THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER

When we perform our daily prayers, we are not just doing stretching exercises or aerobics. We don’t
stand up for prayer just because we want something to do either. We stand for prayer to Allah, because we
Allah told us to “Established prayer”, Allah said: “……..and offer prayers perfectly [ Iqamat as Salah]
verily, prayer prevents from all kinds of evil, illegal and sinful deeds [ Qur’an : 29 : 45] . We need the s salat to
help keep our hearth pure and free from bad thought. So we had better take it seriously.
When we are making salat, we are presenting our selves to Allah officially. Although we can’t see Allah,
He can see us. Do you remember who Allah is? Allah is the power that created everything in the world and
universe. We are like nothing compared to Him. We are less than nothing. If we don’t take our salat seriously,
then we are really insulting Allah.
The bless Prophet once remarked, “Allah will not count the prayer of a person whose heart is not in it.
And since Allah said that giving up salat is the same as not believe in him, then we don’t want to make a
careless prayer that Allah won’t accept. We might as well be doing nothing.
Our belief in Allah must be true. Even as our salat must be right. The word for belief in Arabic is
“Iman“. By concentrating on doing our salat well, we show that our belief is true and solid. We defeat the
Satan completely. When we pray the right way, then our belief actually increases even more – making us come
even closer to our Creator.
Salat is such an important part of our life that we don’t want to neglect it or waste it. As you learned
before, by doing the salat we get sins forgiven as if we were washing dirt from our bodies. Don’t take the salat
as a mere game because it’s really one of the most important things you will ever need in this life.

A. Reading Section
Task 1: Answer the following questions
1. Why should we consider our prayer important?
2. What is prayer?
3. How many times do we perform prayer a day?
4. What did Allah say about salat / Prayer?
5. What are we doing to Allah when we are making prayer?
6. How is a person whose heart is not in prayer?
7. Is prayer as an obligation for Moslem?
8. Can Allah see us wherever and whenever we are?
9. How can we defeat the Satan?
10. May we neglect or waste the prayer?