Islamic Salat – Physical and Spiritual Connection

One unique characteristic of salat, the obligatory form of prayer in Islam, is that it incorporates “spiritual” (faith, mindfulness) with physical elements – the body language of bowing and prostration + the time/space elements of astronomical prayer times and a very specific geophysical direction of prayer. This prayer form grounds the believer’s worship, making a connection between this temporary earthly life and Allah’s Divine eternal presence. This key connection in our lives is in that sense like the Quran: a timeless message sent down in time. So our salat connects our time/space “world” – in this case the “world” of our lives – to the timeless and unbounded “NOW” of Allah. Below is an aya referring to time, 55:26, followed by an aya referring to eternity or timelessness, 55:27.

55:26 All that lives on earth or in the heavens is bound to pass away

55:27 but forever will abide the Face of your Lord, full of majesty and glory

The Four Great Suras of Salat (Prayer)

(Note: New Improved Post, removed the excess for a different post.) The four suras (like chapters/sections) of the Quran most frequently recited in the canonical Islamic prayer called salat are the first sura, Al-Fatiha “The Opening” (1), the quintessential prayer of salat, and the final 3 suras, Al-Ikhlas “Sincerity” (112), Al-Falaq “Daybreak/ Breaking-open” (113), and An-Nass “The People” (114). They are all short suras, making them easy to recite. Allah the All-Merciful wants this prayer to be easy for us, and at the same time a powerful and effective “connection” to Him, to His all-encompassing power and mercy. These four suras form a {2,3,4} set, with three (3) together at the end, and the fourth (4) in the very beginning, and two of these suras form a pair (2) in the “middle.” Thus the end of the Quran re-connects us to the beginning, analogous to how Resurrection and Judgment Day reconnect us to Allah in paradise where Adam was created at the beginning of humanity – if we had faith in Allah, and made a genuine effort in Allah’s path of justice and compassion.

The Positions and Times of Salat in Quran form a 3,4 set

In studying the Quran’s {3,4} structure, we found salat elements also fit this pattern, showing us its connection to Allah’s name and this structure at the heart of the Quran. Because salat is central to Islamic practices and emphasized in the Quran, we examine its perimeters first, and then the important Quranic ayat which describe these positions as a {3,4} set, and the times of day in which salat is to be offered, expressing the five prayer times also as a {3,4} set.

Prostration in Islamic Salat Creates Alpha Waves

We are enjoined in the Quran to “establish salat,” the canonical (obligatory) form of Islamic prayer, as a daily practice. Scientists have found that the meaningful position of prostration also has powerful side benefits.

Are Muslim Women Deprived of Prayer and Rewards from Ramadan and Laylatul Qadr for having Menses?

This Quora post answers a question from a Muslima who repeatedly missed praying on Laylatul Qadr because of menstruation. Clearly she believes that women should not pray during their menstruation and therefore by adhering to this rule, she missed the night or nights considered by those around her to be that singular night. Quranists would say there is no such prohibition to begin with; still others would say that Laylatul Qadr was only the night in which the Quran was sent but that the notion of our prayers being given a higher value on a specific recurring night more than any other is erroneous. Without delving into those issues relating to Quran vs. Hadith, the answer linked above offers reassurances directly from the Quran that she has not been and will not be deprived of rewards and that such presumptions are unfounded. 

The Power of Prostration by a Convert/Revert to Islam

This short video is a powerful portrayal of how Islam both confirms “what is in the previous scriptures” and the importance and meaning of prostration. What is especially wonderful is how no one actually told him about Islam except his preacher, who spoke of it in a derogatory way, and this alone raised questions in the man’s mind. Which led him to the Quran and Islam. (Side note: Basically I dislike the word “revert” referring to converts to Islam – in English it has a definite negative connotation like “going backwards to something inferior”, and the logic of its use, that children are born Muslim, skirts the issue of how one doesn’t really “own” this or any religion until maturity, in which case one wasn’t “Muslim” except in innocence whereas Islam is a choice. The good side of its use is it expresses there is no original sin and that Islam is not an invented dogma, but simply the truth.)

Wonderful and succinct presentation of the power of prostration.

Salat, Our Connection to Allah and More

Salat as a practice is central in the Quran, but certain aspects of it can cause confusion due to differences between what is understood in English and what the Quran means in Arabic. It is a connection, a two-way street, and as such, involves reciprocity, which itself needs explanation. But it also is something one “establishes” by its regular practice. And what does it mean to “connect with” Prophet Mohammad? These are concepts that people dispute over for issues relating to language as well as concerns over not violating monotheism, yet are absolutely crucial in Islam to understand. 

Salat in the Heart of the Quran

Salat is more than ”prayer,” but in its root term means ”connection” or ”to connect.” The Quran speaks of it as to be ”established,” to build or establish being the common translation of iqama, thus one establishes or erects a ”connection” to Allah within one’s heart by doing this daily. This could even be thought of in the modern sense of establishing a “connection” in a phone or with the internet, in a real sense to ”keep in touch” in this case with our Creator and Sustainer. The Quran has “built-in” such a connection in its very architecture, connecting the last 3 suras with the first sura, Al-Fatiha. This forms a visual dhikr Allah you can see, showing in the Quran a kind of circulatory system that brings us back to connect with Allah and His words. The chart with explanation in PDF form is downloadable below.

salatintheheartofthequran1649072725

What Is Thikr Allah and Why Is It Greater than Salat?

When non-Muslims pray or use the word “prayer,” usually what they mean is du’a or supplication. This is different from Salat or salah (both transliterations are used), the Islamic prayer which involves the body language of bowing and prostration and the physical perimeters of time (daily prayer times) and space (direction to pray towards Mecca), required of all Muslims. Thikr Allah — translated “remembering” or “mentioning” Allah and sometimes transliterated dhikr — is not specified as obligatory, although the Quran emphasizes it. But salat is required to be established on a daily basis. So why then do we read in Surat Al-Ankabut 29:45 (below) that thikr Allah is greater than salat?

اتْلُ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ ۖ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ ۗ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ
Recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish salat. Indeed, salat prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and thikr Allah (the remembrance of Allah) is greater. And Allah knows that which you do.

Special Prayer for Ramadan & Laylat-ul-Qadr

Although Ramadan is almost finished, there is still the possibility of Laylat-ul-Qadr on the eve of the 27th of Ramadan, for which is a little-known but powerful voluntary (not required) salat called Salat Tasbeeh, also less-commonly known as Salat Sobhanallah. A description of how to perform the “full version” plus references from the Sunnah is here (yes, this prayer has its own Wikipedia page! with a few spelling discrepancies), but a shorter version is below, one my family has done during Ramadan for years, especially during the final last days.

Ring Composition in the Quran: Al-Fatiha

An ancient method of literary writing that has (relatively) recently been re-discovered in t ancient and religious texts is Ring Composition, a form of mirror writing called chiasmus, described by the anthropologist and scholar Mary Douglas in her book Thinking in Circles: An Essay on Ring Composition (Yale University Press, 2010) as essentially “a framing device” wherein the first section of a text corresponds in some clearly evident way with the last section, and the middle sections form a mirror pattern around a middle section which is also the central idea or turning point for the entire text. The mirror pattern can be described as ABCBA, expandable to more or fewer (at minimum 3) sections as needed with a center section “C”. This website gives an excellent example from the Quran, analyzing Surat Al-Baqara (the Cow) as well as significant subsections of it, including the famous Ayat al-Kursi (2:255). But for this post I will analyze Surat Al-Fatiha in Ring Composition, which provides evidence of two things: that the first numbered aya must be the Bismallah, which precedes all other Surahs except the 9th (“Repentance”) without being numbered; and that the two great attribute names for Allah the Exalted, Al-Rahman (The Almighty), Al-Raheem (The All-Merciful) express the two polarities of Power/ Yang and Mercy/ Receptivity/ Yin. Below is a graphic of this analysis:

Ramadan: Purification and Emptying Out

As this most sacred of months, Ramadan, continues, we think about what its true meaning is. It’s about more than fasting from food and drink, because one must also abstain from bad behaviors, such as lying, slander or profanity, and obviously from committing any crimes, or from acting with cruelty to others such as bullying or mocking others, in person or online, openly or in secret. Not only must one abstain from sexual activity of any kind (and one considers that for Muslims this will be marital, lawful), but refrain oneself from any sexual thoughts or innuendos or behaviors that approach this area, including viewing sexually explicit materials online or elsewhere. Even excess anger is prohibited. One strives, in other words, to be a truly good person, thinking about it, being aware of Allah. So it is a kind of emptying out of those things of this world that lead us away from thikr Allah, actively remembering Allah and calling upon Him and invoking His name while alert. It is a kind of purification of the heart. We also strive to be compassionate and kind and thoughtful to others. So it is an emptying out of the selfish part, our tendency to be driven and moved by our selfish desires.

The Difference between Salat and Du’a: What is Prayer?

When most people think of “Islamic prayer,” they picture rows of worshippers bowing and prostrating in unison, usually inside a mosque, facing Mecca (Makkah). But the act of worship pictured is salat, a specific act of worship with geophysical as well as body-language physical protocols, requiring a ritual ablution, preferably in water, prior to its performance. The word du’a, on the other hand, is equivalent in meaning to the English word “prayer,” which is simply “supplication.” To refer to salat as “prayer” is convenient, because there is no English equivalent, but inaccurate.

Ramadan: Time, Physical Worship and Limits

The days of Ramadan are flying by with so much to do, so little energy, and no time to write about it. Time and its fleeting nature is a topic the Quran discusses with some frequency, most often in reference to spending some of that time with thikr Allah, thinking about Allah, how we will meet Him in the Hereafter, and what we are doing to be better people, more compassionate and responsible. The difference between faith and denial is enormous——yet manifested in small ways, perhaps the change from one to the other could move a mountain, a change of mindset that may take a matter of seconds…

Al-Fatiha: The Blueprint

Continuing from Day 1 of Ramadan with al-Fatiha, we shall begin to look at the structure of this Sura, guided by its unique significance and characteristics.