Understanding Salat — Page 145
Sajdah 145 Lord the Most High. ’ We are rubbing our forehead on the ground, and we have made ourselves most dis- honored and insignificant. However, our Lord is free of all imperfections and is Most High, and we can become lofty only by our connection with Him, not without Him. However much a person humbly bows down before God through remembrance of Allah, that is how much exaltation ( رفعت ) is bestowed on him by Allah Almighty. This exaltation is the grace of God. Otherwise, the true station of man is in his state of prostration, in his being nothing more than dirt in front of God. Outside of this, man has no sta- tion or rank. Whatever exaltation ( رفعت ) he receives is by the grace of God. ( Khu t b ā t-e- Tā hir , vol. 13, pp. 63, 28 Jan 1994) The purpose of Sajdah is to come to terms with our real- ity. As long as we think we are strong, we are not living in reality because we think we are god; we won’t feel any need to seek strength from God. We cannot pray to God if we have no need for God. We’ll comfortably make plans for the day without realizing that many of the people who died this morning had every hour of today planned out. Before we can start to pray, we have to accept the reality that we have no power and Allah Almighty is All-Powerful. Then we realize how fragile we are. Then we come to terms with how bru- tal reality is. We now have a need for prayer, and now we