Actually these are really two separate sets of notes, but with three talks allowed in the syllabus to cover all the aspects of the prayer, I've just split up all the stuff that was bundled together in a way that seemed to make some kind of sense.
ISLAMIC OUTREACH - Lesson Ten
Prayer - An Overview & Preparation.
An Overview
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La ilaha illa Allah
Astaghfirallahualazeem
Preparation
Requirements for Prayer - Where to start? Work backwards - Words, Movements, Takbir, Intention, Wudu?
Washing after the toilet is where one first takes on the consciousness of forthcoming prayer, a time when we are unavoidably at the mercy of our animal nature, yet aware of the human spiritual difference that we attain to.
Washing after the toilet - The preferability of washing to paper-wiping - Separating poisonous excretion from
Two states of uncleanness - Hadath, when the inner digestive system opens to the outside world, releasing gas, liquids or solids. The act of sleeping, when we lose our conscious self-control (lapsing into that 'little death' when we surrender our bodies to God's care) also breaks this state of cleanliness. This state of Hadath requires a formal act of washing to restore the state of Wudu, cleanliness. Wudu begins with the intention to make it (we are judged on our intentions) and contains within its form two aspects.
The Exoteric, or Physical involves the washing of the hands, mouth (teeth, tongue and throat), inside the nose, the face, the forearms to the elbows (consider the strange case of the 'funny bone'), the head (the fontanelle), the ears, the neck (where the spinal chord meets the brain), and the feet.
The Esoteric, or spiritual, follows the physical movements but links them to purification of our life actions and input - what we work with our hands, consume through our mouth, take in through our nose, eyes and ears, what we think, the heat or coolness of our passions, and the direction in which we travel.
That the wudu is much more than just a matter of physical cleansing is made clear when we travel, when the wudu requirements can be difficult to achieve, and if no water is available it is permitted to make a symbolic form of wudu called tayyamum. This uses 'clean dust', or sand or earth, hinting also at the way that water itself is filtered and purified by clean earth.
The second state of uncleanness is much more total than Hadath and is linked to some overwhelmingly primal human events involving reproduction, birth and death. Janabat is a state that ensues from the act of sexual union or the release of sexual fluids, menstruation, childbirth, major bloodletting, or contact with a corpse, and requires an all over body wash or shower.
With this greater purification, known as Ghusl, we wash the largest bodily organ, the skin, and this overall wash can also be seen as a return to our beginnings, as when we are washed after our births. This state of cleanliness (the state of Ghusl) remains even when the state of Wudu is broken, and when renewed it is seen as a return to our beginnings and a reminder of our source.
Thus ghusl is usually considered an essential part of any formal adult acceptance of Islam, a return to that Islamic nature with which we are born. As with the wudu, it has its pragmatic earthly use, such as washing away germs and bodily odours, and it is recommended (though not compulsory) for major muslim gatherings such as the Eids and Friday prayers. But its deeper significance is much more apparent when ghusl is made for the donning of Ihram at the time of pilgrimage, and of course when we return to where we came from, and our bodies are washed for us after our deaths.