Ghazzali on Prayer

    Imam abu Hamid al- Ghazzali
    (Rahimahullah)

     

     

    The status of Salah

    It should be remembered that in salah, one communicates with one's Lord, therefore, one should consider how one offers his/her salah. Allah ta'ala has commanded us to establish the salah. Establishment means to carry out salah and all its constituents (including it's pre-requisite wudu) very carefully. Although the command will apply to the salah in general, however, one should be extreamly particular about the folowing points:

    • To accomplish the wudu by fulfilling all the acts of sunnah and mustahab (preferable).
    • To recite the specific du'as mentioned in the hadith when washing each part of the body.
    • Also, to ensure that the clothes and the water of wudu are free from any impurity. But do not go out of your way regarding this, letting minor doubts bother you, as these are usually created by Shaytan, who uses tricks like these to waste the precious time of the obedient Servants of Allah Ta'ala.

     

     

    The extraordinary wisdom behind wudu and the purity of clothes

    The clothes of a musalli (person performing salah) can be likened to the outer peel of a fruit and the body the inner layer. The heart above all is like the kernel within, and needless to say, that the object of the fruit is the kernel. Now the arrangement of all these is such that the condition of one will affect the other. hence, the peel has to be protected in order to preserve the kernel.

    Similar is the case with salah. The soul and the heart are sure to be influenced due to the outward condition of the body and clothes. Accordingly, one will experience a unique feeling of purity and cleanliness in the heart after having performed wudu that was not present before it.
    Evidently, this is the effect of wudu. In conclusion, what seems to be a mere washing of arms and facse isn't only a means of physical cleanliness, but a spiritual one as well. In fact, the act of wudu has been designed chiefly to do away with the impurities of the heart and thereby, building within, the capability to face and communicate with the Lord.

     

     

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