Understanding Salat — Page 215
Qa‘dah 215 We should embrace that feeling of regret and channel it into prayers that Allah Almighty set our prayer upright. The Promised Messiah as taught that we should pray, O Allah the Exalted, the Omnipotent, the Possessor of Majesty, I am a sinner, and the poison of sin has affected my veins to such an extent that I am devoid of emotion and attention in prayer. Forgive me my sins with Your blessing and grace, and forgive me my lapses, and soften my heart, and place Your great- ness, Your fear, and Your love in my heart, so that my hard-heartedness may be dispelled, and I am granted attention in my prayer. The Promised Messiah as continued, However, he should be mindful of his death. He should consider the remaining days of his life to be few and see his death as near. This is the way of attaining attention in prayer. ( Fat ā w ā Hadrat Mas ī h Mau’ ū d, pp. 37, published in 1935) If we make the prayer of ِ لَوة َّ رَب ِّ ٱجۡعَلۡنِي مُقِيم َ ٱلص [My Lord, make me observe Prayer] an opportunity for sincere repentance, then our fallen S alāt can become a blessing in disguise. However fallen the standard of our S alāt was, the greater the helplessness with which we beg Allah Almighty to set our