Nearness and Guidance -> Knowledge and Wisdom = Peace and Prosperity
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Nearness and Guidance -> Knowledge and Wisdom = Peace and Prosperity
Post 2 ? Nearness and Guidance part 1
Peace be unto you,
In the last post I introduced my thread and what its contents will be. Now we will delve deeper into the topic and I will discuss the first link in the chain; ?Nearness and Guidance?, which I consider is the first step one will need to take once they have discovered the Path of God and Faith has entered the heart.
Not do I command you to do the following, but I always state my intention before I initiate a monolog with God such as this; ?? I seek your Nearness and Guidance?? and I add the following phrase as an intensifier ?? as well as protection from the evil one and his followers?. I feel these phrases have filled their intended purpose for me, but this is nothing which is sanctioned by the Quran and it is a mere aim of my personal development. Still, I believe this is the initial aim of someone who chooses to follow the Light of God.
I am sure we should always implore God for our needs in life and this will bring us closer to God, meaning you gain his Nearness by doing this as you put your trust in Him. It is a kind of proximity and it means allegorically to ?walk along the beach with the Lord?. The Most Gracious will lend his powerful hand and where your energy runs out He will carry you. This is surely the assistance God is mentioning in the Quran when He promises to help those who are steadfast and have Faith in Him.
There is a famous poem which was inspired to a certain woman named Mary Stevenson in 1936 which reads
?One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints. Other times there were one set of footprints.This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, ?You promised me, Lord, that if I followed You, You would walk with me always. But I noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of prints in the sand. Why, when I have needed You the most, You have not been there for me??
The Lord replied ?The times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I carried you.??
Some variations of this poem exist on the Web, but I believe this one to be the original. The alternatives are adapted to Christianity with Father or Child and thus I disregard them. I personally take this poem as that God continues to inspire humans through all ages and that He did not stop in the 7th century. As you can read in the poem it means to hand yourself over to God entirely and put all your trust in Him.
The reason I put Guidance on the same level as Nearness is that I believe when one gets closer to God, then God will provide Guidance at the same time or at least soon thereafter. Guidance is, according to me, pretty misunderstood and some people believe that God only guides through the Quran, which I believe is wrong. God is not confined to some Book and will guide as He pleases. Many are the generally called blessed men who lived through the ages and many of them lived while the Quran was not yet revealed, and these people were guided. They had put all their trust in God alone and that He will lead them straight, on a straight Path. The Quran was sent down as a blessing, a bonus because God is the Most Gracious, Most Merciful and to set things straight. It is a Guide for those who seek Guidance, but not without permission by the Lord. However, the Message has existed all along and the Mosaic Law revealed to Moses millennia ago is still contained within the Quran. These words were few and were inscribed on stone tables on the Mount Sinai, but apparently they seem to be long gone. They are left within the Old Testament of the Bible slightly corrupted with stoning as a punishment for breaking the rules which is a punishment of Pagans. Moses? people were told to uphold the Law which only seemed to have been Ten Commandments at the time and this Law is still valid as of today.Jesus was, centuries later (maybe a millennium or even 1500 years, but I am not sure), upholding the Mosaic Law and was simply exposing the clergymen of his time as well as bringing news of the Kingdom (Heaven). He was not there to sacrifice himself for mankind or any of the usual invented stories, and he was not a god or the son of God. He was simply a Messenger, although a very blessed one powerfully infused with the Holy Spirit (the direct spirit of God). Jesus seems to have been some kind of beacon in the timeline of Prophets, although I am not truly sure in which manner. Anyway, like every other Messenger he was a sign for mankind that God is present, always watching. He brought news for the Believers and clear warnings for the enemies of God (the clergymen and other hypocrites as well as those who disbelieve altogether). God decided to ?bring him back to base?, so He made the people believe they killed him while he brought his soul back before harm and suffering came to him. Almost instantly, and even before he is gone, he is the object of idolization by throngs of people who treat him as a lord.
And, about 600 years later, Muhammad is inspired by God and put to trial and seemingly manages to pass the trials, with assistance from God, and the Quran is revealed to Him. The Quran is the exact wordings of God, much like the stone tablets revealed to Moses, but way more detailed this time. It is the perfect source of scriptural information. The same as with Jesus, Muhammad is later treated as a lord and the Law-giver and a strong source of authorization to issue inhumane and ungodly rules for generations of so-called believers, which unfortunately the majority of people seem to have fallen prey to.
Before Moses came, Abraham arrived and there existed no scripture at that time. Everything was based on hearsay and the world population was small. I am not sure at all when Abraham lived, but I infer that he lived about 2000 years before Jesus, about 4000 years ago. I can by no way guarantee that this information is correct however. Take my guess with a grind of salt. Very little was written down of anything and what you knew was spread verbally. The only apparent other-than-verbal communication was paintings and inscriptions. As far as I know any uniform written language was not yet invented. This is why we have so little information from Abraham except what is written in the Quran. The Bible has tales about him, but it is difficult to know which are fairy tales and which are true. That Abraham was guided is proof that Guidance does not necessarily come by scriptural means. Guidance will come when we seek God?s Nearness, and that is a Truth from the Message, particularly when Faith is entering our hearts.
Between and before the above stated Prophets there were many more who ever roamed the face of the Earth, but I did not mention them here. They are also important as signs, but you can read about them yourselves if you are interested. They all had their own personalities and were not at all alike on the personal level although they shared one thing in common, Faith in God alone. They were not idol worshipers and they followed the righteous tradition (which was to live in the way of God) of their ancestors and they relied upon God for Guidance. Their ancestors only told them the important things like worship only the Lord and there existed not all these nonsense which were spread through the today so-called hadith. When they said to follow the ways of our ancestors Abraham and company, as retold within the Quran, it meant to embrace monotheism. God?s religion has never been complicated and filled with hundreds of rules but those rules that exist are pretty simple.
Pretty much everything of the practices were ideas of the Ummah (community), ie the uniformity of prayers and those fundamental things. I am pretty sure that there is no Rakah pattern or the other ideas taught by hadith of Muhammad and they may be later inventions. The word Salat basically means to contact God, not truly the commonplace prayer ritual. Do not get me wrong, I believe in prayers and God has told us to regularly make contact with Him throughout the day, and even at night.I think prayers or communication with God was never questioned. It is very obvious that one should implore and rely upon his God frequently. And what is the first thing that comes to mind when we wake up in the morning? Well, communication with the Lord as is the foremost all the time. The same goes for the night when we retire for the day. Moreover, commonsense tells that some communication and imploration during the day fits in well in a Believer?s life.
The practices of God?s religion do not divert much from past prophets before Muhammad. All have had their Salat (contact/communication) and Zakat (good deeds/behavior or something like that in my understanding).
As far as I have understood the only prerequisites to reach God?s ?Kingdom? is to
- Believe in God and His absolute authority
- Believe in the Day of Judgment
- Be a righteous person
If someone claims that you need to do more than this apart from some minor details explained by God in Quran you should not believe them. If you have more things you do they are personal commitments for God and nothing mandatory prescribed by God.
I think all (especially some of them like Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad) are idolized against their will and they were very modest and humble. They have their own days of commemoration and they are treated highly, more than a healthy hero of their people. We can follow their example, but we do not do so by having days for them or constantly including them in our humanly ceremonies or rituals.
Now, roughly 1400 years after Muhammad and about 2000 years after Jesus, we have the Quran and God to rely upon. Most people interpret the Quran as Muhammad was the seal of prophets and that there will be no more prophets emerging on the face of the Earth. Considered how often the Quran is misinterpreted I am myself not sure about the passages stating this information and in my head I find that Messengers would still emerge when blessed men reach far and God would excel their Believer status. Also considering the state of God?s religion, I would not rule out that God could have another Messenger in His plans. God does not actively guide through His Book, but by Himself personally, generally known as through the Holy Spirit. The Quran is what it is, it is scriptural information, even though the author is God Himself. The text or book is not magical on its own and will guide people only through their Wisdom and Knowledge.
However, God?s religion should in theory not be difficult to practice at all since we are spoiled with the Quran, but since Guidance is not connected to the Quran it does not matter if some people have Quran or not. Only muslims (peacemakers) will find Guidance as well as Nearness. We need to work on our personalities and behavior before God will actively guide us into Believers. And Believer status means Wisdom and Knowledge which muslims do not possess (yet). In my opinion, a muslim does not necessarily need to have a strong Faith in heart, they ?want to believe?, they are still searching and need to actively work, as I stated above, on their personality and behavior.
Just to make things more complicated, we are all muslims even when you gain the extra tag Believer, but there is a considerable difference between the two, and that has to do with Faith, and lack of real Nearness and Guidance, such as when you truly feel God is near and guiding you. We may of course deceive ourselves and believe we are guided, but then it is imagined nearness and guidance. A person who does not live by the ways of a muslim will surely not be near God or guided, so we can easily say that they lack Nearness and Guidance. You must see such things in others from their behavior. The example of the above can easily be understood by studying the Quran and why some people believe they are guided while they are not and that is because they are hypocrites. Are we not actively working for the last part of the chain about Peace, we will not be rewarded by the first two parts of the chain, it is that simple. This is why I refer to it as a chain.
According to me, you shall put yourself in God?s hands, trusting that He will lead you straight. Close proximity to God will grant you Guidance and in its turn will lead to the next part of the chain, Wisdom and Knowledge. And in the long run the reverent Believer (mo?meen) will feel a clear reward of Peace and Prosperity. When Knowledge and Wisdom starts to be granted to the Believer then information like the Quran and its meanings will become clear to them. They will see that the Quran sets out clear guidelines for those who have chosen to follow God. I will talk more about the next step in the next post.
I am not sure whether I covered everything I wanted in this post or not, so there might be a Part 2 of this category. I brought the poem up because I discovered it by chance some years ago and I thought it touched my heart entirely. Also, I think I slipped into things irrelevant for my topic and I hope you excuse me and you still like what I wrote.
God bless you
Peace Man of Faith,
But Jesus is different and Prophet Esa Son of Mariam... Both are different. Jesus was someone who is crucified.
Allah will not allow his Messenger to die at the Hands of people... In Your Topi replace the Word Jesus with Esa.. then its becomes more authentic in line with Quran. Jesus is Anti Quran.. An imaginary sentimental character... -
Man of Faith
SalamThat was not a poem; a crystal clear assessment of her Life. Wow! For it is none but God Taught her the Words of the poem.
582 You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers to be the Jews and those who associate others with Allah ; and you will find the nearest of them in affection to the true believers those who say, "We are Christians." That is because among them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant.
582 You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the people of reflection are the Jews and those who associate the knowledge of their books containing their own concepts and ideas. And you will find the nearest of them in affection to the people of reflection are those who call "We are humble and have no arrogance before the Wisdom, the Almighty Truth."
And with regard to the wordings of the poem of Mary Stevenson, the True Believer in my opinion that I gathered in just the two lines of her
5331 And to Allah belongs whatever is in the skies and whatever is in the earth - that He may recompense those who do evil with the penalty of what they have done and recompense those who do good with the best reward
?One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints. Other times there were one set of footprints."
Just juxtapose the bold lines of the poem and the ayats' words. Allah was so near to her that in her dreams the angels by the leave of Allah made clear to her the ayat of Quran. One does not need Quran text to read, but spending time to reflect upon the Truth happening around one is sufficient to reveal from the Furqan, the Criterion from with in.
The two sets of foot-steps are 1. When you walk along side of God as taking as your companion; and the other when you exactly follow upon His footsteps, showing your obedience and dignifying Him, there is only One set of footstep.
fazl
Dear Drfazl,
Now I am made to Say ....Oh My Lord......The Lord has given you and educated you with Crystal Clarity. My Breathe goes in and in depth and we say now 11 In the name of Allah , the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
, (ன ....
How Its Clearly explained....The Straith Path... God bless DrFazl and Man of Faith.... My Prayer to Lord " Increase the more no of Wise people among the vice people...."
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Your English is understandable, but often the word order can be a bit off or an inappropriate word slips into your sentences, or there are verbs put in the wrong tense. It is called collocation. And at one point you said you 'demand an apology' which is pretty offensive/impolite or shows you are angry. I understood you meant you wished someone to accept your apology though. Thanks to being exposed to the most absurd sentences at work I can usually decipher even the most incorrect of sentences.
Thank you for reminds me especially for the words "demand an apologize" which I always used in many posts.I never realized before if that words is very impolite.
So if it's not "demand an apologize" so what is the best word for asking apologize, bro MoF? -
Peace,
Sorry, but Jesus is Jesus, or Isa in its mother tongue, to me. Jesus was not crucified on the cross, the people were made to believe they killed him on the cross. I find this talk about Isa not being Jesus the prophet of the Gospel just a conspiracy theory to further nullify traditional religious belief, the same as some who want to erase Muhammad from history.
There is talk about Isaiha or John (Yahya) in the Bible, but I am sure they are each their individual persons.
The Gospel versions are man-made testimonies of what happened during Jesus life. While somewhat corrupted, its fundamental Message is the same as the Truth.
God bless you
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Peace Earthdom,
First of all, it is the victim who would demand an apology. It is a strong request you make when you believe you have the right to it. You cannot, without being offensive, demand someone to accept your apology.
It is the culprit, the doer of the bad action, who has to apologize to the victim and in return the victim may accept your apology. An apology cannot be demanded by the culprit. You can make an apology to someone, like say to them "please accept my apology".
When they accept your apology they (hopefully) have forgiven your for your initial offense.
God bless you
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Peace,
You need to remember, I am not of those who believe God only guides through the Quran. God is not confined to a book and as long as information follow the guidelines set out within the Quran it is righteous to follow it. I follow Quran as the only set of guidelines, and they make me choose what to follow and what to ignore in my life.
God bless you
Very much true. Quran just confirms if you are on the right track and conforms to your comforted heart by the Truth; and not to your confronted mind. Quran always delivers us to a higher plane of wisdom.
salam
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Peace,
Sorry, but Jesus is Jesus, or Isa in its mother tongue, to me. Jesus was not crucified on the cross, the people were made to believe they killed him on the cross. I find this talk about Isa not being Jesus the prophet of the Gospel just a conspiracy theory to further nullify traditional religious belief, the same as some who want to erase Muhammad from history.
There is talk about Isaiha or John (Yahya) in the Bible, but I am sure they are each their individual persons.
The Gospel versions are man-made testimonies of what happened during Jesus life. While somewhat corrupted, its fundamental Message is the same as the Truth.
God bless you
Please see prof. Bart D. Erman for more info about gospels...
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Peace mmmm,
I may do so at some point, unless I already have and forgotten I did. I know they are not always giving the correct information and I know Jesus was sometimes confused with Isaiha or John the Baptist. But I have not based my understanding that Jesus is Isa based on the Bible but from Quran.
I find it just a conspiracy that Jesus is not the Jesus as talked of in all existing literature. Although I am not impossible, I may take a look at the work of this professor you referred to.
God bless you
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Peace all.
Yes according to the Quran Isa was not crucified in the cross (salib) instead another people who likened like Isa was crucified.Some muffasir says if it's Judas Iskariot who crucified.
Some sources also says if Isa is not Yesus, so it can be say if that Yesus Christ is false Prophet and the real son of Maryam is Isa Al Masih.
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Peace Earthdom,
I still call it a big conspiracy theory. Jesus was not crucified, they were made to believe that he was crucified. But this prophet is the traditional prophet.
God bless you
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Peace Man of Faith.
I found some evidences if Jesus and Isa is different person.
I will not show you the evidences because most of my literature is in Indonesian language instead just try browsing then you may found it.
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Peace,
I will try to take a look at it, but it would certainly make the Quran contradict itself in my opinion.
God bless you
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Peace drfazl,
Thanks brother. Unfortunately I think it will take a few days until I write the next one. I need absolute concentration when I write them and I do not have that right now. Besides I am on a travel right now.
I hope you have patience to wait. These posts I treat separately from all the replies I make to other threads.
God bless you
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Peace supportpeacenotwar,
I am sorry. I should have known. Yeah, I understand what you mean.
I use English pretty much all the time, but I can always get better of course. Although all time spent with course books and other literature helps I guess. I have spent pretty much my whole life with English.
I ought not to brag, I try to see it as I am only a little better than I used to be. I am still far behind the best. Only sad thing is that my skill in my mother tongue is deteriorating since I speak less Swedish these days.
I stopped using contractions in forum posts for additional clarity, but I use them in conversation, and when I write a PM sometimes. Sometimes the written language even feels strange without them, but I am stubbornly continuing like this.
God bless you
(sorry I haven't replied to your PM yet, sister)
Peace Earthdom,
I try to express myself as clearly as possible although I tend to use formal words sometimes. You are right, little to no slang words or idioms.
Your English is understandable, but often the word order can be a bit off or an inappropriate word slips into your sentences, or there are verbs put in the wrong tense. It is called collocation. And at one point you said you 'demand an apology' which is pretty offensive/impolite or shows you are angry. I understood you meant you wished someone to accept your apology though. Thanks to being exposed to the most absurd sentences at work I can usually decipher even the most incorrect of sentences.
God bless you
Peace Man of Faith,
Replying to the PM - don't worry about it. I get it.
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Peace justamuslim,
Shifts (of angels) take turns, staying with each one of you?they are in front
of you and behind you. They stay with you, and guard you in accordance with GOD's
commands. Thus, GOD does not change the condition of any people unless they
themselves make the decision to change. If GOD wills any hardship for any people,
no force can stop it. For they have none beside Him as Lord and Master.GOD does not change a blessing He has bestowed upon any people
unless they themselves decide to change. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.When they went (to Joseph), they entered in accordance with their father's
instructions. Although this could not change anything decreed by GOD, Jacob had a
private reason for asking them to do this. For he possessed certain knowledge that
we taught him, but most people do not know.GOD may change the animosity between you and them into love.
GOD is Omnipotent. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.ONE DEEN
peace
so the highlighted areas are what I do not understand. Those ayats essentially mean that it is pointless to pray for other people (ie they are doing something wrong, or they feel a certain way about an issue and therefore behave in a certain way etc...) because God will not change their outlook or perspective or heart without them acknowledging the desire to change?? And on the same note, since everything is pre-planned, what is the point in praying for things in your life (not material things but situations) when they are already destined to happen a certain way?
(i.e someone develops terminal cancer..what is the point in praying for a recovery or healing if they are going to die anyway?Then Ive read (from spiritualists) that if you talk to and pray to the "Universe" ...aka God?... you can manifest your destiny or the outcome of a situation etc, because the universe will respond to you...? but either prayer makes physical changes in this world or it does not. Either God intervenes or He does not. And if prayer does not change anything then it is solely for the purpose of communion with God (and because He asks us to do it) right or wrong?
As Ive read in scripture, if something is not in "God's will" aka his plan, then it won't come to pass. And also that God knows what is best so when things don't happen it is because we cannot see the whole picture and it wasn't good for us anyway.
Then I've read that "well if you develop a close relationship with God then His Will will automatically become yours, and therefore things you pray for will be in alignment with what He wants for you".But no Angels or spirits every come down from the Heavens to let me know if I am on the right track. Aside from the generic blueprint to "live righetously, and give and do what you can to/for others" there are a lot of other issues in life that need responses or directive...and if you pray to God for help and don't receive it (speaking for myself, most of the time I don't receive a clear directive), then you must decide on your own accord what to do..so then what is the point in it all?
I just feel like it is a waste of time and energy to put so much hope and belief into prayer if it was never designed to be used in such a capacity. Id rather have no hope then false hope.
And if God doesn't change the condition of someone until they decide to change...then who is really doing the changing? Me or God? (i.e I'm hungry and I am sitting in a chair and I want to get some food from the kitchen...God isn't going to magically slide the chair that I am sitting on into the kitchen and open the fridge and hand me food. I have to decide to stand up and go walk into the kitchen for myself. So I am the one who made the change then no?
Does that analogy make sense or is it too simplistic?brickwall
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Peace tigress,
I am sorry you feel this way. I can see my belief is incompatible with yours since in my system God is always near and will listen to our prayers. Also I can understand it is easy to fall to this conclusion if one gives up too fast instead of continuing with steadfastness and patience. And thus God will not offer His weighty Message that He is with you.
My thread was intended to help people see that we need to build up a certain level of Nearness before we will see results in our relationship to God. Our Creator first tests our intelligence and test us in many other ways such as through patience and steadfastness. This does not say that God does not do anything prior to this, but then we have to be perceptive and keep an open mind.
As my thread tries to teach; when we have Nearness we will pretty much automatically also have Guidance. Greater Nearness may mean that God will show signs in our daily lives, often small and subtle, but the optimist will surely see them.
When we are gaining the next level, Knowledge and Wisdom, the previous part of the chain will have become strengthened, and I am sure most of those blessed with this level of awareness will see miracles pretty much on a daily basis.
Not to mention when you reach the third category, Peace and Prosperity, as then you will see a boost in provisions and those good things in life.
God bless you
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Peace tigress,
I am sorry you feel this way. I can see my belief is incompatible with yours since in my system God is always near and will listen to our prayers. Also I can understand it is easy to fall to this conclusion if one gives up too fast instead of continuing with steadfastness and patience. And thus God will not offer His weighty Message that He is with you.
My thread was intended to help people see that we need to build up a certain level of Nearness before we will see results in our relationship to God. Our Creator first tests our intelligence and test us in many other ways such as through patience and steadfastness. This does not say that God does not do anything prior to this, but then we have to be perceptive and keep an open mind.
As my thread tries to teach; when we have Nearness we will pretty much automatically also have Guidance. Greater Nearness may mean that God will show signs in our daily lives, often small and subtle, but the optimist will surely see them.
When we are gaining the next level, Knowledge and Wisdom, the previous part of the chain will have become strengthened, and I am sure most of those blessed with this level of awareness will see miracles pretty much on a daily basis.
Not to mention when you reach the third category, Peace and Prosperity, as then you will see a boost in provisions and those good things in life.
God bless you
Yes I agree with you --God does hear and see everything there is no question on that. I can't say that our beliefs are incompatible, I am just trying to know what is possible and what is not. I know patience is important but at some point there is diminishing returns. Either something is going to happen or it is not; and no amount of faith or patience is going to change something that is not in written in Gods book IMO.
Thanks for taking time to make this thread and I will continue to read -
so the highlighted areas are what I do not understand. Those ayats essentially mean that it is pointless to pray for other people (ie they are doing something wrong, or they feel a certain way about an issue and therefore behave in a certain way etc...) because God will not change their outlook or perspective or heart without them acknowledging the desire to change?? And on the same note, since everything is pre-planned, what is the point in praying for things in your life (not material things but situations) when they are already destined to happen a certain way?
(i.e someone develops terminal cancer..what is the point in praying for a recovery or healing if they are going to die anyway?Peace Tigress,
Thanks for reading my post.
Please read surah 18/60-82
There are layers of reality that we are not privy to, not even Moses. I think surah
18 60/82 is a beginning in our quest to understand how prayer fits into our reality.God Bless
peace