Understanding Salat — Page 65
Qiyam 65 word ‘you’, our heart will only say it along with us if we are in a state of i h s a n. Each time we say the word ‘you’ in Than a ’ , it carries a personal feeling of closeness and of seeing Allah Almighty. The purpose of Than a ’ is to ensure that we start our prayer in the state of i h s a n. We address Allah Almighty in the second person tense because Than a ’ is an interaction with God. There is one moment when we realize that Allah Almighty is not distant, rather He is present in the same room as we are. There is another moment when we realize that we are not speaking to ourselves, but we are speaking directly to Allah Almighty. Allah ceases to be a distant con- cept; He becomes a living God who is present. By the time we finish Than ā ’ , we are in that state of i h s a n which is neces- sary for proper S al ā t. If we cannot achieve the state of seeing Allah, then the repeated use of the word ‘you’ should at least remind us that Allah Almighty is looking at us, that He is present. Whether we can see Him or not, He is still there and we should wor- ship as if we are aware that He is seeing us. This is also i h s ā n, and a S al ā t that meets this minimum prerequisite will surely be fruitful. The meaning of l ā il ā ha illa-ll ā h is, َ ْ و َ ل َ مَقْصُوْد ى ْ و َ ل َ مُطَاع َ لِ ى ْ و َ ل َ مَعْبُوْد َ لِ ى ْ و َ ل َ مَحْبُوب َ لِ ى ُ ل َ مَطْلُوْب َ لِ ّٰ الل َّ لِى ْ اِل Meaning of Kalimah