which is also called Umm Al Quraan — literally translates to the mother of the Quran, but in essence it means the ‘core of the Quran ‘), you are having a conversation with Allah? A direct one at that?
Abu Huraira reported: The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) said: If anyone observes prayer in which he does not recite Umm al-Qur’an, It is deficient [he said this three times] and not complete. It was said to Abu Huraira: At times we are behind the Imam. He said: Recite it inwardly, for he had heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) declare that Allah the Exalted had said:
I have divided the prayer into two halves between Me and My servant, and My servant will receive what he asks.
When the servant says: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the universe, Allah the Most High says: My servant has praised Me. And when he (the servant) says: The Most Compassionate, the Merciful, Allah the Most High says: My servant has lauded Me. And when he (the servant) says: Master of the Day of judgment, He remarks: My servant has glorified Me. and sometimes He would say: My servant entrusted (his affairs) to Me.
And when he (the worshipper) says: Thee do we worship and of Thee do we ask help, He (Allah) says: This is between Me and My servant, and My servant will receive what he asks for.
Then, when he (the worshipper) says: Guide us to the straight path, the path of those to whom Thou hast been Gracious not of those who have incurred Thy displeasure, nor of those who have gone astray, He (Allah) says: This is for My servant, and My servant will receive what he asks for.
Sufyan said: ‘Ala b. ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Ya’qub narrated it to me when I went to him and he was confined to his home on account of illness, and I asked him about it. — Sahih Muslim 395a
The next time you recite the Fatiha, bring the above to your mind. Be present, and recite it slowly. You are speaking directly to your Lord.
4. Next is your Ruku. You bow down — in reverence, saluting your Creator, bowing to His presence and magnificence, seeking His grace. You bow your back to the one who created you, and everything around you, acknowledging His dominance over all creations, His supremacy over the Heavens and the Earth and all that lies in between, because no one else is worthy for you to lower your head, and your posture to other than Allah.
5. When we stand up again after Ruku, we say ‘Samia Allahu Liman Hamidah” (“Allah hears the one who praises Him”), and we answer to that claim “’ Rab.bana wa laka Al Hamd’ “Our Lord, to You be all praise, abundant, good, and blessed praise”.
The response phrase originated because of Rifa’ah bin Rafi’ Al-Zuraqi, It was spoken when a man in the congregation added to the Prophet’s regular phrase after Ruku. While praying behind the Prophet, the Prophet rose from bowing (ruku’) and said, Sami’ Allahu liman hamidah. A man in the congregation immediately added, “Our Lord, to You be all praise, abundant, good, and blessed praise”. After the prayer, the Prophet asked who spoke those words, noting he saw over thirty angels competing to record the blessing.
Use this opportunity to add your own personal thanks after it. Show Allah the gratitude and thanks he deserves, and how, by showing gratitude in turn, you are deserving to receive these blessings from Him. It will also remind you to think of the numerous blessings you are surrounded with. Allah is the All-Giving, who has blessed us with things beyond our comprehension. Some blessings are apparent to us, some are not and are hidden, some blessings we are aware of, and others we are not — but they ALL come from the Generous One.
…وَمَن يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ
“…And whoever is grateful is grateful for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever is ungrateful — then indeed, Allah is Free of need and Praiseworthy.” — Surah Luqman, 31:12
6. The Sujood. Oh, the wonders of sujood, my dear brothers and sisters! The highest state that we as the servants of Allah can be before our Lord, our Creator. Our most elevated status, believe it or not — in our prostration before Him. And, He gives us the opportunity and allows us to do so a minimum of 34 times a day — if we only pray the 5 fard (obligatory prayers) in the day. If we add to it the Sunnah al mu’akadah (the confirmed Sunnah) to them through the 12 raka’as, we’d have 34 sujood in Fard + 24 sujood in Sunnah = 58 Sujood in one single day!! Ya Allah!!
So, what’s so special about Sujood?
It was narrated by Abu Huraira : The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “The closest that a person can be to his Lord, the Mighty and Sublime, is when he is prostrating, so increase in supplication then.” — Sunan an-Nasa’i 1137
We’ve been guided to ask what we want during the Sujood. Once you have completed your number of ‘subhan Allahi Al A’ala’ in that state of sujood, ask for what you want. From the dunya, from the akhira; material things, spiritual things, forgiveness, repentance, wealth and health — whatever you desire! And you can do it 58 times in one day — in every single Sujood!
Now, I wonder .. if you applied all this — would your prayers ever be mechanical again? Would it be just a routine check-in that “I have to do” to tick in my app and get it over with — or will it be the best time of my day!
We cannot compare our devotion to the religion and claim to love Allah the way our beloved Prophet ﷺ did, but you know what … with this, I can now see this hadeeth in an entirely different light:
Salim b. Abul Ja’d told of a man of Khuza’a saying, “I wish I had prayed and been at rest.” When the people seemed to disapprove of his saying that, he replied that he had heard God’s Messenger say, “Declare that the time for prayer has come, Bilal, and give us rest by it.”*
- This probably means that prayer brings peace of mind. Abu Dawud transmitted it. Mishkat al-Masabih 1253
“Would our prayers ever be mechanical again if we remembered Who was waiting for us there?”
May Allah make us amongst those who stand before Him in prayers in absolute submission and Khushoo' seeking His pleasure and approval and Mercy. May Allah make us amongst those who run to Him in fard prayers on time, and perform the Sunnah out of the love of following His Prophet's guidance, and seek the nawaful to gain His Pleasure and Love.
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