Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 148
148 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad aspects of Prayer is for it to be offered with all its conditions. Until Prayer is ob- served in this manner, it is no Prayer at all, and neither can that state be achieved which inclines a person to Prayer, as alluded to in the word salat (Prayer). Remember that it is necessary in the Prayer for both physical state and verbal expression to unite. On certain occasions, expression is visual. At times, an il- lustration is shown which enables an observer to understand the message that is intended. Similarly, the Prayer depicts an illustration of God’s will. In Prayer, just as the tongue recites certain words, so too the physical movements of one’s body and limbs display a certain image. When a person stands to praise and glorify God, this posture is known as qiyam or ‘the standing position. ’ Now, everyone knows that the standing position is the physical state best suited for praise and glorification. After all, when eulogies are recited before kings, they are done so whilst standing. And so, in the Prayer, the apparent posture prescribed is the standing position, while the tongue is instruct- ed to praise and glorify God in this state. The purpose in this is so that man stands before Allah the Exalted in the spiritual sense as well. Praise is expressed by stand- ing firm on one point. A person who truthfully and sincerely praises someone, stands firm on one view. Therefore, an individual who says: ِ ِ ہلل ُ اَلْحَمْد (All praise belongs to Allah) can only sincerely proclaim these words when they develop a firm belief in the fact that Allah Almighty is the Possessor of all forms of praise in totality. When a person accepts this fact with complete open-heartedness, this is known as qiyam or ‘standing’ in the spiritual sense, because the heart begins to ‘stand’ firm in this belief, as though it were upright, so to speak. Therefore, in the Prayer, a person stands demonstrating an apparent state, so that they may be blessed with the ability to ‘stand’ in the spiritual sense. After this, a person says: سُبْحَان َ رَبِّی َ الْعَظِیْم (Holy is my Lord the most Great) in the bowing position. It is a matter of principle that when someone accepts the greatness of another, they bow in their presence. A person must bow in the face of greatness. Hence, with the tongue a person states: سُبْحَان َ رَبِّی َ الْعَظِیْم (Holy is my Lord the most Great) and through their outwardly state, they demonstrate this by bowing. This statement is expressed visually through the bowing position. The third statement is: َعْلٰی ْ سُبْحَان َ رَبِّی َ ال (Holy is my Lord the most High). The word a’la (the most high) is in the grammatical form that expresses the superla- tive degree. This naturally calls for prostration. Therefore, along with these words, the image that one shows in practice is that of prostration. Hence, a person im-