Is reflection the essence of prayer/salat?
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I'm starting to think that salat/prayer is a way for us to connect with the past accumulated knowledge from the Quran and learn wisdom. Perhaps the point is we don't need to wait until we die before we know what we need to do. Sometimes the first thing that gets into my mind is reflect when I read salat in the Quran. Please correct me if I am wrong.
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Look at what salat is contrasted to in the quran. I believe nobody has even bothered to use deductive reasoning or thinking in opposites to look at salat in the quran, instead jumping into a conclusion and fitting the quran to it. As they say, a circular peg will never fit into a square hole.
I have enough on my plate for the near future )
For starters, look at 591. I fall into my own trap here, but is there any tafseer of 590-100 around with any more sensible (emphasis ;D) interpretations than the traditional understanding?
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2945 Recite what is inspired to you of the Scripture, and hold the Connection (salaat), for the Connection prohibits evil and vice; but certainly the remembrance of God is the greatest. God knows everything you do.
3117 "O my son, hold the Connection (salaat) and advocate righteousness and forbid evil, and bear with patience whatever befalls you. These are the most honorable traits."
2153 O you who believe, seek help through patience and through the Connection (salaat), God is with the patient ones.
2441 Do you not see that everything in the heavens and the Earth glorifies God? Even the birds in formation, each knows its connection (salaat) and its glorification. And God is fully aware of everything they do.
4913 O mankind, We created you from a male and female, and We made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Surely, the most honorable among you in the sight of God is the most righteous. God is Knowledgeable, Expert.
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Peace Vani,
I'm starting to think that salat/prayer is a way for us to connect with the past accumulated knowledge from the Quran and learn wisdom. Perhaps the point is we don't need to wait until we die before we know what we need to do. Sometimes the first thing that gets into my mind is reflect when I read salat in the Quran. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Your intuition is correct. The purpose of "salat" is to remember the god. Remembering the god is not about memorization of a few words that one mindlessly repeats.
What is the best and natural thing that we all do when we want to properly remember something for a test at school? We learn it. Of course, there are those who blindly memorize the material without understanding but those are not really remembering and this becomes obvious when it comes to applying the material in their lives. It is a fact that there is no better way to remember than to learn.
Peace,
Ayman
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Here we go again, pr
Not meant in any way to undermine anybodies salaat.
Help bout mortgages who do we ask?
Help about the law who do we ask, isn't it always other people who have the knowledge/ experience.e.t.c
3117 "O my son, hold counsel/discussion and advocate righteousness and forbid evil, and bear with patience whatever befalls you. These are the most honorable traits."
2153 O you who believe, seek help through patience and through counsel/discussion, God is with the patient ones.
Here is where we seek help from- it's from other people who know.
254
??.. and other folk have helped him with it, so that they have produced a slander and a lie.52
???.Help not one another unto sin ??...Gods Blessings.
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Peace MZ,
Here we go again, pr
Not meant in any way to undermine anybodies salaat.
Help bout mortgages who do we ask?
Help about the law who do we ask, isn't it always other people who have the knowledge/ experience.
e.t.c
3117 "O my son, hold counsel/discussion and advocate righteousness and forbid evil, and bear with patience whatever befalls you. These are the most honorable traits."
2153 O you who believe, seek help through patience and through counsel/discussion, God is with the patient ones.
Here is where we seek help from- it's from other people who know.
254
??.. and other folk have helped him with it, so that they have produced a slander and a lie.
52
???.Help not one another unto sin ??...
Gods Blessings.Yes, group discussion is one good way of learning and so are lectures where someone leads the discussion (4102). There is no "one method fits all" of learning. At dawn, I doubt that this would be a very effective time to have a group discussion. At this time it is best to learn by reading and reflecting on the great reading ("quran" on our own. At other times, a group discussion can be a more effective mode of learning. Group discussion by itself may not be a good thing. People can discuss evils. On the other hand, true learning (improving one's knowledge of the truth) is always positive. The essence of "salat" is learning.
Peace,
Ayman
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With respects,
At dawn, I doubt that this would be a very effective time to have a group discussion.
There isn?t a discussion at dawn- that was a concoction to make one of the five rituals.
Group discussion by itself may not be a good thing. People can discuss evils.
It doesn?t need to be a group two people could look at the pros and cons or you could even look at a text book to see what its advice is regarding an issue, important think is to look at worth while advice and apply it. One needs to take advice from those more apt to give it.
That is why children are told to stick to there parents advice unless the parents are going opposite to the attributes or the sacred bond.If people choose to discus evil that is their privilege don?t you think? But such a direction has been tarnished by the quran many number of times.
Salaams All.
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Reflection leads to Revelation
Revelation applied in real life is salat.
And salat brings salam;
There ends the beginning of prayer.
Prayer, prayer, prayer ... all the way to gloryPrayer is very much individualistic and most
Personal berween one's self and God. -
Peace
With respects to you handshake
There isn?t a discussion at dawn- that was a concoction to make one of the five rituals.
Where do you get this idea that salat is a ritual? If it is a ritual, what's wrong with it? Whose 'ritual' are we talking about? Yours, mine, Ayman's, sunni, shia...? By definition, going to work is a 'ritual'.
ritual (http//definr.com/ritual)
adj 1 of or relating to or characteristic of religious rituals;
"ritual killing"
2 of or relating to or employed in social rites or rituals; "a
ritual dance of Haiti"; "sedate little colonial tribe with
its ritual tea parties"- Nadine Gordimer
n 1 any customary observance or practice
2 the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies
3 stereotyped behavior