Salat & Zakat

Peace all.. I have been praying the sunni way until recently, and even those I would consider myself a 'Quran alone' muslim for a long time, old habits are hard to quash when it comes to salat. On submission.org I have read a description of how to perform salat. The beginning of each rakat is almost identical but there isnt any Tashahhud as such, just the Shahada is listed. Is there any recommended 'replacement' for it? Thanks D Peace Halihan, No I dont have a replacement for Tashahhud,I have went back to following the example on http//www.quran.org/mosque/salathow2.htm at the time.

nearst the centre(m.a.) alwusht(al wusta) , , ( ) put or be in a state of balance; compare the value of something with that of another; give equal importance to different parts of something(b.v) We can see here that al wusta and the Arabic words for balanced are not the same... Al Wusta means nearest the center... So Al wusta doesnt mean balanced,it means in the Middle or Center.. 2238 You shall consistently observe the Contact Salats, especially the center salat, and devote yourselves totally to GOD....

Salaam, I find it a good thing when people are trying to learn to the best of their abilities about something. In this case, shalat. Personally, I am clear already about the concept of shalat, just don't know whether I have "uphold" it well enough though. Knowing and doing shalat is a big difference for me. Anyway, people "grow" in their understanding, not getting it instantly. Thus, if two people share a different view of shalat, or any other topics, I view it just because their "growth" is different. But, only Allah knows which one is more "ripe" =adley=

I do not see it as a 'ritual' and arguments for it being a ritual aren't compelling.. I still heavily lean towards taking it as 'commitment' as it explains a LOT Of verses which remained shrouded in mystery earlier with the salat=ritual definition.

the phrase is " " qumtum isn't just "stood/got up" .. it is also kept up, started, called for, took care of .. which might go easily with commitments. I am still searcing for the exact meaning of can anyone help? literally meany "To" and in the above context it clearly means if we stand up TO perform Salat peace

would still mean 'sumit' or 'submission'. It wouldn't signify a physical movement because according to my very limited understanding it can't be the traditional definition of 'salat' which is being discussed. According to clues given by Aidid Safar if you consider the context developed by 4101 this activity is being performed with the unbelievers. Hence the steps taken for personal safety of the Prophet.

Peace be upon you Open Mind, I understand "salaat" to be programming. The method by which one programs themself is to enter into a TRANCE state, which is what we try to achieve in meditation. The purpose of Salat is to focus on God I think more accurately is to REMEMBER the God, meaning to program our spirit with the attributes of the God, which prevents us from evil. Our actions are RESPONSES, so we have to program our responses. Also, just going into meditation to relax and be at peace only is a good thing as well. God is THE PEACE, which is the state of NO THINGS (oposite of things). When we achieve PEACE, we are "face to face" with The God.

Peace, That is impossible coz the Quran mentions Salatul WUSTA(MIDDLE salat) and an even number doesnt have a middle. Therefore if u find four salat then THERE must be a middle one which is the 5th. GOD Bless! Peace, I have come to see that wusta is referring to middle part of the day,but not to a salat time... As for the 4 0r 5 times thats why I said ...so we either have to say the Middle Salat refers to the mid day/noon one or that we only have 3 because we cant have a middle one with only 4 salat times...remember the night prayer is optional therefore it cant be counted with the others that are required..

Peace be upon you Bilal, So you are saying that dawn and dusk salaat are just saying its time to get up and go to sleep? Peace idolfree1 I just try to understand your point of view of salat because your concept of programming with the time is not clear for me.

salam. checkout the video lecture on "what Quran say about the salat" at www.iipc.tv . Salaam Saladin, TY for the link..is this site Quran Only? salam. WC . yes it is .

Peace be upon you, Question; why not "place" of acceptance? How does it turn to "practice"?

Peace be upon you all, I disagree with the "commitments" view. I take salaat to be programming of the NAFS (spirit/mind). Salaat accompanies many of the duties we are to perform to let us know that these BEHAVIORS must be PROGRAMMED into the spirit of man. Man has two divisions, the part that WILLS and the part that CARRIES THINGS OUT. We can verify this ourselves. We all know how we Say (will) that we will workout this year, or be better "muslims" this year, or budget bater this year, or stop smoking, or stop eating ice cream, etc, but we keep on doing it. We have discussions in our heads "I shouldnt be eating this, etc". There is a battle going on in our minds. This is because there are two parts of BEING, the SELF which wills, and the SPIRIT/MIND(Nafs) which carries things out, but what most dont understand is that the SPIRIT is TIME RESTRICTED. The metaphor is the man and woman, the man can always give seed, the woman is time based and cannot always accept the seed. Same with the SUN and MOON. So we are given TIMES when the NAFS is most receptive, and it so happens that these times are when the DAY and NIGHT merge. Also, the FULL MOON is a time of high receptivity, as well as the summer and winter solstice. The heavenly bodies are timing devices for us. In conclusion, we must BURN the proper behavior into our spirits, not just read or listen to the recitation of proper behavior. We know from school that just listening to a teaching is not enough, we must go over it again and again and again and again. Repitition is a way of putting is in a TRANCE state, which is how the human truly burns the info in the Spirit to be recalled when needed.

Salaams ichephren, I totally agree with your post....

peace But is salat really a ritual? does it have to be performed a certain way? Salat would only be a "ritual" if there was a set of laws that everyone had to follow during salat. There isn't an explanation on how one must establish salat. So although a comminuty needs to be united, i don't think we need "rituals."

Salaam, Warda. Thanks for your response. From what I have read in the Qur'aan, it does not say we must fully cover with hijaab, niqaab, etc. And I know the statement from 3333 was directed to the WIVES of the Propeht pbuh. But I learned from an extremely conservative (or read "fundamentalist") Muslimah regarding practices, Sunnah, Hadith, Qur'aan, etc., and I am also aware that wearing at least hijaab would be mandatory if I were to go to the masjid for the Friday service. Since I'm not really WANTING to cover all up, I'm not really interested in going to the masjid. OTOH, I would love to make contact with other Muslimahs locally, and the only way I can think of to find them is to go to Friday service. So that's my dilemma. IF the Friday service is obligatory (which in itself is subject to question) I shall strive to go and will have to cover, at least with hijaab. If the Friday service is NOT obligatory, then I may stay at home and continue to pray by myself, as I have been doing. But then that leaves me alone still. Thank goodness for this forum! Maybe I'm dicing it up too much--making much ado about nothing. My intent in joining this forum was to breathe some fresh air, and connect with others who don't interpret Islaam the Wahabi way. I've been there and done that, and don't want to go back! I know Islaam has room for many, not just Muslimahs who wear niqaab, stay away from dogs and black dogs in particular, don't listen to music and walk behind their husbands! That interpretation of Islaam is to restrictive to me, and the Qur'aan specifically states that Allaah has not made our religion burdensome or difficult. May we all seek and find the Truth! Love, Maataga Mummuch

salam. check out the lecture about "What the Quran says about Salat" http//www.the-quran.org/trailers/video_trailers.html .

peace kaamil, Please see my article, it strongly links the bond/salat to al-quran/the-reading http//mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/think-786/slw.htm

peace, Use the phonetic search. It matches what is similar, thus should return the common transliterations, which is what I am assuming you wanted http//www.islamicity.com/ps/default.htm Take out the dash "-" in the words and change the "o" in "solla" to an "a" and it should work fine. Wakas

peace same opinion as truth above! lk

Peace be upon you, We can practice spirituality in a vacuum, it must be done in community setting. We must be in the world but not of the world.