Physical Aspects of Salah

By Javed Ahmad

Those who offer prayer in the present moment can feel their thoughts and act without self-judgment and similarly accept others without judgment. They consciously observe people, places and situations without changing themselves and accept people as they were. They remain aware and receptive to signals which are received by the body. They are fully alert and centered, free from fear and the need to impress others. They are able to know sensations which produce contractions or expansions in the body. There is no need to resist. They breathe in more warmth and energy and tensions have to surface and disappear. In the present moment, one accepts things as they are.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Mar 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781982229801

Javed Ahmad

Dr Javed Ahmad is presently working as an Assistant Professor in Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia. He has research experience of about 10 years in the field of nanomedicine-mediated drug delivery. He obtained his PhD in pharmaceutics from Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India. He was awarded with senior research fellowships from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. He was also awarded with international travel grants from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. He has more than 50 publications to his credit, in various journals of international repute. He has authored 15 book chapters and edited 2 books for CRC Press and Bentham Science Publisher. Currently, he is involved in drug delivery through nanocarriers, exploiting various routes of administration and 3D printing of pharmaceuticals.

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Copyright © 2020 Javed AHMAD.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-9822-2979-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-2980-1 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date:  3/12/2020

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Introduction

Survey

Chapter 2 Ascension Of Believers

Meaning of Salah

Timing of Prayers

Chapter 3 VADU

Compulsory Components of Abulation

Chapter 4 SALAH; Prayer And Postures

TAHARAT

NIYYAT (Intention)

QIAM

RAKOOH

SAJDA

JALSA

KA’DA

Significance of Postures

Mufasedat of Prayer

Chapter 5 DUA

Chapter 6 Mental Waywardness And How To Overcome It

Methods to Avoid Mental Disturbance

Attention

Chapter 7 Journey Of Spiritual Development

Chapter 8 Remaining In The Present Movement

Salah Survey Form

Books Consulted

Annexures

About the Author

ONE

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Introduction

O n a summer day, after performing the duties I went to a nearby town to meet an old friend of mine who owned an agriculture equipment shop in the town market. I took along my office assistant Mr. Arshad i was a resident of the same area where my friend was running his business. We were sipping tea and the discussion flowed from weather, crop prices to politics and then character building. Arshad said that SALAH is the key for character building.

Not at all, said my friend.

We were shell shocked by his remarks. My friend though was totally oblivious to our shock, comfortably sitting on traditional wooden cot with support of indigenous embroided pillows and puffing Huqqa (an indigenous pipe containing water tobacco smoldering coal, creating low thundering sound). Realizing our sudden quietness my friend asked my assistant interrogatively,

"Are you a relative of ……………?

Yeah, replied my assistant.

All right if he tells me that Salah has made him a good person, I will agree.

Silence ensued. A Silence so deep that I could hear my heart beat. On that day, I realized silence is audible and needs no sounds, words or expressions.

I was unable to understand his point of view so I requested him to give me some detailed explanation. Please ask him to preach to me what you are preaching, my friend again addressed Mr. Arshad, ignoring my question. Arshad’s reaction was equally astonishing. Instead of answering the question he stared at front wall blankly. On my repeated requests, my farmer turned businessman friend told me that the person in question was a cousin of my assistant and a member of local preaching unit of the area. Ten years ago, he was facing financial difficulties and purchased spare parts of tractor and fertilizer on credit from his shop. The repayment date was settled for three weeks. In a meeting of Local panchayat (group of elders) he promised to pay the debt on harvesting the next crop of Pedde (rice), but has still not repaid. Days became weeks and weeks converted into months, but the loan is not repaid yet. So much so that he adopts a longer route to go to city to avoid my shop.

He offers his prayers five times a day. Can he tell me that prayer prevents him from evils?

You know, what happed last year? he continued his dialogue with my assistant totally ignoring me.

What happened? Mr. Arshad expressed his lack of knowledge.

Why did Mr. -— did not convert? Mr. Arshad looked totally blank. I again intervened and requested my host to explain his question. He informed that the local preaching organization convinced Mr. - to embrace Islam. It was settled that a grand ceremony would be held to mark the occasion. Two days before the ceremony he made a rather unusual request. He had a son and a daughter of marriageable age. After conversion it will not be possible for him to arrange the marriage of his children in his community. He requested his preachers to accept hands of his daughter and son as their daughter and son in law. Both the members promised to reply next day. Of course, that next day never came.

The narration of these two events made me so upset that I could not eat my food properly. I explained to my friend that he should not jump to conclusions due to personal weaknesses of certain people. The best preaching is with action, and not with sermons. At the time of advent of Islam, Prophet (PBUH) was 40 years old. Despite bitter opposition, the Meccans admitted that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was always truthful and trustworthy. The Arabs embraced Islam as they trusted his character.

My friends’ examples resonate with similar historical examples where people have regularly offered payers and have shown glaring character flaws. Emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707) is considered the only pious Mughal ruler due to performance of religious rituals. He imprisoned his ruling father and got killed his brothers who might have been his rivals to throne. People say he never missed a prayer and neither did his sword miss his brothers.

It is a fact that Muslim kings ruled subcontinent for more than thousand years but the majority of people did not embrace Islam. Similarly, when Muslims were expelled from Spain, the number of their faith followers were negligible there. The character of Muslim rulers could not inspire people to adopt their faith. How can such people preach Islam when they themselves did not act upon it? The difference of Arab, non-Arab (Ajmi), Mawali and caste system affected Islamic society adversely. The new Muslims realized that they could not benefit from universal equality after embracing Islam, they had severed their relationship with their former communities. History is replete with instances when new Muslims revolted against injustice and cruelty. Most of their revolts were crushed. The new Muslims were awarded severe punishments whereas old Muslims were either pardoned or treated with lesser severity.

Problems multiply when majority reduce Islam to performance of rituals and stop acting upon Islamic principles of character building. The Muslims used to offer their prayers collectively, with no distinction of rich, poor, caste, clan, race etc. whoever, comes earlier, joins the prayer in front rows, and so on and so forth. The question is why and how that equality started diminishing. Why first few rows are reserved for the rulers? Once on the eve of EID UL FITRE, a government appointed Imam waited for the ruler to join and started Eid prayer 10 minutes late. How is it possible that leaders come late and stand in the front row? It is unfortunate that even at sacred places such code of conduct has become a part of social norms. Even in funeral prayers such practices are observed.

No doubt there are certain good examples too. One mosque committee sacked an Imam when he delayed the start of prayer for president of mosque committee. Another imam in a small-town mosque led prayer in time without waiting for the local parliamentarian on the plea that the prayer was for God and not for any bigwig. The number of such people is insignificant who do not want to please the prominent.

In most parts of the world, people embraced Islam through preaching by Muslims traders and saints. The number of new Muslims was fewer in the areas ruled by Muslims. Old and present rulers exploited the people in the name of religion. The religious exploitation is not limited to the rulers, religious scholars and leaders also exploit the situation to their personal advantages, wide spread Sectarianism and separate mosques for different Sects are obvious examples.

When will photo sessions and media coverage come to an end?

How long will exploitation continue?

These questions demand immediate answers.

Survey

"Salah is ascension