7.1. Comments About the Etiquette of Prayer
Of course, in reciting this prayer and other such relevant prayers the
important thing for a prudent wayfarer is — that after having the
conditions of the prayer and paying due regards to its special etiquettes
and codes, it should be recited in a manner the way it deserves to be.
By my own soul, the one who appreciates the worth and merit of this prayer
would not be least negligent in their proper recital, and would appreciate
that those who have taught us this prayer, what a great favor they have
done. And what a great favor Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), has done in assigning these saintly persons
as our leaders, that if they were not there
and would not have taught us the manners and etiquettes of prayer recital,
then how and where could we have learned the etiquette of speaking to
Him, the code of prayers, and the manner of thanking him?
And, if they were not there, then how we could have learned about
our negligences and shortcomings as regards to the codes of servant hood,
and our helplessness in offering appreciation and thanks? If they were not
there and would have not taught us all this, then wouldn't we have been
living in state of degradation, ignorance, negligence, deviation, and
( 107 )
brutality?
The most important condition is — that the suppliant reciting such noble
supplications during such blessed occasion must understand what is he
saying; neither his inner-self should be in contradiction with his
outward appearance, nor his self should
contradict his tongue, whatever he utters with his tongue should
also-be confirmed by his heart, should not
he a claimant and Tier, and his affairs
and characteristcs should not perceive his sayings as lies. By
bringing upon tongue and chewing up the phrases and sentences, which are not
confirmed by his heart, rather are
perceived as lies, should not treat Allah (the glorious, the exalted), as a
play thing or mockery because,
speaking to Him in this manner in accordance with the decree of
reason and wisdom is close to blasphamy, rather if one thinks well, it is
nothing but blasphamy.
In front of Allah (the glorious, the exalted), whose vast infinite
knowledge comprehends every thing, and
who is more aware, than our own selves about all of our exoteric and
esoteric affair — do we stand, stretch our hands in prayer, and open our
tongue for offering excuse by saying the following?
"
Oh Allah! Thou commonded me not to sin and
transgress, instead I most boldly
trampled Your command and stood up in rebellion against You, but
inspite of all that You preserved my honor by not exposing my shameful deeds
and insulting me before others. "
But inspite of saying the above, if our
hearts do not believe, our action and deeds do not confirm and certify
whatever is uttered by our tongues; crying and shedding tears,
earthiness, and humility, which are the prerequisite for uttering the above
are not shown by us, or worst than that,
we consider our self as righteous and faithful servants, or feel sad
regarding what Allah (the glorious, the
exalted), has done with us...etc. Then with such state of affairs
would it be appropriate and decent to utter
such words by tongue? Do any wisdom and
thinking regard such a behavior
reasonable? And the one who behaves in this manner and speaks so,
what does he deserve?
( 108 )
Let us take a pause in order to better discover our being ungrateful,
unthankful, and disobedient. Allah (the glorious, the exalted), who is our
Lord and Master, has invited us for a feast of His benevolence and
generosity allowing us to sit near His favorite saints. i.e. He has required
us to stand before Him for
benediction and supplication in order to be benefited from the table
of His blessings and benevolence. Before hand,
He has dispatched prophets and imams, so that they could teach us the codes
and etiquettes of attaining His feast, sitting upon the table of His
blessing, uttering words with Him, and
standing before Him for supplication and praise.
Now if, inspite of all this, we stood
before Him in benediction and supplication and opened our tongues to
utter words with Him, but if our heart
was occupied in some other things, our mind and self kept thinking
about other affairs, and more often about
things which Allah (the glorious,
the exalted), regards as His enemy, remaining amused in those thoughts to
the extent, that even forgetting
the words uttered to Him, becoming
complayly naive as to with whom are we talking and what is being sought?
What is going to be the result of such ignorance and negligence?
In this stage, wouldn't He proclaim: oh
you poor deviated ones! Didn't you
feel ashame in treating my invitation so lightly with mockery? Didn't you
feel ashame the way you talk to Me, that if your own servants,
subordinates, and even your enemies
would have treated you in this
manner, you would have never excused them. Didn't you feel sorry for
treating Me so lightly even lighter than
your own servants? Because, you will feel ashamed and would avoid to treat
them in this manner, but don't
feel ashamed with Me. If such reprimand is issued for us from Him would
we have any reply?
Glory to Allah
(Subhan allhi)! Indeed He
possesses wonderful patience and
great forbearance, that were it not for his patience, forbearance,
greatness, benevolence, and kindness, what would He have done with us for
such impudence? Except that he would have shown out
brust of his wrath against us, and would
have thrown us out from His blessed threshold forever, by confining us into
the most horrible and darkest
chambers of Hell, in most wretched and humiliating disgrace being
( 109 )
inflicted with Hell's most severe punishments?
Yes! Majority of the people in their
supplications behave in such
manner, their heart being closed by the lock of negligence, they stand in
prayer speaking to Him with the tip of their tongue, while having their
heart and soul occupied somewhere-else; even worst than this are those,
who apparently open their tongue for asking pardon admitting their
shortcomings, sins, transgressions, and disobedience, but inside their heart
they regard themselves as pious,
righteous, and faithful servants, and whatever Allah (the glorious,
the exaltd), has done with them about their
destinies — they are not pleased with it.
A step further than these are those who with their engaging into
false supplications, which they do not
believe by heart, make mockery of prayer and benediction. Of course, I
don't imagine that such type of persons could be found among Muslims.
Unfortunately, that is the way it is, we stand in prayer in the state of
ignorance and negligence, uttering words with the tip of our tongue, while
continuously thinking about our worldly
affairs from the bottom of our
hearts. But as regards to what is He going to do with us and our
disobedience with this false
supplications and negligence, is described in
the following narration: the narration
in which the Imam (A.S.) points out in the First-Day-Prayer of the
Month as follows:
"
He does not question use for being disobedient, does not
expose us, covers up our faults, makes our good deeds apparent, does
not deprive us from His blessings and
favors, does not hand over us to others, closes his eyes from our
faults, does not colse the gate of repentance upon us, encourages us to
offer repentance for the second time and
many more times, promises us acceptance and rewards, treats us the
same way as he treats his pious righteous servants, prevents others from
insulting and exposing us, and becomes angry
upon them if they admonish us, does not
turn off His affectionate and kind eyes from us, and does not like to
see us in the state of degradation. "
( 110 )
Pause and ponder when you recite this
prayer of the First-Day of the Holy month, uttering the following sentence
by your tongue:
"
I am so much hungry of Your love that would
never become satisfied; I am so much thirsty of Your friendship that would
never become quenched. "
Do you keep
a little bit of it within your heart, whatever is being
uttered? Do you have any trace of this
friendship in your heart, which is being claimed by your tongue? Do
you indeed desire meeting Him in the
bottom of your heart? If you are really His sincere friend then inevitably
you must be infatuated for meeting
Him; also, the separation from Him
must be painful and you must remain in
the state of restlessness and anxiety until' your eyes become
illuminated your with your beloved's sight.
Here it is that Imam (AS.) after recital
of the above in a sentence saturated with ardent desire, anxiousness,
and awaiting says:
" How much infatuated I am for meeting the one Who sees me,
but I can't see him. "
Yes! It is
easy to talk, and uttering very good phrases or sentences
with the tongue does not require least
trouble (or in other words it does
not cost any tax), but whatever is being
uttered by the tongue, believing it by heart and having no
contradiction between our inner and outer selves is something indeed
extremely difficult. And whatever is being uttered by the tongue, having
committed to it and paying due respect to all the relevant
conditions, codes, and etiquettes is
indeed difficult. Simply compiling beautiful sentences with the tip
of tongue and claiming Lord's friendship is some thing, and with sincerity
being infatuated by soul, being His friend is something entirely a different
matter.
( 111 )
Are not the friends, seekers, lovers, and infatuated ones of Allah
(the glorious, the exalted), are such as
have been described by the Imam (A.S.) in this very prayer of the
First-Day:
"
Those who are not pleased only with fasting
during day and engaging in night-vigil, rather desire to sacrifice their
most precious and dearest thing for Him; want to give up their all
possessions; are ready to tolerate the most severe hardships, to walk
through the piercing spears, and to embrace the swords and hatchets with
open arms; dyeing their hairs and face with their own blood, and falling
upon the dirt with their bodies torn to pieces. "
And look whether do you possess a little
bit of such passions and ardent
desires within you? If you are such, congratulations and thousand
of congratulations be upon you, but if
you are among those who even regard day-fasting and night-vigilance
as uncomfortable, then what to say about
having zeal and anxiousness for such things in their hearts.
Therefore, lest you act impudently and shamefully and stood before Allah
(the glorious, the exalted) — who controls all of your affairs and who sees
things much more clearly than yourself —
in prayer, while lying and
uttering things from the tip of your tongue, which you do not believe by
heart as well as are not committed to them.
3. Another
thing which a prudent wayfarer should not forget during the first
night of this holy month is resorting
(tawassul) to the impeccable ones
(Ma 'sumin) 1 of that
night. It is up to him to stretch his hand sincerely
____________
1— Ma'sumin: in accordance with the Islamic traditions the week days
have been
assigned to the Ma'sumin — those posesessing the quality of `ismat
(divinely bestowed freedom from error and sin) i.e. the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.), His
daughter Hazrate Fatimeh al—Zahra (S.A.) and the twelve Imams (AS.) as follows:
1. Saturday Prophet Muahmmad (SAW.).
2. Sunday Imam 'Alt (A.S.), and Fatimah al-Zahra (S.A.).
3. Monday Imam al—Hasan (A.S.), and Imam al- Hussein (A.S.).
4. Tuesday Imam al—Sajjad (AS.), Imam al—Baqir (AS.), and Imam al—Sadiq (A.S.).
5. Wednesday Imam al —Kazim (A.S.), Imam al— Ridha (A.S.), Imam al—Taqr
(A.S.), and Imam al—Naqi (AS.).
6. Thursday Imam al—Askari (AS.).
7. Friday Imam of the Age al—Mahdi (A.S.)
For detailed description of their Ziyarats, refer to Mafateh al—Jinan
of Late Haj Sheik Abbas Qummi (R.A.).
The night of the day means the night preceding the day i.e. Friday night
starts with the evening of Thursday and ends at the dawn breaking of
dawn on Friday [Tr].
( 112 )
towards the threshold of those exalted saintly personalities, should present
their blessed, glorious, and beautiful face as intercessor for our unblessed
and polluted (with sins), face, thus, looking towards the Lord
through their splendor and magnanimity because, it is not appropriate and desirable to
look towards Him directly with a face blackened with sins, and cheeks
rusted with transgressions. Instead, he should plead with them, should
open his tongue full of grief and anxiety, should request them to act
as intercessor for pleading his case.
It might be that their hearts would become soft with love for him,
with their greatness they might accept him by acting as his intercessor as
well as might request Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), that may He accept him and bestow upon him
the grace and favor so that he would become the
way Lord desires him to be. Because, Allah (the glorious, the exalted),
being the most compassionate and most merciful, undoubtedly would
( 113 )
accept the plea and intercession of those compassionate and exalted
personalities, especially, those Sinless noble ones, to whom He himself has
taught generosity and compassion as well as have allowed them to act as
intercessors.
Yes! By resorting sincerely, truly and
honestly to these noble exalted personalities one may attain such
gains, prosperity, and salvation which
can't even be attained through engaging in worship for one complete year.
Therefore, it is up to us to make our best endeavors, by treating the
time as our best available opportunity; we should extend our hands towards
their thresholds; by offering salutations and thanks should open our
tongues for needs, and saying the following sincerely and honestly:
Oh my Master! Tonight you are the support and shelter of every
one, you are the most exalted and
generous among all exalted and generous ones, you like inviting
guests and want to be generous towards
them; also Allah (the glorious, the exalted), has commanded you to
provide refuge and shelter for the wretched and shelter less people; now
here is one of shelter less Allah's servant who has came to attend your's as
well as Allah's feast; has attached his
heart upon your's support and hospitality as well as upon Allah's
support and hospitality; be hospitable and
allow to sit him upon the table of your's generosity and treat him in the
following manner:
Consider him as your friend and supporter and do not deprive him
from your best support and endeavors; do not deprive him from your
prayer, backing, and intercession; ask Allah (the glorious, the exalted), not
to deprive him from His forgiveness and benevolance; shouldn't deprive him
from His mercy and compassion; then look at him with love and
pleasure; becoming so much happy and pleased with him that after that He
should never become unhappy and angry
with him, should regard him as His sincere friend and worthy servant....
Oh my Master! Please beseech Allah (the
glorious, the exalted), to bestow upon me these things; He will accept your
prayer and intercession, because, your splendor and majesty, and your
worth and prestige, before Him is far
greater than what could be perceived by human's mind and understanding. I
swear you by your splendor and majesty, which Allah (the
( 114 )
glorious, the exalted), has bestowed upon you, to look towards me with
kindness and do not deprive me from whatever I have desired; reward me more
than whatever I have asked in accordance with your generosity;
don't look upon my worthlessness, disobedience, and deviations, because
the generosity of the generous ones and the hospitality shown by the
exalted ones are in accordance with their generosity and exaltedness and
not in proportion with the worth and merit of their recipients.
Oh my masters! You are the one who have taught
greatness to the exalted ones, generosity to the generous ones, and
benevolence to the benevolent ones; if there is a discussion about the
benevolence you are the first and the
last as well as the roots and the branches; if there is a
discussion about the magnanimity and greatness you are their fountain
head; you are the ones who never returned any one hopeless and
empty-handed, as you yourself have proclaimed:
your generosity and reward like rain water pour upon the righteous
ones as well as upon the bad ones likewise;
saturate me with th rain of your
generosity, do not deprive me with the rain of your generosity, do not
deprive me from the pouring of your love because I am thirsty of your
generosity and hungry of your love and affection; you don't like that your
guests who have taken shelter in your threshold and have tied their
hopes upon your benevolence should remain thirsty and hungry.
Oh my Masters ! If you will deprive me
from your hospitality — I will die with hunger under your's shelter
sitting upon the side of your table cloth. No! No! You wouldn't treat me in
this manner; you are not the ones who
would deprive the guests from your hospitality so that he would
return heart-broken, hopeless and hungry. Never! Never!
Yes! It is
up to the prudent wayfarer to mobilize all his talents, expertise,
strength, and endeavors for resorting towards them; crying and shedding
tears, pleading, and requesting for intercession and support with
these exalted saintly personalities; so
that through resorting for one hour he may earn the prosperity for one year,
and through such insignificant efforts might achieve huge gains.
Also, he should not forget to repeat this resorting and crying every morning and
evening, and by sending salutations (upon them) every day and
resorting to them every night
( 115 )
should strengthen his commitment towards them.
4. The prudent wayfarer who wants to perform recommended deeds
(mustahabbat)
and supererogatory prayers
(nafileh), it would be much
better for him first to review his
situation, affairs, and work-load in order to find out whether he is in low,
moderate, and high mood. After reviewing his situation then
he should select the proper program which is suitable for him.
5. One of the recommended act which has been emphasised a lot in
traditions is to perform supererogatory prayers, especially one thousand
rakats supererogatory prayer which must be offered during this month
1.
If the wayfarer's spiritual
condition and mood allow him to perform this special prayer what other grace
better than this can he ask? He should perform it and should not
forget its relevant supplications, because those supplication contain very delicate and
sublime themes, which are not found in other supplications. of
course, he must do his best efforts to recite these prayers sincerely,
honestly, and lively, with heart's presence and concentration, in a state of being fully
awakened, so that his prayers shouldn't be a thing uttered only from
tip of his tongue and chewing of words, rather it sould indeed be
a confidential and humming
communication with his creator. And truly how much blessing and
happiness it contains — the suppliant whose condition testifies his saying;
whatever he utters by tongue is also
believed by his heart, whatever he brings upon his lips comes out
from the depth of his soul, and whatever he says also possesses it.
____________
1—
Regarding how to offer one thousand rak'ats prayer and how much should be
offered during each night, there are many traditions and one of the most
authentic tradition has been mentioned in Sheik Abbas
Oummi's Book — (Mafatih al-Jinan)*, [Author].
* Mafatih al—Jinan: the
standard manual of Shi'i devotion, containing the supplicatory
prayers of Imams as well as formulae for recitation at particular times or
during of the tombs of Imams (A.S.). Its compiler Sheik Abbas Oummi, was a
scholar of vast learning who died in Najaf in 1359/1940 [Tr].
( 116 )
Such suppliant undoubtedly is righteous, acceptable, and dearest in
Allah's sight. For example: The suppliant who opens his tongue feeling
sorry and ashamed, speaks about his state of helplessness and
wretchedness, disobedience and
ungratefulness, deviation and wickedness, sins and transgressions,
boldness and lowliness, and considers
himself among the condemned ones, as has been expressed in some of
such suppliacations:
"
That he himself admits that his heart is so much full of filth
and sins are so severe that has the earth would have known about
them it would have swallowed him; if the mountains would have
learned they would have fallen upon his head; and if the rivers would have
become knowledgeable about it, they would have caught him
in their whirlpool ..... "
It could be derived that if a supplicant says such things, and if
these feelings come from the depths of his inner soul and his heart believes
in it, even if one happens to be Satan,
would become righteous what to say about a believer and Muslim.
Especially, as has been mentioned in parts of
these very prayers, that his fear,
anxiety, and danger should be because of divine wrath and not because
of Hell's punishment.
Yes! If the supplicant in this state as
well as in other blessed situations, which have been described in
these supplications, whatever he brings upon his tongue also believes in it
by his heart, undoubtedly would become
righteous, would attain Allah's pleasure, thus, ascending towards the
most exalted spiritual stations. But the wayfarer who do not find within
himself the required zeal and motivation for performance of such
recommended deeds, feels tired and lazy, should take a penetrating look
within his heart, and must thoroughly scrutinize his state of affairs.
If he thinks that performance of worships and recommended deeds
even if done without interest and willingness would result in his attaining
the state of being zealous and
happy, certainly he must do it and should engage himself in worships
and recommended deeds, lest Satan succeed in taking over his control, thus
making him completely deprieved from taking
( 117 )
advantage of worships and recommended deeds. Because if some one
quits the worships and recommended simply
taking the excuse of being tired exhausted, and not having the
required mood, gradually his affairs reach
to the limits, whereby, he completely turns his face away from these
deeds and worships, thus, becoming deprived from their advantages
forever. While on the contrary, it has occured quite often, that some one
became engaged in performance of worships and recommended deeds in
the beginning with unwillingness and feeling not much inclined and
motivated, but during their performance has attained the state of
happiness and willingness far beyond than his expectations.
But if he realizes, that at present he is tired and exhausted, and if by
quiting the performance of worships and recommended deeds at the moment
will result in his attaining a better mood and willingness, later on,
he should quite it and should not allow
himself to become habitual of engaging in worships and recommended
deeds in a state of being tired and
unmotivated. of course, he must watch himself so that his lazy and easy
going self do not trick him to
quite the worships performed in lazy mood with the hope of performing
it later with willingness and motivation .
6. The most important deeds of this month are recital of the Holy Qur'an
and supplications, and it is up to the prudent wayfarer to make his
best efforts for their recital. Of course,
instead of renouncing one of them completely, he should pay more attention
towards the one which is more suitable with his mood and situation and
brings more illumination and joy within his heart. He should not forget the
supplications mentioned in the traditions as follows:
At the beginning of the first night of the Holy Month, should recite
the prayer: "
Ya alio ya azim ",
which should then be recited after
each prayer. Also, should recite the prayer of: "
Iftetatah "
, the famous morning
(Saheri)
prayer: "
Allahumma inni
asaloka min
bahaik",
and especially, should not forget
the prayer of:
"Abu
Hamza Thomali ",
in accordance with his
mood and situation every night or at
alternate nights, during the days
should recite relevant prayers, and should not forget the recital of Friday
supplications and attending the Friday Congregational Prayer.
( 118 )
In his prayers should beseech Allah
(the glorious, the exalted), a lot for bestowing upon him the grace
for appreciation of the Night-of-Power
(Lailatul-Qadr) and
Night-of-Fitr, and during days and nights should
pray a lot for the Imam of the Age — Imam Mehdi (A.S.), by reciting
the following:
"
Oh Allah! Please grant his wishes for
himself his progeny, followers, subject, and the people who are under his
guardianship or have some relationship with him. Please fulfill his wishes
and let us see this fulfillment, and create a situation whereby the enemies
feel scared. Oh Allah please let us join
his most intimate followers and old friends, and send salutations and
greetings upon him and his impeccable
progeny. Oh Thou, who are the most generous among the generous ones.
"
Also, he should pray for parents, teacher, fellow brother believers,
next of kins, neighbors, whoever has a
right upon him, all the believers, and should include them in prayers
which he makes for himself.
7. Another important deed of this month is to take bath
(ghusl)
during the first night, all the odd
nights, and first day. It has been narrated in a tradition that:
"
Whoever undertake a bath in a running
water during the first night of the Holy
Month, and pour at least thirty handful of water upon his head, would
remain in the state of cleanliness (taharat) till the next Ramadhan. "
And in another
tradition taking bath in the above manner has been described as medicine for
the whole year.
