Prayer #5
Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes
Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem
Assalaamu’alaikum wa rahmatullah
The final instalment from Ibn Al-Qayyim’s rendering of salaah [prayer] in The Invocation of God, pages 25-29. May Allah [swt] make it of benefit to you and me, ameen.
“Prayer, or any other practice, is accepted [by God] when it is offered in a manner that befits Him. God’s acceptance is of two kinds. The first is when a servant performs prayer or any other act of worship with his heart devoted to God, remembering Him with constancy. His deeds are then presented to Almighty God, and they stand before Him that He might behold them. And when He beholds them and sees that they had been done entirely for His sake and to please Him, and that they emanate from the pure and sincere heart of someone who loves Him and draws near to Him, He loves them [in turn], is pleased with them and accepts them.
The second kind is when a servant performs [something] absent-mindedly, out of habit. His intention - whether [for prayer] or any other devotion - is still to obey God and to draw nearer to Him. His body is engaged in worship, but his heart us distracted. When such deeds are taken up to God Almighty, they do not stand before Him, nor does He look at them. Rather, they are placed wherever such deeds are recorded, to be shown to Him abd sorted out on the Day of Judgement. Then will He reward the servant for whatever was done for His sake, and return to him whatever was not.
God’s acceptance of this deed entails the servant be recompensed with something God has created - the palaces, food and drink, and wide-eyed damsels [of Heaven]. His acceptance of the first kind entails His pleasure with the deed and its doer, drawing him nearer, and raising him in degree and station; for he is of those whom God gives without measure. The first are of one kind, the second of another.”
http://cityisoc.com/2476-prayer-4/ [the extract preceding this ^^..also contains link to the prior posts.]
We ask Allah [swt] to accept this effort, to make us humble in our endeavours, seeking to attain His Pleasure and His Company. Ameen.
In the care of Allah [swt],
Wassalaamu’alaikum wa rahmatullah
P.S - I strenuously recommend this book insha’Allah - get hold of it and read it!! All praise is for Allah, I have a copy, so if you would like to borrow mine then just say the word and I’ll have it handed to you insha’Allah.
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Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem
A few weeks ago, during the tafseer of Surah Kahf, in expounding upon one [or some] of the verses of Surah Kahf, Surah Sharh was mentioned in terms of the repetition of Allah’s saying ‘With hardship there is ease.’
I was hoping that could be reiterated here insha’Allah - just a quick point explaining why Allah says the same thing twice. I endeavoured to explain it to someone recently that Allah is saying with every hardship there will be TWO periods of ease, but they queried further saying that though ‘ease’ is mentioned twice, so is ‘hardship’ - so how does that balance out? I expounded, and maybe to some degree managed to clarify - but I think it’d be fitting if the individual leading the tafseer classes could give some insight insha’Allah.
Praise if for Allah, and reward is with Him, Most High.