Ifs
&
Buts

But what if you don't know all you need to know to make the Sala properly?

What if you aren't in a mosque, and you don't know the direction of Ka'aba

doesn't that mean you can't make the Sala?

Of course you can.

All these things

like the words and the actions and facing in the right direction

are the outside of the prayer.

What matters is what is on the inside.

You might be deaf and dumb,

and not able to speak

or learn the sounds of the words,

or it may just be that you don't know the Arabic words to the prayer.

Then you can make the actions,

and God will still be pleased.

Or you may be in a wheelchair

and not able to stand or bow or make Sajda.

You can say the words

and God will still be pleased.

You may not know the direction of Ka'aba,

but you can make your best guess.

Do you think that the Ever-Merciful

would say that your best wasn't good enough?

You might be in a place

with no room to make the Sala facing in the right direction.

You do your best.

Muhammad didn't always make Sala with all the actions,

and facing in the right direction.

He even made prayers while he was travelling,

riding on the back of a moving camel.

Now not many muslims ride camels nowadays,

but it might be that you need to pray while you are sitting on a bus or on a train.

You do the best you can,

and can trust absolutely that God will judge you on your good intentions.

The most important part of the Sala

is not the words,

or the actions,

but the intention.

This is called the Niyyah,

and even when you are trying to pray as correctly as you can,

this is still more important than anything else.

It is the bridge between not-praying and praying.

In the moment before you begin the Sala,

you make your Niyyah,

your intention to pray

to the best of your ability.

From then on,

as long as you are trying to do your best,

it doesn't matter what mistakes you might make,

because the best possible prayer you can make

is contained within your Niyyah.

The words and the actions are really just practice

for you to make a better prayer the next time.

What your body and mind can do in this life

will never be as perfect as the best of your intentions.

And God says clearly in the Qur'an

that we will be judged according to

the best of our intentions.