Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 429
1 August 1906 429 Prayer at all. Nowadays, it is a habit of people to finish the for- mal Prayer so quickly as if they are just repeatedly banging their heads on the ground. Prayer is performed quickly and speedily as if it were forced labour, and then they start making long supplications after- wards. This is an innovation. There is no mention of this prac- tice anywhere in the Noble Hadith that supplications should be made after saying sal a m at the end of the formal Prayer. Foolish people consider Prayer as a tax and separate supplication from it. Prayer itself is supplication. A person should supplicate within the traditional Prayer for all worldly and faith-related difficulties and at the time of every difficulty. A supplication can be made at any time within the Prayer. In the ruk u ‘ [bowing posture] after reciting tasb ih [glorification of God], after reciting tasb ih in prostration, after a t-t ahiyy a t [salutations] in the sitting posture, after ruk u ‘ when you stand up—supplicate much that you be enriched abundantly. The soul should flow like water when you supplicate. Such a suppli- cation purifies and cleanses the heart. If such a supplication is attained, it matters not if a person stands in prayer all day. One should make supplications in the presence of Allah the Exalted so that one may be freed from the grip of sin. Prayer is a remedy that removes the poison of sin. Some foolish people think that supplicating in their own language breaks the Prayer. This is a wrong idea. The Prayer of such peo- ple is itself broken. 1 1. Badr, vol. 2, no. 32, p. 4, dated 9 August 1906 and al- H akam, vol. 10, no. 28, p. 9, dated 10 August 1906