Obligations of some sharia rulings
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I have been wondering if Salat is Obligatory where one has to pray everyday, 5xday, even if one is sick. If the purpose of salat is to remember Allah and shun evil actions, why can't we just pray sometimes? may be on Friday? Why can't we be just like Christians who go to church but not every day? I am afraid that salt has lost its meaning where I see many muslims who pray non stop but engage in dirty works.
My question Should we pray all day, every time? is Salat Obligatory? -
There is a huge misconception of what salateh is. First of all the activity people do should be called dhekr and not salateh.
And the word dhekr means "Which Causes Firmness" and means the activity should reinforce the faith of a person or group.
Salateh means to work on individual or group perception, for guidance purposes. A cleric in a temple or a wise person could help with musalla. It is to teach for dhekr purposes.
And du'a is the real Arabic word for 'to pray'.
Salaam
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I have been wondering if Salat is Obligatory where one has to pray everyday, 5xday, even if one is sick. If the purpose of salat is to remember Allah and shun evil actions, why can't we just pray sometimes? may be on Friday? Why can't we be just like Christians who go to church but not every day? I am afraid that salt has lost its meaning where I see many muslims who pray non stop but engage in dirty works.
My question Should we pray all day, every time? is Salat Obligatory?The 5 daily obligatory ritual was originated from earlier tradition of Zoroastrian "Namaz"...
Namaz is a an ancient indo-european word for "Honor/Honoring".. the same word become "Namashte" in Hindi which has the same meaning.The much older Zoroastrianism definitely have a very strong influence to later-on semitic traditions and also other tradition..
Judaism has their own daily ritual, so does (Eastern) Christianity and religion of Islam.The presence of 'fire' is viewed as very important within Zoroastrianism religion / tradition.
The "Daily honoring ritual" of Namaz was invented as 'obligatory' by the priest to keep the fire alive within the temple.
With the enforcement of 5 times daily ritual of honoring at the temple, at least there will be somebody which shall visit the temple to check on the fire.. and do anything that should be done to keep the fire alive inside the temple.http//sites.psu.edu/ktrabblog/wp-content/uploads/sites/15541/2014/09/fire-temple-zoroaster.jpg
Fire in Zoroastrian Temple..
Notice also the temple has a 'cubicle' structure..A quotation from such practices
"Fires need to be purified (for which there are special techniques) before being consecrated. Purity is a key concept in most Zoroastrian rituals, which require ritually pure spaces, performers, and implements. Recurrent acts of cleansing such as the pdyb, which also involve prayers, are a feature of daily life of Zoroastrians; thereby, ideally, if one follows the prescriptions of the priestly texts, one?s life becomes heavily ritualized from morning to night. Daily affairs such as eating, sleeping, or going to the toilet involve rites of purification. ""TA? NIYYI?N, the fifth in a group of five Zoroastrian prayers (niyyi?n), which is addressed to fire and its divinity. The recital at the ta? Nyyi?n, together with the offering of dry wood (and fragrance), is traditionaly the key act of daily temple worship, which is to be performed in each of the five divisions of the day (gh). Believers are likewise expected to say their prayers in each of these five ghs. Not only priests but also lay people among the Parsis report of experiences and expectations related to some fire(s). "
http//www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroastrian-rituals
I am afraid that salt has lost its meaning where I see many muslims who pray non stop but engage in dirty works.
It's definitely clear that the daily ritual (on any tradition; zoroastrianism, judaism, christianism, islamism) has no correlation whatsoever with being good or bad/evil..
I will not give out any answer whether the 5 times daily ritual of Islam religion (or other religion) is 'obligatory' or not for you..
Because only you can give out that answer for yourselves.. -
If you just recite some words out of a tradition with little consciousness of what you say then the recital is pretty meaningless and you could as well skip it. The deed is for you to dhekr and realize yourself in what you utter in the prayer.
The traditional Muslim prayer (Al-Fatiah) and its interpretation lacks elements from which it really says and may it be therefore they do not improve in general I do not know, but it is probable.
To be fully honest, the Lord's prayer of Christianity is much better in the current translation, even if it varies in accuracy depending on interpretation. It implies on immense mercy and an immersion into the same attributes as God. The "Muslim" prayer is supposed to say something similar, but interpretation is bogus. So it does not help because you do not know what you are saying.
Salaam
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If you just recite some words out of a tradition with little consciousness of what you say then the recital is pretty meaningless and you could as well skip it. The deed is for you to dhekr and realize yourself in what you utter in the prayer.
Salaam
What you said reminded me of something I was told by one of my classmates back in Dubai. rotfl
Salat in her house was "strictly enforced" by her deeply religious father. That's why she never missed one. One day, she told me that during the salat she always thought about fashion, celebrities and latest music videos. I looked at her like I was trolled. I asked her "Are you sure it is right?" Her answer "What's so wrong about it?" -
Reel,
That is a good example when the ritual is meaningless, even more so than by default. This is the problem with dogmatic enforcement of a religious doctrine without really caring to ever truly explain why you do it or they have no good instrument to teach and it more becomes a dogmatic rule.
Here in Iran there are lots of people who participate in the prayer as a social function and because it is more of a custom and tradition than why you actually do it. And the commemoration of the prophet and his family is more prominent than actual glorification of God. It is really namaz for sure, i.e. like a duty, and people even seem tired of doing it day in and day out in the mosque so they just mumble the passages in the prayer like no conscious emphasis is put into it and what you actually recite. Worst is in the Shia prayer rakat 3 and 4 when they say "Subhan'Allah wa hamduallah wa la elah ila Allah wa allahu akbar" thrice. It sounds like just some mumbling.
Salaam
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Salam Mussabahire.
Per my humble understanding Salaat means respect. And establishing respect (akimus salaat) of Allah in one's life style IS OBLIGATORY for the faithful.
Furthermore, there are several verses of Qur?an which clearly indicate that the messenger who preached Qur?an practiced and recommended a regular time bound physical and mental ritual to invoke respect (salaat) of Allah.
If one has faith in Qur?an, in its entirety, it becomes an obligation to uphold that practice on best effort basis. While the "respect" is universally obligatory for the faithful, the "ritual" is conditionally obligatory upon one's acceptance of "millat-i-ibrahim" as proposed by Qur'an. Just like, attending class and doing homework is conditionally obligatory on those who enrol to a specific school, but pursuit of knowledge is universally obligatory.
HOWEVER, the focus must be on the substance (invocation of respect) not form (the structure, frequency etc.) ? because Qur?an emphasizes the substance and has left the specification of form out of the body of text as insignificant details. Any obsession over specific form and bringing the difference in form as a cause to promote envy and division ? is not only counterproductive, but also violation of the very ?respect? that the salaat directive is meant to uphold.
May Allah guide us all to the straight route.
Regards,
Arman -
Respect?!
There are other words for respect, although qum means being mindful/attentive of something.
Forget the ritual meaning. It has to do with one's perception of the faith. If there is a musalla it means a person is somewhere preaching.
Salaam
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Respect?!
There are other words for respect, although qum means being mindful/attentive of something.
Salamun Alaikum.
"Respect", "Honour", ? eulogy ?, ? commendation", "blessings", "loyalty", "diligence" etc. could be be various alternate translations. But perhaps none captures the exact meaning. It is an act of glorifying others which can go both from junior to senior and senior to junior. In Qur'an we are asked to invoke salaah (based on the root verb) on Allah as well as the messenger and at the same time Allah invokes salaah upon the messnger and those who are patient. However, the specific word form "as-Salaata (ِ" is restricted to imply our invocation of salaah upon Allah, and often derives a contextual meaning of a specific ritual.
The sanskrit word raddh (, shraddhaa) could be a better translation for Arabic salaat.
May Allah guide us all to the straight route.
Regards,
Arman -
Salaam,
Respect, honor or loyalty is the translation of what is used for the word 'namaz', not salateh. Sujud is an Arabic word which much better represents respectful and obedient and dhekr to mean to honor a person. This is why dhekr is used in a passage to say honor Allah like you honor your fathers or even better.
Edit I know namaz implies on duty. I just mean that is more the erroneous ritual salateh than anything else.
There is no mention of invoke (du'a) in conjunction with salateh. The word qum, if that is what you use for your invocation inference, means to stand firm on something as in being MINDFUL of something, not forgetting to heed something. And in the case of the context it is heeding the guidance of God which is a perception.
When God said to Moses that God was with Moses as long as upheld salateh it means for as long as he followed the right path.
Salaam
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Salaam,
To complement or perhaps clarify my previous post.
Best definitions to define qum (م Focus, mind, attention, observe
Best definitions to define salawa (و Perception/what you follow in terms of perception, guidance (as object salateh)
The root salawa implies on perception of the way/path to take. A person can give salawa as is done by Zachariah. It is to preach/guide, give inspiration. You can even find the right definition in Lane's lexicon for salawa.
The musalla in a temple were originally to give guidance on the matter of faith. Not a ritualistic behavior.
In 2014 I proposed that salateh is lesson and I was not entirely off. Now I know it has to do with perception on letter level.
Salaam
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Reel,
That is a good example when the ritual is meaningless, even more so than by default. This is the problem with dogmatic enforcement of a religious doctrine without really caring to ever truly explain why you do it or they have no good instrument to teach and it more becomes a dogmatic rule.
I know, salat is just not about Allah in traditional Islam. Its more like a "daily chore" done to acquire ticket to heaven or just out of "habit". I would say at one point it turns into a fear. The girl I spoke about did it because she feared her "DAD" ). I also met those who say that skipping would get them in trouble with Allah. So doing it is the only thing that matters. No one does it out of love for him.
Here in Iran there are lots of people who participate in the prayer as a social function and because it is more of a custom and tradition than why you actually do it. And the commemoration of the prophet and his family is more prominent than actual glorification of God.
Salaam
This is common even here in US. The Friday one is a "social function".
In Dubai, it was more like a "peer pressure" for the working men.
It is really namaz for sure, i.e. like a duty, and people even seem tired of doing it day in and day out in the mosque so they just mumble the passages in the prayer like no conscious emphasis is put into it and what you actually recite. Worst is in the Shia prayer rakat 3 and 4 when they say "Subhan'Allah wa hamduallah wa la elah ila Allah wa allahu akbar" thrice. It sounds like just some mumbling.
rotfl
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I can't help but feel that aS-Salaa is best understood as COMMUNION, the conscious reminding and evoking of the unity of Reality, that all is one, that we are all one, that is, commune, be in communion. That gives meaning to preparing to be in that state of conscience, at least to attempt to do so. May be be we fail most of the time, but those moments of any length that we attain it should nourish our conviction of what we really are, a projection of the divine rahma.
Salaam
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Salaam huruf,
That was also my earlier interpretation before I progressed further. But you can be calm that this is also something which can indirectly be implied from the context. The Christian communion is derived from this practice and a musalla is a guiding session as to when a preacher like a cleric such as a priest or imam as it is called in the sect islam helps people on spiritual matters.
It is thus not a ritual but more a useful session of gaining inspiration and thus perception which is the innate meaning of the letter called saad . This is why in chapter 38 it begins with the sole letter saad and a conjunction and then continues with al-quraan because it implies that if one is perceptive then Quran will regard them (as to make sense).
Salateh is thus the perception you gain from musalla and you are told by Quran to keep that as your intention/qum (م.
Quran is a book of spiritual guidance and not a book teaching religion, and it is particularly a guide for a person intending to preach faith. All the 'say' (qul) commands are a testament to that. The one who wrote it intended for it to be a guide on how to be a righteous cleric, who is truly possessing the grace of God.
But it is so widespread and easy to access anyone can benefit from it, if they manage to interpret it properly, which the majority of earlier wannabees have failed at, because they did not have a clean heart but a rather tainted one. Bias is bad, especially when you seek to fit it into an innocent text.
Salaam