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.

Death and Resurrection in Every Heartbeat

A previous post speaks in details about how with every heartbeat there is a death — when dead (de-oxygenated) blood enters the right atrium (yin receptive chamber) to be pumped at low pressure (an essential yinmercy) into the lungs (by the right balanced yin/yang ventricle/pump) — and resurrection — oxygenation in the lungs, the organ that recycles the element of air (O₂ in, CO₂ out) — received by the left atrium (receiving chamber), to be pumped by the powerful left ventricle (the power yang pump) at high pressure (full might/power) alive into the whole body, which is thus resurrected. And how this relates to Allah’s name. 

THIS HAPPENS WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT. And this heartbeat is dhikr Allah! 

Allah’s Magnificent Name: Heartbeat of the Cosmos

One might imagine that God would choose for Himself a significant and meaningful name, but most names for God in various languages don’t have particularly meaningful qualities. But the name “Allah” in Arabic does.  Written using 3 unique letters to form a 4-letter Name, that number 4 by design matches the number of chambers in the human heart. We shall show how these letters combine visual, sonic, and functional connections to the human heart, while also exemplifying Yang/Yin attributes whose perfection is categorically unique to Allah the Exalted.

The Meaning of Heart in the Quran

We usually think of the heart as either a physical organ of the body or the place of emotions. But the Quran uses the word for “heart” in ways that show us a more expansive range of meaning, one that in fact revolutionizes our way of thinking about who we are and how our lives, bodies, choices/ decisions and actions intertwine, with deep and important consequences. The heart is one of the most important concepts in the Quran. as both a physical living organ and symbolically, as the seat of the soul or self, the nafs. The very name of Allah contains the image of a heart and the sound of the heartbeat, as if the heart itself was created as a symbolic force expressing Allah’s presence.