Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 75
75 and the chief of these is the S al a t , which may be called the soul of all Islamic worship. Five times a day a Muslim must present himself before God and worship Him in the mode prescribed. He must first perform the Wu du , that is to say, wash his hands, face, forearms and feet in the prescribed manner. This is not only condu- cive towards physical cleanliness and purity, upon which Islam insists, but also has the effect of guarding, as it were, all avenues through which disturbance or interruption can enter, viz. , the five senses represented by the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands and feet, the latter two representing the sense of touch. Owing to consid- erations of time and space I cannot here enter into details, but those who are given to reflecting over spiritual matters can easily understand this. The very word Wu du indicates both these objects, for it means both 'cleanliness' and 'beauty'. The performance of Wu du promotes physical cleanliness which is indispen- sable for spiritual purity, and renders the S al a t beautiful by preventing and arresting the interruption or distur- bance of the worshipper’s thoughts, thus making it possible for him to achieve the real object of prayer. Having performed the Wu du the worshipper stands with his face towards the Kaaba which is meant to remind him of the sacrifices made by Abraham as in the path of God and the vast good that resulted from them. He then repeats certain prescribed passages from the Holy Quran. The first part of these is devoted to the praise and adoration of God whereby the worshipper can perceive, as it were, the reflection of God’s image, and his heart is flooded with love and longing and he is