Remembrance of Allah — Page 88
88 This is indeed the reason why—apart from the people who speak Arabic—Muslims who are generally not familiar with Arabic cannot maintain their attention in S al a t, because atten- tion can be maintained only when the meanings of the words being said are also present in one’s mind. But due to the lack of familiarity with Arabic, when they are reciting the Arabic pas- sages, the meanings of those words do not come along in their mind; instead, the meanings and the words get jumbled up. For example, when a person says ُدُبْعَن َکاَّیِا [ Iyy a ka na‘budu — You alone do we worship], not the meaning of this sentence, but the meaning of ِمْيِحَّرلا ِنٰمْحَّرلا [ Ar-Ra h m a n-ir-Ra hi m— the Gracious, the Merciful], or maybe of ن ی وم الد ی مٰلك [ M a liku- Yaumid-D i n —Master of the Day of Judgment] are transpiring in his brain. So for that reason, full attention cannot be main- tained nor can the benefit of S al a t be attained fully. Accordingly, the people who are not well versed in Arabic and do not possess much command over it, so that—like the mother tongue—its words and their meanings occur simul- taneously in the mind; they should not move forward when offering S al a t, until the meaning of the sentence they are reciting appears in their mind. For example, when they recite ِمْيِحَّرلا ِنٰمْحَّرلا ِهّٰللا ِمْسِب [ Bismill a h-ir-Rahm a n-ir-Rah i m —‘ In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful’], then, until its meaning comes to their minds very clear, they should not say Al h amdulill a hi Rabb-il- A lam i n [‘All Praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds’], and until the meanings of this verse do not come to mind, they should not proceed to Ar-Rahm a n- ir-Rah i m [‘the Gracious, the Merciful’] , and they should do likewise with all the verses; because, if they do not do this, the