Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 77
77 reverence. Islam has combined all these symbols in its mode of worship. Islam enjoins that S al a t should ordinarily be per- formed in congregation, so that the spirit of brotherhood may be fostered. Under this injunction a monarch must stand shoulder to shoulder with his meanest subject to perform the S al a t. This striking spectacle affords a striking proof of the fact that S al a t is a reality and not a mere form. All who join in it realize that they are stand- ing in a Presence where even a monarch must lay aside his sceptre, and become a mere servant along with his subjects. It is sometimes objected that the S al a t of Islam is a mere piece of bargaining with God, as it is performed in the hope of obtaining something in return. This is exactly the reverse of the truth. Islam is the only relig- ion which repudiates this idea. It teaches that the acts of worship prescribed by it are not the selfish demands of a worldly-minded man. Their principal object is to ac- knowledge the favours and bounties of Allah and to render thanks to Him for all of them, without doing which a man could hardly deserve to be called man. Their second object is to seek spiritual development. As is said in the Holy Quran: