Salaah- My Daily Conversation With Allah

By Fatema Valji

As we live our lives in this world, we begin to understand that we have a purpose in life. God would not create us aimlessly; for no reason.
This purpose is highlighted in the holy quran, when Allah states
‘I did not create the jinn and humans
except that they may worship Me.’ (Qur’an, 51:56)
Traditions tell us that worship here means to recognize God.

As servants of God, we need to dedicate our life to His cause, as this is our purpose.

To do this, we need to first establish a connection with Him.
One of the greatest ways of establishing this connection, as presented to us by the Prophet of Islam is Salaah- the 5 daily prayers.
These prayers break the veils between us and our Creator and allow to develop a close connection with Him.

It is no surprise that whenever prayer time approached, the Prophet would ask bilal to recite the adhan with the words ‘Arihna ya bilaal’ .... ‘Relieve us oh bilaal’
The prophet eagerly waited for this time when he could establish a close proximity to God through the action of salaah.

This book highlights the importance of salaah as shown by the narrations of the Prophet as well as tips and advice on how one can develop and increase ones concentration in salaah

A recommended read for everyone who wants to use this vehicle of salaah to get closer to Him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The World Federation of KSIMC
• Release date: Feb 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781909285224

Book preview

Foreword

The Shia Ithna Asheri Madressa of Hujjat Jamaat, Stanmore (London) has a Farsi department that was founded in 2005, with the introduction of a syllabus prepared by Shaykh Abbas Jaffer after his return from Qum, Iran.

The class offered students 40 lessons covering basic Farsi grammar, which would lead them to a firm introduction and give the grounding to those who wanted to master the language. After the first year, the enthusiasm towards the language increased to such an extent that an advanced Farsi class was formed.

The advanced class aimed to expose the students to different areas of the Farsi language which included listening to Islamic lectures, watching Farsi television programmes, and also starting to read Islamic texts.

The class comprised ordinary working fathers and mothers, who, as a hobby and interest, took the time out to learn a new language. When students were asked in 2006 why they were learning Farsi there was some very interesting feedback:

"Inshallah, the aim is to translate a book

from Farsi to English after 10 years."

"At some point we would like to interact with the marjas

in their own languages and with the help of Farsi,

we can undertake this and ask questions personally."

"There is an ocean of Islamic knowledge

which is available in Farsi books which is not there in English

and accessibility to great authors such as

Ayatullah Mutahhari and Ayatullah Tabatabai."

In 2008, some of the students took the GCSE exams in Farsi and all of them attained ‘A’ grades. With these aspirations the advanced Farsi has continued to thrive with the help of some very dedicated teachers.

In 2010 it was decided that as a trial the Farsi students would undertake a translation of a very short and concise book: The Merits of Praying on Time. The translation of this book was completed in 2011. In a chance meeting with one of The World Federation’s Executive Councillors, al-Hajj Shabbar bhai Dhalla, the idea was discussed to print the book under The World Federation.

After some market research and further brainstorming with Shaykh Abbas Ismail, it was decided to include some more areas of Salah in the book, and make it more comprehensive.

A young writer, and a member of the original Farsi class, sister Fatema Valji, was recruited by The World Federation to take on this task. By the grace of Allah, the final publication is now in your hands.

This brief background of this book demonstrates how small intentions and efforts can result in a collective effort that has produced a profound book such as this, that will inshallah inspire generations to come.

The advanced Farsi class still continues to this date and is currently reading the Shia hadith masterpiece Al-Kafi in the Farsi language. The intention is for the class to undertake another small translation which can benefit the community in the near future.

The class would like to record its appreciation to The World Federation for taking interest in their