Communicating

When faith in God is not strong in our hearts,

it is not always easy to see

how the Sala is of any benefit to us.

And if you see no personal benefit from the Sala

it is easy for it to seem like an irrelevance,

a pointless exercise

changing nothing, achieving nothing,

and quickly meaning nothing

But certainly whatever we might do

cannot make the Creator greater or less,

so the reward for the Sala has to be for the one who prays.

God is pleased when one who surrenders is pleased to make Sala.

Now, considerable self-control is required

to follow the ways of worship that the Messenger taught to those around him,

and any such self-discipline involves

some amount of effort and discomfort.

But at the same time,

the Sala is not meant to cause real distress,

so its requirements are relaxed during times of sickness,

times of menses, and during travel.

However the Sala can still be remembered

and prayed internally during those times,

even sitting on the back of a camel.

But apart from those times of relaxation of the rules,

the Sala is meant to form an integral part of every active day,

though the activities of home and workplace

can make it difficult.

In Scotland this is particularly the case,

as it is hard to get any other schedule

to conform conveniently with prayer times,

when those times vary so wildly.

It is impossible to have consistent timings across the year

due to Scotland's proximity to the Arctic Circle,

and those bright lit midnight skies.

So people fit their prayer into their days how they will,

but communities usually like to feel that there is at least one place

where the prayer times face no challenge from the workings of the world.

A mosque acts as a community anchor,

a place where people can be sure the rules of the Sala,

as explained and demonstrated by the Messenger

are being followed as closely as possible.

A muslim community can also use the mosque

to remind themselves when it is time for Sala,

with the Adzan,

the call to prayer before each Fard Sala,

originally from the beautiful voice of Bilal,

Unfortunately that beauty is not always recognisable

in the crackling distortions that emerge extremely loudly

from the loudspeaker atop many a mosque in the muslim world.

Nonetheless,

in smaller gatherings, the Adzan will still be made,

but without electrical amplification,

just the human voice,

much more like an echo of Bilal.

The Adzan takes several forms around the muslim world,

as does the Iqamat,

the shorter call immediately before the Sala,

summoning worshippers to stand in line, ready for the prayer.

But these differences

related to your madzab or cultural tradition

tend to be overlooked, in the great coming together

of muslim communities at the two times of Eid,

for the specific forms of prayer related to those times.

But as we know,

muslim understandings of prayer,

communicating with God,

is not just something that is done at a prescribed time,

in a prescribed way.

It is possible to communicate with God at any time,

even at the same time as doing other things.

After all, God knows the thoughts within the breast,

so all you need to do to communicate with God

is to say, or even just think what you want to say,

and know that God will hear it.

This kind of prayer is called Du'a,

and for those who are not comfortable talking to God in their own words

there are many traditional examples of Du'a

spoken by other people in beautiful language,

which can be learned and recited.

These prayers are often associated with particular actions

or events during the day,

so filling the space between the times of Sala

with regular reminders of God's presence and our purpose.