Remembrance of Allah — Page 81
Twenty-two Methods of Concentration in Prayers 81 is when all the people are silently and quietly standing before the King of kings! The Holy Prophet s as has said, ‘Straighten your rows; otherwise, your hearts will become crooked’ ( S a hīh Muslim, Kitābu s-S alāt, Bāb Taswiyati s-S ufūfi wa Iqāmatihā wa Fa d lil-Awwali fal-Awwali minhā wal-Izdi h āmi ‘Ala s-S affil- Awwali wal-Musābaqati ilaihā wat-Taqdīmi Aulal-Fa d li wa Taqrībihim min-al-Imām; Hadith 432). 21 What is the impact of a straight row? The same—that since the seen has an impact upon the unseen; for that rea- son, if there is no order externally, then internal regularity is also affected. 7. The seventh method is the Niyyat [Declaration of Intention for Prayer], because when man tells his soul that he is about to stand up for a task, then his attention focuses upon it. And Niyyat does not mean that you say that behind that Imam, so many rak‘ a t of S al a t, facing the Holy Ka‘bah, etc. , but rather one should make the intention in his own mind that he is going to offer the S al a t. It is said about a certain man that he had developed an insane passion for offering the Niyyat. And if he was standing in a row other than the one immediately behind the imam and would say his Niyyat that, ‘Behind this imam’ , the thought would come to him that he was not standing behind the imam and that there was some other person in front of him. He would, therefore, move forward and say, ‘Behind this imam’. But he would again entertain the doubt that even then he was not behind the imam, so he would go and stand right behind the imam and, touching the imam , he would say, ‘Behind this