Khutbah #13 - 29/05/98

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Alhamdulillahi rabbil'alamin wa salaatu wa salaamu ala Rasulihi  

I have been talking of the benefits of prayer in this life, the physical benefits, the benefits of self-discipline, and the benefits of detachment from our worries and problems - a relaxed detachment that can allow inspiration to step in. A time of letting go the cares of this world, and recognising the fact that despite the self-importance of our worries, God is in control.

In that place where we make our prayer, we should find peace.

People talk of Islam as though the word means a religion, but it's just the name of a certain way of life. As we know, it means "Peace" and "Submission", and in the prayer we find them both. We submit to God's Will and Provision for us, as we are at the moment of our prayer. And in that recognition of our helplessness in the face of the awesome Knowledge and Power of our Creator, we learn to trust that in spite of our stupidities and inadequacies we are cared for.

And that place where we pray is the same place every time, no matter where we are. It is our connection to the root and purpose of our humanity, direct from the creation of Adam to our own individual lives, and we need to check in regularly to remind us of our context, gain a sense of perspective, and get back to first principles.

Our lives move on, problems are solved and new ones discovered, some goals abandoned and some accomplished, we may be traveling the world, living in strange cultures and strange times (and "no soul knows in which land it will die" says the Qur'an), but our prayer is always the same. We go to the same place, on the same or different prayer mats (or even on the ground), where for a moment we remember that our past mistakes and embarrassments are over and done with, and that future problems and outcomes have not yet happened, and God willing they may not. For God is in control of all outcomes.

Just as well, for we are almost totally out of control. It's not just our heartbeats, and our breathing, and all those carefully balanced chemical secretions from our organs that so expertly sustain our bodies (secretions integrally linked with our emotional states) that are out of our control. It is also obvious at a glance that we only have a very rudimentary control over our own minds.

In the prayer, with its private and personal, inward looking nature, set in a formal structure of a very repetitive nature, we are brought face to face with the fleeting nature of our thinking processes and our self-awareness. In trying to concentrate on the prayer, we discover our propensity for distraction, and inability to focus our attention for more than a few seconds. Mental obsessions constantly intrude against our better judgment ("Did I leave the water running, or the gas on?" "I wonder who's winning the football."). Perhaps fretful impatience rears its ugly head when we are eager to be doing something else. (Qur'an says: "Man was created of haste" and "Be patient with a sweet patience"). But one thing's for sure - inside our heads is more complicated than we are fit to be in charge of.

When commenting on Descartes' "I think, therefore I am", Nietsche pointed out that this was clearly untrue and might be better phrased "It thinks therefore I am". As muslims, perhaps we should say "God wills, therefore I am, therefore I think." The process is participatory, but must be approached with humility.

Some friends in the United States told me of a preacher on the radio, who used to give an example in his sermons. He would say: 'Have you ever been out for the most wonderful and memorable day with your beloved, alone, or perhaps with your children, maybe you went for a picnic in the woods, or even better - on the beach.'

'Then one day, you're away on a business trip, or seeing friends, and you've got a few hours of driving before you get home. And you're on the freeway, and you remember that special day, and you remember how happy the kids were, and how beautiful your beloved looked, and you can remember all the witty conversation and the laughter, and the baby covered in ice cream, and you can almost feel the sun and hear the waves, and feel the sand under your feet. And suddenly you look up at the road signs and you're almost home, and you didn't even notice the hours and the miles of driving.'

'Now, while you were on the beach having a picnic with your beloved, who do you think was driving the car?'

*****

So I have skimmed over the benefits of the prayers, but even if I had a great deal more time we would still only be touching the surface. After all, the prayer is a crucial link between mankind and our Lord, and it can't really be praised too highly or observed too rigorously.

'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'Aas reported that the Prophet, upon whom be peace, one day mentioned the prayer and said, "Whoever guards and observes his prayers, they will be a light and a proof and a savior for him on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever does not guard and observe them, they will not be a light or a proof or a savior for him. On the Day of Resurrection, he will be with Qarun, Fir'aun, Haman and Ubayy ibn Khalf."

Says 'Abdullah ibn Shaqiq al-'Aqeely, "The companions of Muhammad, peace be upon him, did not consider the abandonment of any act, with the exception of prayer, as being disbelief."

The prayer is a primary characteristic of the muslim community, fixed by its relationship with our primary guidance in the form of the Qur'an, each preserving the other. Perhaps next semester I will spend more time discussing the miraculous nature of the Qur'an. For now, it is enough to recall some of the words God uses in the Qur'an to comment upon its nature.

"With the truth We have sent it down, and with the truth it has come down; and We have not sent you, except to bear good tidings, and a warning; and a Recitation, we have divided for you to recite it to mankind at intervals, and We have sent it down successively.

Say: 'Believe in it, or believe not; those who were given the knowledge before it when it is recited to them, fall down upon their faces prostrating, and say 'Glory be to our Lord! Ours Lord's promise is performed' and they fall down upon their faces weeping; and it increases them in humility.' Say: ' Call upon God, or call upon the Merciful - whichever you call upon, to Him belong the Names Most Beautiful'.'" - from the Qur'an, the Surah called 'The Night Journey'

O God, forgive us, and have mercy on us, and guide us, and grant us security, and grant us sustenance.