Are contact prayers really necessary?
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Salaam Heart
I have a question for you when you said
"I feel guilty when I don't keep up doing the contact prayers, because a lot of Quran Aloners told me that some surahs in the Quran prove that it's a part of the islam. I myself don't have the feeling that it's necessary, because I'm always connected with God. And when I say always, I mean 24/7!"
What if Allah has made it a command for us to observe Salaat, which is something different then generally praying, you do not believe you should submit to your Creator? Do you believe we were placed here to submit to ourselves or Allah?
Salam,
If God made it a command for us to observe salaat, then I would like to know what He means by it. What defines salaat? From a Quran Aloner that studies theology I got the information that the ritual salat was copied of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion of the Persians. I don't know much about this ancient religion but it still verifies that we need to examine everything for ourselfs first before we follow it. And I'm already submitting myself to God. Because I don't always perform my contact prayers doesn't mean that I didn't submit myself to the Almighty God. I try my best in following all His rules, although I'm busy studying the Quran and might not know all of His rules.
You have said this
"I don't really believe in a standard ritual contact prayer just to connect with God. I always feel connected to God and I always talk/pray to Him."
If Allah prescribed Salaat for us then why would you reduce performing Salaat to some 'ritual' and not consider it as part of a prescribed way of life designed by Allah for us to follow?
I have another question for you, do you believe the Qur'aan is the infallible word of Allah or not?
Salaam
Like I said in my first posting salaat has many meanings. What I would like to know is what God means by 'perform/keep up your Salaat'. Does it mean that we have to keep up obeying His rules or does it mean that we have to do a ritual prayer? That's what I would like to know.
Peace.
Heart
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Peace Heart
Maybe it would help if you change your mindset. It's not necessarily a ritual with just jumping up and down for a few minutes. It's meditation for the mind body and soul. You connect with The One and purify your soul, strengthening it in order to allow for God to be in your life. The mountains would shake in the presence of God. Moses fainted in the presence of the Almighty. If you think of it as energy for your soul or exercise for your soul, you would see the contact method in a totally different light. You need to build your soul's "muscles" in order for God to have a bigger and bigger role in your life. Of course, there are so many other things we are commanded to do. Salat is only one, but it is one that establishes a strong connection between yourself and The Most Merciful.
I've read some beautiful articles comparing salat's positions with various ancient yogic positions. I've also read articles that we touch the various chakrahs throughout our bodies with the positions used in salat. God explains to us that everything He commands does not help Him in any way. In fact it helps us. If you get into a habit every morning to wake up and perform this contact with The Supporter, you will feel a sense of serenity, as guaranteed in aya 20130. It's basically all about making you a better, stronger person.
Nobody ever said it was going to be easy. Start out slow, maybe just establishing one salat during the day until it becomes fully integrated in your regular routine. Then take in one more, and so on.
We don't skip a day without brushing our teeth at least once, hopefully three times. It may not be the most enjoyable part of the day, but we do it so our teeth don't fall out. Think of it as another habit you need to get into. If you do it the right way with your mind and body fully relaxed and submitted to God Alone, you'll find it an extremely addictive and enjoyable moment in the day!Best Wishes
Peace All
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Peace Heart
Maybe it would help if you change your mindset. It's not necessarily a ritual with just jumping up and down for a few minutes. It's meditation for the mind body and soul. You connect with The One and purify your soul, strengthening it in order to allow for God to be in your life. The mountains would shake in the presence of God. Moses fainted in the presence of the Almighty. If you think of it as energy for your soul or exercise for your soul, you would see the contact method in a totally different light. You need to build your soul's "muscles" in order for God to have a bigger and bigger role in your life. Of course, there are so many other things we are commanded to do. Salat is only one, but it is one that establishes a strong connection between yourself and The Most Merciful.
I've read some beautiful articles comparing salat's positions with various ancient yogic positions. I've also read articles that we touch the various chakrahs throughout our bodies with the positions used in salat. God explains to us that everything He commands does not help Him in any way. In fact it helps us. If you get into a habit every morning to wake up and perform this contact with The Supporter, you will feel a sense of serenity, as guaranteed in aya 20130. It's basically all about making you a better, stronger person.
Nobody ever said it was going to be easy. Start out slow, maybe just establishing one salat during the day until it becomes fully integrated in your regular routine. Then take in one more, and so on.
We don't skip a day without brushing our teeth at least once, hopefully three times. It may not be the most enjoyable part of the day, but we do it so our teeth don't fall out. Think of it as another habit you need to get into. If you do it the right way with your mind and body fully relaxed and submitted to God Alone, you'll find it an extremely addictive and enjoyable moment in the day!Best Wishes
Peace All
Salam,
Thanks Soul2squeeze. You described it perfectly! I've got the feeling that you fully understand me. I've indeed got to change my mindset, because (like a friend said) sometimes I seem to act cocky and think I know it all or better then others. But that's just because of my insecurity. I've been forced by sunni's my whole life to live and practise islam as they do, so I get very carefull with absorbing the information others give me about islam. But thanks again for your kind and understanding words.
My thanks goes also to Alen, who crazy enough knew how to convince me of the necessity of salat in just a couple of minutes. )
peace
Heart
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My thanks goes also to Alen, who crazy enough knew how to convince me of the necessity of salat in just a couple of minutes.
peace
Heart
As salamu alaykum.
Respectfully.bravo yay
Your welcome.
Dear Heart, you're my sister in faith, i was more than pleased to help you out. It made me happy and less depressed, knowing that others are also trying to achieve Paradise. People i know, you mention Paradise to them, they laugh.Keep up the prayer, dear sister and stay strong. May Allah Most Merciful guide you to through the Right Path into Paradise.
As salamu alaykum. jedi -
Peace Heart
I'm happy i could be of any help to you ).
i certainly don't know all the answers. I don't even know half .. heck i don't know most !
Nobody has all the answers and we are all in search of the Truth
May God guide us all to His Path ! Amen
Peace All
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Peace all,
my experience on the subjectOne needs to develope a strong sense of presence of THE ALMIGHTY before salaat or zekr can serve its purpose. If you catch that; salaat will no more just an instruction or a law. It becomes magnificient en a source of growth!
We connect to GOD to grow!
At the beginning stage one feel a need to visualize and give the mind a focus of attention!
one can use the mirror lamp as an accessory ! wave upon wave of olive coloured light! which fills the whole creation (contemplate on 2435).In later stage Enrich the image with THE MOST BEAUTIFUL NAMES and focus on presence of the most compassionate!
peace
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Salaam Heart
You said that salaat doesn't work for you. Perhaps it has something to do with you as an individual because I do not think anything that Allah prescribes for us will be lacking and doesn't work. Sometimes we have to get ourselves together and our focus right before Allah. We do not want to be part of the group where Allah says that He misleads/misguides off the straight path. I am sure we all want to be among the ones where He leads/guides to the straight path.
Qur'aan 3031
You shall submit to Him, reverence Him, observe the contact prayers (salaat) and do not be among the idol worshippers.Salaat is necessary to answer your question of this topic now do you Heart submit to Him or are you the type of Muslim that does what ever suits your fancy.
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Salaam @Heart,
U have said this
I find contact prayers hard to do, because I don't want to recite Surahs from the Quran that I don't understand
If that so, why dont u learn to understand the Surahs from the Qur'aan that u have to recite on ur salaat? instead of not wanting to recite surahs that u dont understand, then why u dont trained urself to understand them?
When Allah command us to do something, and we found it to be hard to do or even hard to accept, then it must be something wrong with us (the human, the creation, unperfect thing) and not The Creator.I feel like a fool when I make up prayers while standing in the middle of my room and trying to focus on God.
Don't be!!! Either u standing alone in the middle of your room or standing alone in the middle of desert, Allah witness everything. Again @heart, to be focus to our Creator, u need to practise urself and also when u do Salaat, u need to come humble and realise that ur just a human, nothing but a weak thing that Allah has created. And ur about to worship The Creator, eventhough u cant see Him, but with your faith, u know that He's there and always there to witness everything.
I also experience that when I do my contact prayers I most of the time do it against my will.
Thats because u still think Salaat as a burden instead as a need for us as a human. U dont really find its necessary to do Salaat, as long as we remember Allah, then it will be enough. Well @Heart, Allah is The One Who give us laws and rules to follow and not us.
I feel guilty when I don't keep up doing the contact prayers.
Thats good because u know that ur wrong at least u feel that way.
I myself don't have the feeling that it's necessary, because I'm always connected with God. And when I say always, I mean 24/7! I don't really believe in a standard ritual contact prayer just to connect with God.
Again @Heart, we are not the one who give the laws and the rules of this life. Its Allah Who does that.
If we did on your way, later on people would say that we dont need to feed poor people or to give some of our money to our families (relatives) as long as we stay humble and kind or husbands will say, we dont need to be the beard earners for our family as long as we be a good husband and stay loyal with our wives or women to say we dont need to wear long dress and wear khamar (head-covering) because the important is our heart. etc etc.But again @Heart, its not us who give the law. Its Allah. And one of Allah command is to do Salaat, the real Salaat prayer beside of course we have to remember Him always. How we remember Allah? its not enough to just sleep with Allah in ur mind. Im not saying its wrong, but its just not enough. To remember Allah always is to do all what His command and to avoid all what He forbid. We can not choose one that we prefer, we have to do all of His rules. No human is perfect but Allah judge us by our intensions. So we must to try to do our best.
I will give you one ayat that I see fit on your situation, may u learn something from this
20132
You shall enjoin your family to observe the contact prayers (Salat), and steadfastly persevere in doing so. We do not ask you for any provisions; we are the ones who provide for you. The ultimate triumph belongs to the righteous.Salaam
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Peace be upon you Heart,
Salaat is very important because it is our MEANS OF CHANGING, which is what this is all about CHANGING our behavior. Respectfully, get rid of that "conection" understanidng, you are already connected to the God. God is the very core of your being. God intends to manifest on earth through your vehicle, but you must purify(zakaat) your vehicle(nafs/subconcious).
Salaat is how you PROGRAM your mind, and therefore your behavior.
What we must understandis that our responses to life situations happen AUTOMATIC, and in order to make sure we respond CORRECTLY to life situations in a GOD Like manner, AUTOMATICALLY, we have to reprogram our subconcious.
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Peace be upon you Heart,
Salaat is very important because it is our MEANS OF CHANGING, which is what this is all about CHANGING our behavior. Respectfully, get rid of that "conection" understanidng, you are already connected to the God. God is the very core of your being. God intends to manifest on earth through your vehicle, but you must purify(zakaat) your vehicle(nafs/subconcious).
Salaat is how you PROGRAM your mind, and therefore your behavior.
What we must understandis that our responses to life situations happen AUTOMATIC, and in order to make sure we respond CORRECTLY to life situations in a GOD Like manner, AUTOMATICALLY, we have to reprogram our subconcious.Salam.
I don't understanmd this, can you explain what you meant when you said"GOD Like manner, ....".
What does this GOD Like manner mean?Salam.
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Peace be upon you,
When I say "GOD LIKE", I am referring to the fact that the God's attributes are stated for us to manifest them through our vehicle. Go through the list of attributes and then you will understand what kind of character we are suppossed to be manifesting. It comes naturally when we PURIFY the NAFS through "salaat" (programming).
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Peace Kyle,
This matter of GOD,s intention to manifest, is for me a strong pillar of Faith. Looking into nature overwhelms how this manifestation evolves and the act of creation continues!
Each flower, each single creation is a demonstration of The Almighty?s will to Manifest!
When Muhammad and Jesus had their spirits tuned up to purity, The Divine manifested HIS PRESENCE through their vehicles. They became Divine, son of GOD and?. In the image of the average man; who did not realize that they have also that gift in themselves to go aside with their SELVES and let the Divine flow come through.
Peace,
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Peace be upon you Alpha97,
Yes, this reading(quran) tells us that success comes through purification of the subconcious/spirit(nafs)
(917-10) By the spirit (subconcious) and who made/straightened it, So He inspired/transmitted (to) it its bad and good, Who purified/corrected it had succeeded/won, And who buried it/plotted against it (corrupted it) had failed/despaired.
This is what its all about, reprogramming the spirit(subconcious) to carry out God's attributes rather than being led by emotions to that which is incorrect. The spirit, our subconcious, is like a garden, whatever seeds we plant (AT THE RIGHT TIME) will grow and we must protect them from weeds and animals.
He who purifies his garden gets success (Janna), he who does not tend the garden will allow weeds and animals to destroy it as if a fire came throuogh.
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Salam,
Well why would prayers not be necessary?That should be the question when quran has mentioned prayer so many times.
Peace
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Peace be upon you,
when quran has mentioned prayer so many times.
Salat does not equal "prayer". Dua is the word for prayer. But your point still remians. Dua is mentioned and when we call on the God it helps us focus our attention on the situation.
Salaat is the process of programing the spirit(subconcious) in order to change your behavior to give the desired effect/outcome.
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Peace "idolfree",
Salat does not equal "prayer". Dua is the word for prayer. But your point still remians. Dua is mentioned and when we call on the God it helps us focus our attention on the situation.
JK- Not every "prayer" is "salat" but every salat is a "prayer", a particular type of prayer.
Salaat is the process of programing the spirit(subconcious) in order to change your behavior to give the desired effect/outcome.
JK- This is correct. Now tell me something , did u reach to this conclusion by yourself or did you get it from somebody? If you did then from whom? GOD Bless!
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Peace be upon you Johhny K,
Quote
Salaat is the process of programing the spirit(subconcious) in order to change your behavior to give the desired effect/outcome.JK- This is correct. Now tell me something , did u reach to this conclusion by yourself or did you get it from somebody?
I got the objective understanding of programming the subconcious from someone else, I connected it with salaat myself.
If you did then from whom? GOD Bless!
Ra Un Nefer Amen
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Peace "idolfree",
I got the objective understanding of programming the subconcious from someone else, I connected it with salaat myself.
JK- Ic, yes the latter was the point. Did you know that Dr. Zakir Naike(famous sunni scholar, debator and medical doctor) gave this very explanation of salat to mean "programming of soul" too? Who is "Ra un.."? Is he a sunni too? GOD Bless!