| Mankind's Relationship with Allah, the Exalted (The Prayer) | The Prayer of thinking and knowledge
2019-03-04 797
The Prayer of thinking and knowledge
Thinking first, Prayer
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The holy Quran emphasizes in most of its crystal clear verses on inviting man to give rein to mental thinking and contemplation for, in its blessed chapters, such verses which urge man to employ deep insight into Allah's Creation and constant meditation on the essence of things - have been repeated with regard to the affairs of the heavens and the earth:" Those who remember Allah (always and in prayers) standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth (saying): "Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without a purpose, glory to You! (Exalted are you above all that you associate with your partners). Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire.(Al-An'am:191) (…..This He has commanded you so that you may understand)" (Al-An'am:151) (Say: "Bring forward your witnesses who can testify not you (O Muhammad) with them and you should not follow the vain desires of such as treat Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations etc.) as falsehoods, and such as believe not in the Hereafter and they hold others as equal to them (in worship) with their Lord."(Al-An'am:151).
"Say: O Muhammad! I don't tell you that with me are the treasures of Allah, nor (that) I know the Unseen. I say not that I am an angel. I attend only what is revealed to me. Say: "Are the blind and the one who sees equal."? Will you not take thought?" (Al-An'am: 50).
These noble verses will get to meet in their content of directing the Moslem a sound direction by putting between his hands the keys of the right combination with the message of Islam so that his faith will elevate to the level of understanding, satisfaction and maturity because that will undoubtedly, protect his faith from what causes suspicion as long as the foundation on which faith is built strong and deep-rooted which won't be affected by the crises of suspicion, worry and disturbance.
On this basis, Islam rejects the faith and belief of the Moslem believer who has acquired them both by way of inheritance. For this reason, Allah demanded from His subject to profoundly think and contemplate for He wants his belief and faith in life and behavior have both sprung from within his heart and from the depth of his insight - quite away from the stubbornly imposed faith and belief or to get them stuck in his life as part entirely strange and that which there is no association, reaction and harmony.
And from here, we find the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) and all his pure progeny while throwing their lights on the spirit of the rightful worship , they signify for us and emphasize , too that it is incumbent on us to know that sound thinking is worship and that no prayer is accepted by Allah, Glory to Him especially of the person whose prayer in his whole life is but mere words uttered within the prayer by the performer without paying the least attention to what he is saying – entirely empty of content.
Imam Ali (P.B.U.H.) says: "Best of worshipping acts lies in deep thinking of Allah, His Creation and Omnipotence. Deep thinking about Allah, the universe the human self invites man to give charity and be helpful to people. Imam As-Sadiq (P.B.U.H.)
Imam Ar- Ridha (P.B.U.H.) , in this respect, says: "Worshipping does not mean an increase in the number of prayers and the days of fasting but in thinking of Allah-and His Creation to Whom be ascribed all glory and perfection.
Why? …because the human being who worships Allah (Glory to Him) through his intellect, reason and thought will get to know the broad right way to the truthful, typical example whose fruits will be yielded together with the moral consequences in all aspects of life. Islam aims at growing the mind on permanent awakening to get self-guided to the light of the truth and right.
It seems that the tragedy which man is living through in this age is the feebleness of mental activity as well as its spiritual weakness. Man's modern mind twistingly live inside the jail of absent-mindedness like a drunkard who can't distinguish between light and dark.
On account of that, the vitality of his senses which has been considered as the dynamo of diverse knowledge went out of work and this state of being made man turn his attention towards the verses of the heavens and the earth which began to move along like a passing cloud which could stir no lesson or a sermon in him.
And as such, he ignorantly abandoned and blindly turned away from them where he wishfully was not eager to see the bitter truth of the matter itself which is now standing erect in front of him but before that it has slipped his mind at the time being that the truth had been recognizably before him but his eyes couldn't see the truth well.
And from here, we find the Quran threatens those who do not invest the energies of the mind and don't use the bliss of the senses in an excellent image: "And surely, We created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not, and have eyes wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not (truth) they are like cattle; nay, even more astray; those! They are the heedless ones."(Al-Araf:179).
History tells us that once a man was lying on his bed with eyes looking up in the sky and the stars and felt amazed at what he had seen and meantime said: "I bear witness that you (i.e. the sky and the stars) have got a Lord and a Creator; O Allah! Forgive my sins wherein Allah had looked at him and forgiven him."
The notion of "thinking" which Islam invites people to pursue in seeking knowledge is not restricted to one aspect without another but invites the whole of mankind to resort to thinking about life on the whole within its spectra of dimensions and phenomena.
The holy Quran emphasizes in most of its crystal clear verses on inviting man to give rein to mental thinking and contemplation for, in its blessed chapters, such verses which urge man to employ deep insight into Allah's Creation and constant meditation on the essence of things - have been repeated with regard to the affairs of the heavens and the earth:" Those who remember Allah (always and in prayers) standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth (saying): "Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without a purpose, glory to You! (Exalted are you above all that you associate with your partners). Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire.(Al-An'am:191) (…..This He has commanded you so that you may understand)" (Al-An'am:151) (Say: "Bring forward your witnesses who can testify not you (O Muhammad) with them and you should not follow the vain desires of such as treat Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations etc.) as falsehoods, and such as believe not in the Hereafter and they hold others as equal to them (in worship) with their Lord."(Al-An'am:151).
"Say: O Muhammad! I don't tell you that with me are the treasures of Allah, nor (that) I know the Unseen. I say not that I am an angel. I attend only what is revealed to me. Say: "Are the blind and the one who sees equal."? Will you not take thought?" (Al-An'am: 50).
These noble verses will get to meet in their content of directing the Moslem a sound direction by putting between his hands the keys of the right combination with the message of Islam so that his faith will elevate to the level of understanding, satisfaction and maturity because that will undoubtedly, protect his faith from what causes suspicion as long as the foundation on which faith is built strong and deep-rooted which won't be affected by the crises of suspicion, worry and disturbance.
On this basis, Islam rejects the faith and belief of the Moslem believer who has acquired them both by way of inheritance. For this reason, Allah demanded from His subject to profoundly think and contemplate for He wants his belief and faith in life and behavior have both sprung from within his heart and from the depth of his insight - quite away from the stubbornly imposed faith and belief or to get them stuck in his life as part entirely strange and that which there is no association, reaction and harmony.
And from here, we find the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) and all his pure progeny while throwing their lights on the spirit of the rightful worship , they signify for us and emphasize , too that it is incumbent on us to know that sound thinking is worship and that no prayer is accepted by Allah, Glory to Him especially of the person whose prayer in his whole life is but mere words uttered within the prayer by the performer without paying the least attention to what he is saying – entirely empty of content.
Imam Ali (P.B.U.H.) says: "Best of worshipping acts lies in deep thinking of Allah, His Creation and Omnipotence. Deep thinking about Allah, the universe the human self invites man to give charity and be helpful to people. Imam As-Sadiq (P.B.U.H.)
Imam Ar- Ridha (P.B.U.H.) , in this respect, says: "Worshipping does not mean an increase in the number of prayers and the days of fasting but in thinking of Allah-and His Creation to Whom be ascribed all glory and perfection.
Why? …because the human being who worships Allah (Glory to Him) through his intellect, reason and thought will get to know the broad right way to the truthful, typical example whose fruits will be yielded together with the moral consequences in all aspects of life. Islam aims at growing the mind on permanent awakening to get self-guided to the light of the truth and right.
It seems that the tragedy which man is living through in this age is the feebleness of mental activity as well as its spiritual weakness. Man's modern mind twistingly live inside the jail of absent-mindedness like a drunkard who can't distinguish between light and dark.
On account of that, the vitality of his senses which has been considered as the dynamo of diverse knowledge went out of work and this state of being made man turn his attention towards the verses of the heavens and the earth which began to move along like a passing cloud which could stir no lesson or a sermon in him.
And as such, he ignorantly abandoned and blindly turned away from them where he wishfully was not eager to see the bitter truth of the matter itself which is now standing erect in front of him but before that it has slipped his mind at the time being that the truth had been recognizably before him but his eyes couldn't see the truth well.
And from here, we find the Quran threatens those who do not invest the energies of the mind and don't use the bliss of the senses in an excellent image: "And surely, We created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not, and have eyes wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not (truth) they are like cattle; nay, even more astray; those! They are the heedless ones."(Al-Araf:179).
History tells us that once a man was lying on his bed with eyes looking up in the sky and the stars and felt amazed at what he had seen and meantime said: "I bear witness that you (i.e. the sky and the stars) have got a Lord and a Creator; O Allah! Forgive my sins wherein Allah had looked at him and forgiven him."
The notion of "thinking" which Islam invites people to pursue in seeking knowledge is not restricted to one aspect without another but invites the whole of mankind to resort to thinking about life on the whole within its spectra of dimensions and phenomena.
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