Session 49 Notes
One aspect of the Qur’an is that it can be seen as the book of prayers. We came to the conclusion that prayer in essence is the acknowledgment of who I am, and who the Creator of the universe is. Usually, the believers seek God’s help when they find themselves in trouble whereas we are always in need of our Creator at every moment, at least for our existence. The subtle messages of the Qur’an are usually missed in the general Muslim culture which we need to build upon and live accordingly.
Every aspect of our life, whatever we do, can become a prayer to our Lord when we are conscious of the reality. By exercising our free-will, we are in fact obeying the Will of our Creator. Prayer is an all encompassing concept. When we pray in this world, it is a means to prepare ourselves for the Hereafter (Akhira). There should be no difference between praying for the world and praying for the Hereafter. While praying for anything even concerning this world, we are praying for our life in the Hereafter because the fact that we are praying is a worship of God. The purpose of our existence is to acknowledge who our Creator, Owner is.
There is no real difference for a believer in praying verbally and by using their free will to do anything. The believer is expected to use his free will consciously with the intention to obey God’s Will manifested in the way He creates the universe. The difference lies only in the form but they are essentially the same things. Verbally we address God and ask from Him to create what we need. However, we must be aware that we are not placing an order for Him, rather we entrust the matter to His Knowledge and Wisdom, so that He may bring about the most auspicious outcome for us.
Some people say: “prayer is not enough, but we should do something.” This is lacking the essence of prayer. While doing something is correct, the action must be performed with the consciousness of prayer. They are not alternatives to each other. Sometimes we may feel the need to pray to God through verbal expressions, whereas, while we are doing something we are actually also praying to God. A believer knows that every action is a form of prayer asking God to create the result of their choices. Based on our needs, we employ both means to express our acknowledgment of our Creator.
I must build my awareness of the reality that I am in need of God at every stage of my life. I must be conscious of the fact that every moment of my life is created, arranged and organized by my Creator; it is His act of creation in my life. This way my whole life becomes a sort of prayer. For example, our eyelids go up and down like a cleaning wiper for the eyes, we must be grateful to the One who arranged this. There is the saliva production as part of our digestive system, all taken care of. All this is specially created for us to realize and thank our Creator. I am receiving everything as a result of His Blessing and Mercy that I must be grateful for.
One may say that the exercise of free will is limited. First of all, free will cannot create or give existence. We are not always successful in using our free will as we want to. We shouldn’t forget that whatever we do, we are in fact exercising our free will. Even if I decide not to use my free will, I am still exercising free will there. To exercise or not to exercise one’s free will is itself an exercise of free will. So where is the limitation of free will? One chooses only from among what is created out there from the order in creation. Everyone has the capacity to choose only between the created options they have. For example when one drives a car, they have multiple choices to either go straight, left or right in the already created roads. These roads from which one chooses have already been decided and created by the city planners. In the same way, who decided the order of the universe? Could it be anything of this universe which itself needs to be created or the One who created the entire universe? It is His Will. If one is very conscious of it, when they obey the order in creation, in fact, they are obeying the Will of the Creator of the universe. That is prayer and worship. Everytime that one exercises their free will consciously, they are praying and worshiping their Creator.
Someone sees meaninglessness to be rewarding on the surface in the materialistic view. The materialistic point of view does not want to limit themselves by fulfilling the requirements of their Creator, they want to be “free” in doing whatever they want. When one chooses not to acknowledge God and worship Him and thank Him, they become “nature” worshipers. For them everything is “naturally happening”; nature becomes their God. In the end they die and leave everything they did to be meaningless. While living, they know they will lose everything when they die; everything becomes meaningless. For example, one may enjoy his life today but he knows that he is unable to hold on to that enjoyment. Tomorrow, he will enjoy his day again but he still knows well that he will lose it again. Nothing remains and at the end he thinks that he will lose everything. This feeling is unbearable for a materialistic person. Philosophers are trying to make sense of materialistic meaningless life. They are trying to figure out how they can make their meaningless life meaningful? Most of the existentialist philosophers are in the same category except a select few who emphasize that only belief in God can give meaning to one’s life. If we seriously think about human reality we notice that no one can live without worshiping something, may it be God, the Creator, or nature itself, or their own egotistic whims, or their impressions on other people, or fashion designers, their status in society, wealth, etc.
Everyone deep down realizes that they are completely dependent on their Absolute Creator in every aspect of their life even if they turn blind to it. Everything we do is thus a prayer in humility which is our default setting to address the One who can answer, satisfy our needs. We should not put ourselves in a superior position as if ordering the Creator to create something for us. The term “humility” as opposed to arrogance is tricky as it entails lowering oneself as if they were in a higher position. There is no extra effort to be made but we must simply conform to our reality: We are just needy humble people; we cannot escape our neediness. We should always remember that when we are using our free will by following the order in creation, we are asking our Creator to create what is best for us to fulfill the purpose of our existence. Whatever He creates, I must be happy with it. It is possible that I may not have fulfilled my duty perfectly, I must check myself, take lessons from the created result.
How about the sense given to us for helping others, praying to guide others? When I appreciate the guidance I receive from my Creator, I am given the feeling for others to benefit from this guidance. When one makes prayers for others, the Creator knows that this person is expressing their appreciation for the guidance they received and are now praying for others to receive the same guidance and have a pleasurable life as well. The prophets also prayed for others as part of their prophetic mission. They wanted everyone to feel how precious living with belief in the Absolute Creator is in this world. Praying for others is also in a way being thankful to our Creator for belief and guidance that He blessed us with.
If one doesn’t wish the same blessing for their brothers and sisters, their neighbors then what does that say about one’s belief? They are not truly believers. It may mean that one sees their belief as something they own – as something they deserve – rather than as a gift from the Most Generous and Merciful God. We do not own the blessing of belief that has been imparted to us and thus we must be careful not to be selfish. Everything I have is a blessing from my Creator and I must wish the same blessings for my brothers, sisters, friends, and neighbors.
Hadith Narration:
“None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother, or for his neighbor what he loves for himself.” – Bukhari, Muslim, Râvi: Enes b. Mâlik (r.a.)
If one loves to be a believer and enjoys their life with this belief because it provides them with a meaningful life, with an eternal satisfaction awaiting for them, can they keep this blessing only for themselves and not share with others?
Unfortunately, some reduce their understanding of this hadith narration to worldly, material help only. If one wishes their brother for strong faith and a good healthy life, that is good as the result for both is created and provided by the Absolute Creator. This hadith narration involves belief primarily and then the help by other means as well.
That is why the hadith narration says: “None of you truly believes…”; belief is a blessing from God. When we recognize belief as a blessing, we want others to receive it too.
If we believe that everything we have is created and given by God, then we should ask Him to give others the same blessings we enjoy – especially those who are in need of them. Who does not need a peaceful heart, a meaningful life, and the news of eternal happiness?
To pray with a sincere heart, we should keep these three things in mind:
- Always admit one’s neediness. Even if one is financially secure, they are always needy in their existence. Material things never help in one’s spiritual life. We must thus admit our neediness; prayer is about admitting that we are weak and always need God’s help.
- We are expected to take refuge with God, seeking a safe harbor, not to give orders to God. Prayer is simply seeking refuge with God as the Caretaker and the Provider for my needs. We are not expected to tell God on how to do His “job” as the Ruler of the universe. Our role is to express our reality that we are needy and His role is to decide the best way to handle things. We must be careful not to switch these roles. One can only exercise their free will to choose but cannot create anything. While we are verbally praying we need to be aware that we are just letting God create the result that is best for us.
- We must trust God’s Wisdom. For my needs, I must leave the “how” and “when” to Him. One must make the effort by exercising their free will but rely on His perfect timing and never doubt His Kindness and Generosity as the Owner and Creator of the universe. Even if the result created is not according to our expectations, not according to our liking, we should look at how this result serves to fulfill the purpose of our existence. The purpose of our existence is to know our position as the needy ones and know who the Creator of the universe, our Creator is.
In Short:
Prayer is not about trying to change God’s mind; it’s about trusting His Wise and Merciful choice. We do our part by asking, and we let Him do His part by governing.
Let’s examine Figure 1 which shows a lady happily praying to God to create the results for her. We need to leave the results, the heavy lifting to God. My job is to ask and leave Him to do His job to govern. With this understanding, we can enjoy a pleasurable life without any anxiety, uncertainty and burden of heavy lifting by trusting in God that He will create what is the best for us.
Figure 1
We can see in Figure 2 that the person is happily doing their work. While doing our work, we must be conscious that we are asking God to create the results for us. This turns our work into worship of our Creator. Prayer is thus leaving the heavy lifting to God. My responsibility is to ask and His job is to create what is best for me. I must trust His Knowledge, His Mercy, and His Wisdom.
Figure 2
Below is a sample prayer expressing the human reality we all find ourselves in:
A sample prayer
| بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful |
| إِلٰهِي أَنْتَ رَبِّي وَأَنَا الْعَبْدُ | My God, You are my Lord, and I am your Worshiper |
| وَأَنْتَ الْخَالِقُ وَأَنَا الْمَخْلُوقُ | You are the Creator, and I am the created |
| وَأَنْتَ الرَّزَّاقُ وَأَنَا الْمَرْزُوقُ | You are the Provider, and I am the one provided for |
| وَأَنْتَ الْمَالِكُ وَأَنَا الْمَمْلُوكُ | You are the Owner, and I belong entirely to You |
| وَأَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ وَأَنَا الذَّلِيلُ | You are the Almighty, and I am the humble and weak |
| وَأَنْتَ الْغَنِيُّ وَأَنَا الْفَقِيرُ | You are the Self-Sufficient, and I am the needy |
| وَأَنْتَ الْحَيُّ وَأَنَا الْمَيِّتُ | You are the Ever-Living, and I am destined to die |
| وَأَنْتَ الْبَاقِي وَأَنَا الْفَانِي | You are the Everlasting, and I am transient |
| وَأَنْتَ الْكَرِيمُ وَأَنَا اللَّئِيمُ | You are the Most Generous, and I am unworthy |
| وَأَنْتَ الْمُحْسِنُ وَأَنَا الْمُسِيءُ | You are the Source of all Goodness, and I am the one who falls into wrong |
| وَأَنْتَ الْغَفُورُ وَأَنَا الْمُذْنِبُ | You are the All-Forgiving, and I am the sinner |
| وَأَنْتَ الْعَظِيمُ وَأَنَا الْحَقِيرُ | You are the Most Great, and I am insignificant |
| وَأَنْتَ الْقَوِيُّ وَأَنَا الضَّعِيفُ | You are the All-Powerful, and I am weak |
| وَأَنْتَ الْمُعْطِي وَأَنَا السَّائِلُ | You are the Giver, and I am the one who asks |
| وَأَنْتَ الْأَمِينُ وَأَنَا الْخَائِفُ | You are the Granter of safety, and I am fearful |
| وَأَنْتَ الْجَوَادُ وَأَنَا الْمِسْكِينُ | You are the Most Generous, and I am poor and needy |
| وَأَنْتَ الْمُجِيبُ وَأَنَا الدَّاعِي | You are the One who answers, and I am the supplicant |
| وَأَنْتَ الشَّافِي وَأَنَا الْمَرِيضُ | You are the Healer, and I am the sick one |
| فَاغْفِرْ لِي ذُنُوبِي | So, forgive my sins |
| وَتَجَاوَزْ عَنِّي | Overlook my shortcomings |
| وَاشْفِ أَمْرَاضِي | Heal my illness |
| يَا اللَّهُ يَا كَافِي | O Allah, O All-Sufficient One |
| يَا رَبِّ يَا وَافِي | O my Lord, O Ever-Fulfilling One |
| يَا رَحِيمُ يَا شَافِي | O Most Merciful, O Healer |
| يَا كَرِيمُ يَا مُعَافِي | O Most Generous, O Grantor of well-being |
| فَاعْفُ عَنِّي كُلَّ ذَنْبٍ | Pardon every sin I have committed |
| وَعَافِنِي مِنْ كُلِّ دَاءٍ | Grant me well-being, and protect me from every illness |
| وَارْضَ عَنِّي أَبَدًا بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ | Be pleased with me for ever by Your Mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful |