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THE
REALITY OF THE PRESCRIBED PRAYERS IS A KIND OF ASCENSION
So, O
my lazy soul! The reality of the daily prescribed prayers,
which is, in fact, a kind of Ascension, is like the soldier in
the previous comparison being admitted to the royal Presence
as a pure favor. So, too, your being admitted to the presence
of the All-Majestic One of Grace, the All-Gracious One of
Majesty, Who is the True Object of Worship, is an instance of
pure mercy. Declaring ‘God is the greatest’ is to leave
behind the two worlds-this one and the next-in spirit or in
imagination or by intention, and transcending the restriction
of matter, to rise to a universal rank of worship or a shadow
or a form of it. Being honored with a sort of admission to the
Divine Presence, it is to be favored (everyone according to
his own capacity) with the most exalted attainment of
addressing God directly, ‘You alone do we worship.’
Through repeating ‘God is the Greatest’ in its acts, the
prayer is a sign of attaining to higher and higher spiritual
ranks and rising from being an insignificant, particular being
to being a universal one. It is a concise title to the
perfection of God’s Grandeur which is beyond our knowledge.
It is as if each ‘God is the greatest’ shows the
attainment of a new degree in the way to Ascension. To attain
to a shadow or a ray of this reality of the prescribed prayer
in spirit or by intention or in imagination is a great
happiness.
It is
for this reason that during the Hajj, ‘God is the greatest’
is frequently repeated. For the Hajj is an act of worship at a
most comprehensive level for everyone. On a special occasion,
such as a festival, a soldier takes part in the king’s
celebrations like a general, and receives his favors. So too,
like a saint who has left behind many ranks, a pilgrim, no
matter how common, turns towards his Lord as the Mighty Lord
of all the parts of the earth. He is honored with universal
worship. Certainly, the degrees in the manifestation of Divine
universal Lordship open up for the pilgrim with the key of the
Hajj, and the horizons of Divine Grandeur become observable to
him through its telescope. Awe and amazement, and the feelings
of majesty in front of Divine Lordship are caused by the
spheres of worship and servanthood, and the levels in the
manifestations unfold more and more to his heart and
imagination through his observance of its rites. All these can
only be quieted by declaring ‘God is the greatest’
repeatedly. Again only through ‘God is the greatest’ can
those observed or imagined, unfolded degrees be announced.
After the Hajj, this meaning is found in various elevated and
universal degrees in the religious festival (‘Id) prayers,
the prayers for rain, and the prayers done on the occasions of
solar and lunar eclipses, and in congregational prayers. That
is why the public symbols and rites of Islam, including those
of the category of Sunna-supererogatory types of
worship-are extremely important.
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