Malfuzat - Volume VII — Page 214
214 MALFUZAT - ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF URDU VOLUME 7 in Baitud-Du'a' [the Abode of Prayer]. Both of these times are conducive to the acceptance of prayers. Şalāt should not be a burden. Supplicate with simplicity before Allah the Exalted in your own language. Difference between Şalāt and Supplication The Promised Messiahas said: Once, I was thinking about the difference between Şalāt [the obligatory Prayer] and supplication. We find in a noble hadith that ۚالصَّلُوةُ هِيَ الدُّعَاءُ . اَلصَّلَوةُ مُخُ الْعِبَادَةِ : meaning, Şalāt is indeed supplication and Șalāt is the essence of worship. When a person supplicates only for worldly affairs, it cannot be called Şalāt. However, when a person wants to meet God; keeps His pleas- ure in mind; and stands in the presence of Allah the Exalted with respect, humility, modesty, and complete self-effacement seeking His pleasure; then he is observing Şalāt. The true essence of prayer is that which increases com- munion between God and man. Prayer is indeed the means of attaining nearness to Allah the Exalted and safeguards man from unreasonable things. The essential thing is that a person should attain Divine pleasure, after which it is permissible for a person to pray for their worldly needs as well. This has been allowed as sometimes worldly problems can become an obstacle 1. In Mufradātul-Qurʼān, lil-Furāhī, Zīr Lafz aş-Şalāh, p. 212, published by Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, the words are الصَّلَاةَ هِيَ الدُّعَاءُ ]Publisher[ 2. In Tafsir al-Kabir, by Imam Fakhr-ud-Din al-Razi, Tafsir Sūrah al-Kauthar, verse 2, vol. 32, p. 121, published by Darul-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah, Beirut, the words are ،وَالصَّلَاةُ مُخُ الْعِبَادَةِ ]Publisher[