Voices of Islam (69 page)

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! Ashhadu an la ilaha illa’llah. Ashhadu an la ilaha illa’llah.

Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasul Allah. Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasul Allah. Haya ‘ala as-sala, Haya ‘ala as-sala.

Haya ‘ala al-falah. Haya ‘ala al-falah. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar!

La ilaha illa’llah.

God is most great. God is most great! God is most great. God is most great! I testify that there is no god but God. I testify that there is no god but God.

I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

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Voices of the Spirit

I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Come to prayer. Come to prayer.

Come to salvation. Come to salvation. God is most great. God is most great! There is no god but God.
4

At this time, the second mosque, the mosque now known as the Mosque of the Prophet, was being constructed in Medina. It is inter- esting to know that Muslims originally prayed in the direction of Jerusalem.
5
Bilal, an African who had been a slave in Mecca and en- dured great torture for his conversion to Islam, was chosen by the Prophet Muhammad to be the fi to make the call announcing the fi daily prayers. And so, today, as the sun rises and sets at ever- changing moments around the globe, the call to prayer could be said to be continuous—with one slightly overlapping the next as the earth journeys around the sun.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank Mr. Akram Safadi of Lebanon and Mr. Adnan Bogary of Saudi Arabia for their invaluable assistance in preparing this chapter.

NOTES

The verses from the Qur’an were taken from the translation made by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Washington D.C., 1946 edition, as well as A. J. Arberry,
The Quran Interpreted
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964).

This chapter first appeared in
Parabola,
spring 1994, 61–65. It is reproduced with slight modifi in this volume with the permission of the editors of
Parabola.

1. The phrase, ‘‘Call of Abraham,’’ comes from a statement by the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin, Ibn ‘Abbas, and is found in the Qur’an commentary or
   Tafsir
   of Tabari: vol. 10, Surat al-Hajj 22:27.
   

2. These phrases repeated by the pilgrim in response to Abraham’s Call are known as the
   Talbiya.
   The
   Talbiya
   is found in an authentic
   hadith
   (prophetic saying) reported by Muslim and others from Jabir ibn ‘Abdallah al-Ansari. See
   Sahih Muslim,
   ed., Muhammad Fuad ‘Abd al-Baqi (Cairo: Dar Ihya’ al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya 1374/1954– 1955), vol. 2, 886, hadith no. 1218.
   

3. Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac are buried in Hebron, below the spot where a mosque stands today. It is interesting to add that Hagar (
   Hajar
   in Arabic) and Ishmael (
   Isma‘il
   ) are buried in Mecca at one side of the Ka‘ba in a spot known as
   Hijr Isma‘il
   (The Lap of Ishmael). ‘‘Abraham’’ in Arabic is
   Ibrahim.
   

   Abraham’s Call
   5
   

4. Martin Lings,
   Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
   (Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1991), 130–131.
   

5. Ibid., 137. A short time later, another verse of the Qur’an was revealed (Qur’an 2:144), which changed the direction of prayer toward the ‘‘Inviolable Mosque’’ (
   al-Masjid al-Haram
   ) in Mecca.
   

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‌

P
RAYER AT THE
K
A
‘
BA

•

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore

Oh Lord, the orange cat lying asleep on the shoe rack outside the Ka‘ba

looked tranquil, lean from living wild in Mecca, but still cat-like and sweet-faced—

surely some of this peacefulness could come to me?

Oh Lord, You raise up giant roof-beams in the world and

hurl great foundations as deep as the seas—

I am only your creation of flesh and bone,

but surely some of those depths and heights could be mine?

Oh Allah, I sit here facing Your House on earth, beseeching Your Grace,

seeking Your Face,

my own not good enough in this life,

my own face a combination of lusty panther and

awkward ostrich in this life,

yet I’m grateful for its miraculous properties in facing the world,

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Voices of the Spirit

especially the eyes—close them and light spreads,

open them and miracles appear—

especially Your stark square of black cloth rising endlessly up into the night in front of me now

but Your Face, Lord, could I catch a

glimpse of it at least?

A white owl flies in the night somewhere, its impassive face and saucer eyes

fleeing through the air.

Is this my face, Lord, or Your Face

searching everywhere?

NOTE

This poem first appeared in Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore,
Mecca/Medina Time- Warp.
Reprinted from a Zilzal Press chapbook, by permission from the author.

3
‌

T
HE
I
MPORTANCE AND
M
EANING OF
P
RAYER IN
I
SLAM

•

Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

Prayer is one of the central elements of Islamic practice and worship. Indeed, it is the second of the Five Pillars of Islam and, along with the testimony of faith, the pilgrimage to Mecca, fasting the month of Ramadan, and paying the poor tax, forms the essential framework of religious life for Muslims. More than that, the observance of the ritual prayer forms the framework of each Muslim’s day, from the predawn morning prayer to the night prayer that precedes sleep.

Prayer, in the ritual sense, is an obligation of the faith, to be performed five times a day by adult Muslims. According to Islamic law, prayers have a variety of obligations and conditions of observance. However, beyond the level of practice, there are spiritual conditions and aspects of prayer which represent its essence.

WHAT IS PRAYER IN ISLAM?

In the Holy Qur’an, God says:

I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.

(Qur’an 51:56)

Thus, prayer first and foremost is the response to this Divine directive to worship the Creator. Prayer represents the individual’s affirmation of servant- hood before the Lord of Creation and submission to His Omnipotent Will. It also represents a willing acknowledgment of our weakness and neediness by seeking Divine Grace, Mercy, Abundance, and Forgiveness. Prayer, then, is a willful, directed action by the believer, seeking direct, unmediated commu- nication with God, for Muslims believe that every human being is of interest

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Voices of the Spirit

to the Divine. It also represents a concrete manifestation of the Islamic con- ception of freewill, in that the decision to pray is one that must be made by each individual. In this way, prayer is a uniquely ‘‘human’’ form of worship, for all other creatures submit without question to God’s Will and are engaged in His praise, glorification, and remembrance, as the Holy Qur’an asserts:

and there is not a thing but hymneth His praise; but ye understand not their praise.

(Qur’an 17:44)

Prayer, by its very nature, is a form of request or entreaty, and thus requires the full conscious participation of the one praying, with will, intellect, body, and soul. The one engaged in prayer is in direct connection with the Creator Who hears everything the supplicant says and responds—though not necessarily in the affi each request. This is the concrete manifestation of God’s role as The Hearer, The Aware, and The Responsive, which represent 3 of the 99 Holy Names and Attributes of God that form the basis of the Islamic conception of the Divine.
1

In Islam, there are two forms of prayer. One has ritual, formal require- ments and manners, which are essential to its correct observance. This is called
Salat.
The other form is supplicatory prayer, and in its more general sense, represents an open-ended conversation with God, which may occur at any time or place, with few restrictions or requirements. It is called
du‘a.