The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 308
308 Şalāt Protects from Sin. Essence of Islām II Şalāt is an instrument for delivery from sin. It is a quality of the Salāt that it makes a person secure against sin and vice. So seek a Ṣalāt of that type and try to make your. Salāt such. Ṣalāt is the soul of bounties. The grace of God. Almighty is received through the Ṣalāt. Then observe it duly so that you might become heirs to the bounties of. God Almighty. [Malfūzāt, vol. V, p. 126]. Significance of Postures in Şalāt. What is the Ṣalāt? It is the submission of one's humility and one's weakness to God and to seek the fulfilment of one's needs from Him. In the course of the Ṣalāt the worshipper sometimes stands before God with folded arms signifying his consciousness of the glory of God and his eagerness to carry out His Commandments; at other times he falls into prostration in complete humility and devotion and seeks the fulfilment of his needs. . Sometimes like a beggar he praises Him from Whom he begs and proclaiming His greatness and His glory seeks to move His mercy and supplicates Him. A faith that has nothing comparable to the Ṣalāt is altogether empty. . . . . Salāt means the love and fear of God and the preoccupation of the heart with His remembrance. That is faith. He who seeks escape from Prayer is no better than an animal. To eat and drink and sleep away the hours like an animal is not faith. This is the practice of the disbelievers. . . . For him who desires to meet God and is anxious to reach Him the Ṣalāt is a conveyance by climbing into which he can arrive at his goal speedily. He who gives up the Salāt, how shall he arrive?. Since the Muslims have abandoned the Salāt or have