Remembrance of Allah — Page 92
92 control. He can keep them at one place and keep them away from what he doesn’t want to see without any fuss. He can focus his eyes on the thing that he wants to see without diffi- culty. Thus, under the commandment of God Almighty, the Holy Prophet s as selected this sense for achieving concentration in S al a t and directed that we keep our eyes focused toward the place of prostration during the S al a t. Nevertheless, he simultaneously directed there should be no beautiful thing at the place of prostration, but rather there should be a uniformity of view; meaning, of the same kind. When a Muslim focuses his sight upon the place of prostration, then, first, the thought of prostration prevail- ing over his mind will keep him occupied in the thought of worship. Second, in this way his other senses, which as a rule must either be left totally free or be totally shut down, will shut down. The third benefit will be that since thoughts are in fact prompted by external influences—which, in turn, are perceived through the senses—but because the eyes have been put to work, the other senses become non-operational to an extent, and because there will be nothing before the eyes that could raise any thoughts other than S al a t, the person engaged in S al a t will have his attention remain focused on S al a t alone. It is proven from the Holy Prophet s as that once, a deco- rated sheet was placed in front of the place where the Holy Prophet s as offered his Prayer. He instructed it to be removed, pointing out that due to it, attention cannot be maintained in the S al a t ( S a hih al-Bukh ā r ī , Kitābu s-S alāt, Bābu in S alla fī Thaubin Mu s allibin au Ta s āwīr hal Tafsudu S alātuhū wa mā