Is a prayer that is not performed in awe valid? Do the delusions that come in prayer invalidate prayer?

Is a prayer that is not performed in awe valid? Do the delusions that come in prayer invalidate prayer?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Due to the degeneration and being very busy in daily life, we sometimes feel confused in prayers and lack spiritual concentration.

In those deeds of worship, which we perform in a confused mood, we sometimes fall into despair and have delusions like ‘worshipping in which no spiritual pleasure is taken and no deep peace is felt is not accepted’; then, we feel uneasy.

Is such an interpretation appropriate? Is our worshipping still valuable and blessed after all? Is sincerity essential?

Once, I summarized an evaluation regarding the issue from Imam Sharani's book called Lawaqih. If we have a look at it, we will see that there is a hopeful approach and you will not feel slack inshaallah no matter how confused your mood is while worshipping.  Imam Sharani gives the following information while explaining the state of not taking pleasures from worshipping and not feeling peaceful:

To take pleasure from worshipping, to feel excitement is a nice state that is liked by almost all of us. It is a depth that affects man. Everybody wants it. This depth is necessary.  However, it is wrong to fall into despair when this desired peace cannot be attained.

There are such slaves of Allah that were not pleased with taking pleasure from worshipping and feeling very peaceful; they found these feelings contrary to sincerity, which is the spirit of worship; they thought they worshipped to take pleasure and find peace and prayed to Allah as follows:

- O Allah! If what makes us worship is the pleasure and peace we take from worshipping, we take refuge in You from it and ask You to eliminate this reward, which you give to weak people to encourage them, from us.

After that, Imam Sharani makes the following evaluation:

- If a person becomes very happy due to the pleasure and peace he takes from worshipping and always expects this like a principle of prayer, he needs to know that he is an addict of pleasure and peace. It means he worships due to the encouragement of the pleasure and peace he takes, not due to sincerity.

Imam Sharani gives an example at this point:

- Afdaluddin, one of the great saints of Egypt, once said to me, "I had been thinking for a long time that I was improving in night worshipping and that my sincerity was increasing. Once, while meditating at night, I was inspired some different things. An inner voice warned me: Your improvement in worshipping does not originate from sincerity but from the spiritual pleasure and peace you take and feel while worshipping. If the pleasure you take ends, the peace is lost, your soul objects and you worship in a confused mood, you will see whether your sincerity has increased or not.

Afdaluddin concludes the issue as follows:

- After that, I regarded the worshipping that I did not take pleasure from as worship in which I struggled against my soul more; I understood that the real sincerity was in the worship that involved struggling against the soul!..

According to this interpretation, it can be said that the images that are reflected on our eyes and hearts during daily affairs can cause confusion in our minds and keep our minds busy; we might not feel peaceful and not take pleasure from worshipping. We might even worship by struggling against our soul. However, despite everything, there will be no slackening and doubt in our worshipping. We know that we worship because it is the order of our Lord not because we take spiritual pleasure and peace. Our duty is to fulfill the divine order without expecting anything.

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