Salat - The Muslim Prayer Book — Page 8
8 S al a t —The Muslim Prayer Book The Holy Prophet sa has said: No servant of Allah humbles himself for the sake of Allah, but Allah thereby brings about his Raf‘a. Raf‘a is an Arabic word meaning 'to raise'. It does not mean that Allah will lift him bodily to heaven. Obviously it means that Allah will exalt his status before Him. True humility can only be achieved by mentally concentrating on the attributes of Allah. When His immense greatness dawns on someone, one has no choice but to be humbled. 3. THE TIMING OF PRAYERS For each of the five obligatory Prayers, there is an appointed time fixed in relation to the sun’s position. The time of the Fajr or morning Prayer begins with dawn and ends just before sunrise. The time of the Z uhr or midday Prayer begins after the sun has crossed the zenith point and has begun to decline. The time of the ‘A s r Prayer is when the sun has further advanced in decline and reaches a point nearly halfway between the beginning of decline and sunset, which we may call late afternoon but not very late. It ends up quite some time before sunset, when the sunlight has paled. Although it is not entirely forbidden to say the ‘A s r Prayer that late in the day, it is most certainly preferred that it be offered before daylight has started fading out while the sun is still above the horizon by a good measure. It is to be remembered that at the times of sunrise,