The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 233
Prayer urge of a natural demand. 233 The truth is that as God has appointed rules for other matters, there is a particular rule for prayer and that rule is set out in the Surah Fatihah. It is not possible that there should be eagerness in prayer unless the factors that inspire the heart with eagerness are present to the mind. Thus, the natural way of prayer is that which is set out in the Surah Fatihah. It is one of the excellences of that Surah that it sets out prayer along with those factors that inspire it. [Brāhīn-e-Ahmadiyya, Rūķānī Khazā'in vol. 1, pp. 569-575, footnote 11] Humble Prayer 76 O, Most Merciful One! a humble servant of Thine, useless and full of errors and without any merit, Ghulām Ahmad, who dwells in India supplicates: O, Most Merciful One! be Thou pleased with me and forgive my mistakes and sins for Thou art most Forgiv- ing and Merciful. Cause me to do that which should please Thee greatly. Put away my ego from me as far as the East is from the West and make my life and my death and every faculty that I have, devoted to Thee. Keep me alive in Thy love and cause me to die in Thy love and raise me up among Thy perfect lovers. Most Merciful One! do Thou, by Thy grace, carry to its 76 Note: This prayer was sent by the Promised Messiah in a letter to Hadrat Şüfi Ahmad Jān Şahib of Ludhiana and he was instructed: 'It is your duty that you should pray in these very words, without any change, on my behalf in the House of Allah, before the Most Merciful One. Keep this letter with you to help your memory'. Accordingly, Şüfi Şahib, on the day of the great pilgrimage in the year 1302 A. H. offered this prayer in the House of Allah in a loud voice while his companions continued to respond with Amin. [Publisher]