What is the importance of prayer in terms of our time? What is the meaning and wisdom behind prayer?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Allah created us out of nothing. We could have been trees or animals. We could even have been monsters but we were created as human beings. We could have been Christians, Jews or Buddhists but we became Muslims.  

These boons might not come to mind at first. There are so many similar boons that we cannot think of and that are too many to count.  We thank a person for giving us a pen; we feel grateful to a person for giving us a book. For, we do it as necessity of humanity and courtesy. Then, do we not have to be thankful and grateful to the one giving us so many boons?

Prayer is the greatest thanking and clearest gratitude. We take part in prayer with all of our body: Our hands, our feet, our eyes, our tongues, our heads, our minds, our imaginations and all our feelings. Thus, we show our gratitude to Allah with all these organs and our feelings.

A person who does not perform prayers does not even offer such thanks. He does not realize the value of having the boons that he will not be able to get by paying billions. If we lose one of our eyes - God forbid -, can we replace it by spending a great deal of money? If we lose our tongue in an accident, can we find a tongue even if we give half of the world?

We want to have everything as human beings. We want to have the same things that are present in the world. We need so many things. We are not satisfied with this world. We want an eternal life; we want Paradise; we wish to be with our Prophet.

Since we do not have the power to get them, from whom shall we want them? We will want them from the creator of this world, stars, skies and the hereafter. The way to want them is to endear ourselves to Allah, to bow down and prostrate before Him five times every day.  

Thus, we enter into the presence of our Lord by praying. We are filled with joy and happiness. We feel like we are going to fly; we feel excited. How can we not be excited? We feel happiness and excitement when we enter into the presence of a director, a governor or a minister. In fact, in prayer, we enter into the presence of the Creator of the director, governor and the minister, even the whole universe. Can we ever want to miss such happiness?

We eat when we feel hungry and drink water when we feel thirsty; we sleep when we feel sleepy. Thus, we meet those needs. However, man does not consists of a mouth and stomach only. We have minds; we think; we have hearts, we have feelings; we have spirits, we want an eternal life. How will we meet the needs of our mind, heart and spirit? What food shall we give them to feed these faculties? The food of our mind, the need of our heart, the comfort of our spirit can be ensured only by performing prayers.

We get cleaned both materially and spiritually when we perform prayers. When we make wudu, we fulfill material cleaning; when we perform a prayer, we are purified from the dirtiness of our sins and mistakes.

The following short conversation between the Prophet (pbuh) and the Companions explains the issue very well:

Once the Prophet (pbuh) asked the Companions:

"What is your view? If there is a river in front of the door of your house and if you have a bath five times in that river, will there be any dirt on your body?"

The Companions answered:

"O Messenger of Allah! There will be no dirt." Then, the Prophet said:

"Five daily prayers is like that. Allah eliminates and cleans your sins thanks to prayers."

The real cleanliness in prayer is spiritual cleanliness. Our spirit and heart need to be cleaned frequently. For, our organs like the hands and feet get dirty due to dust and soil; similarly, our spirit is dirtied spiritually due to the sins and mistakes we commit since we are humans. However, man cannot wash his spirit and heart. There is a special way of cleaning them. They are washed by prayers.  

Those who are not accustomed to performing prayers will look for reasons to mitigate this deficiency. They exaggerate the mistakes of those who perform prayers and begin to think that they are as imperfect as themselves and that there is not much difference between them. They diminish their mistakes and exaggerate the mistakes of a person who performs prayers. Furthermore, such a person even claims that he is in a superior position resorting to excuses like saying "My heart is clean!"

In fact, no one is free from mistakes and sins as a human being. Even a person who regularly worships will have some mistakes. However, if people are compared in terms of the evil deeds they commit, it will be seen that those who perform prayers commit fewer evil deeds.

Yes, lung cancer is seen in also the people who do not smoke but the smokers are more likely to catch this disease. Similarly, there will be a big difference between the likelihood of someone who remembers his Lord five times a day and enters into His presence committing evil deeds and that of the one who remembers Him only when he is in trouble.

Besides, prayer prevents a person from committing bad deeds. This issue is mentioned as follows in the Quran:

"Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish Regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do." (al-Ankabut, 29/45)

(see Mehmed PAKSU, Gençlik İlmihali, Nesil yayınları, 1999, p. 83-86)

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