Revitalize Islam, Pursue Excellence
Many people do salat and zikr but do not benefit because what they say is not felt inside. Some of the reasons are: You don’t know the meaning of the words. You know the meaning, but you have not spent time to figure out how they are related to your life. Remember, Prophet Muhammad said: … Read more
Sura 34, Ayat 18-19 And we set between them and the towns that We had blessed towns easily seen, and We measured the distance between them: “journey between them in security by night and by day.” But they said, “Our Lord, increase the distance of our journeys.” And they wronged themselves; so We made them … Read more
Nun. By the pen and that which they inscribe Thou are not, by the blessing of thy Lord, possessed Truly thine shall be a reward unceasing And truly thou art of an exalted character (68:1-4) These words were revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Surah 68 of the Quran, entitled, The Pen (al-Qalam). In this … Read more
In this video Dr. Sultan Abdulhameed explains why Arabic is not a holy language and why thinking it is can make you misunderstand the Quran’s message
Do you have a hard time concentrating while performing your salat prayer? Does your mind wander? In this video, Dr Sultan Abdulhameed will explain how mindlessness during salat can occur and how we can prevent it
MRMO: I’m not able to concentrate in salat prayer. I do my best to pay attention to the recitation but my mind wanders in different directions.
Why is that?
Dr AbdulHameed: The main reason why the majority of Muslim people are not able to concentrate in salat is because they don’t know the meanings of the words they are speaking.
That you should know the meaning of what you say is common sense however Muslim people, we Muslim people, have been conditioned by centuries of bad advice that repeating the salat in arabic without knowing the meaning is rewarded by Allah.
The important fact is that a key idea, a vital idea, is being transmitted in every sentence of salat and we can benefit from it only to the extent that we understand it. if you don’t understand what you are saying, what you are speaking to Allah, then what registers in your mind or what you convey is meaninglessness and your prayer becomes mindless.
MRMO: But we pray using the words that Prophet Muhammad used peace be upon him. We are following the sunnah of the prophet. Isn’t that the best way?
Dr AbdulHameed: Well actually this is a misunderstanding because Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, deeply understood the meaning of the words he said in salat.
Then to claim that just repeating the sounds or uttering the sounds of words or his words which you don’t understand is following the sunnah is not correct
Now another argument which people make in in in defending meaningless salat is they say well arabic is a very complex language and it cannot be translated. And if you try to translate it you can get the wrong meaning. But think about it, if you don’t know the meaning then your meaning is mindlessness. It is blankness. It is emptiness and that is your salat
And to see how ridiculous it is think about this: you can teach a parrot to memorize surahs. And actually many people have done it and you can watch these parrots on youtube. Do you really think that these parrots are very spiritual? And they are benefiting from the surah they are reciting? Obviously not.
The human being has the ability to think, understand, and benefit from important teachings, and make life better for himself and for others. That is the purpose of salat.
And if you think about it, it is not difficult to learn the meaning of salat. You can find them in a book or or on the internet. You can learn the meaning and memorize them in a couple of hours or spending some time over a few days
And then that itself will immediately improve the quality of your prayer, your concentration in prayer, if you speak these words paying attention to the meaning of what you are saying
And then, as you do that, you will then think about what these words are saying to you. It will lead to introspection. These words of salat are asking us to shape our lives in particular ways. So as we think about them and think about our lives, salat actually gives us direction on how to live better.
And this is a continuous process of spiritual growth
MRMO: Thank you Dr Abdulhameed
In this video Dr Sultan Abdulhameed discusses why the quality of of your prayer is important and foundational. Spend time learning the meaning of the words used in your prayer and becoming mindful during your Salat
MRMO: I understand why you say that salat becomes mindless when people don’t know its meaning. But I know the meaning of the words but my mind does not stay with the meaning when I’m praying why is that?
Dr AbdulHameed: Well one of the reasons it happens is that people have been told and they believe that everybody should do many many rakat in their salat every day.
In some traditions they say you should pray 36 rakat throughout the day and some other tradition they say you should pray 44 rakat. This includes the Fard the Sunnah Muakkadah and other voluntary prayers. And since most people work and even if they don’t work they have many obligations during the day, they feel that they have to do so many rakat, so they rush through their prayer. Their mind is on getting through the prayer and not on what they are saying, not on the meaning of what they are saying. So that is the main reason that for even somebody knows the meaning of salat they are not connected with the meaning and so their prayer becomes empty.
MRMO: So what can we do about this problem?
Dr AbdulHameed: Well so there are two aspects to it.
One is to to realize that quality of salat is more important than quantity.
Prayer or salat is our conversation with Allah who is in charge of our life and of the
whole world. So it is important to pray and to speak with Allah in the best
possible manner. And so the practical way to approach this is to begin by learning to pray only two rakat in a day, and stay with two rakat think about the meanings of the words you are saying and stay not only with the literal meaning but think about what these words you are saying mean in terms of your own life.
And practice it, the two rakat, make it better speak each world separately as Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him used to do and perfect your prayer.
And only when you have done that then increase the quality the number of your prayers so the number of as time permits. So this is the practical advice I give.
Now the second point is about the background. I know that many imams and scholars will
object to this advice because it has been generally accepted in our tradition that what Prophet Muhammad used to do towards the the last part of his life, when he was in Medina, is what is obligatory on anyone. And so Prophet Muhammad used to pray many rakat in a day at that time. But he did not pray like this when he was a young man, He went through a process of growth in his prayer, gradually.
Therefore it is a mistake to ask a young person who is 14 or 15 years old to start with duplicating what Prophet Muhammad used to do when he was 60 or 61 years old because the young person is not capable of doing it. It is much better for this spiritual well-being of the young person to start at a small level and then do it well. Start with two rakat and make it good and then slowly increase if time permits
And this advice is applicable to not only young people but to the older people who have been praying without connecting with the meaning for many many years and it is not helping them.
MRMO: Thank you Dr. AbdulHameed