Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Prayer or Something Like It

public_prayerPrayer...or Something Like It

We’ve all been there. The sun is past high noon and you know you won’t get home until after sunset. You’re at [school, work, college, public place] and look around frantically. But, no matter what you do, you can’t find a place to offer Zuhr.

You murmur something in frustration.

You ignore it; put it off. You rationalize that you can combine Zuhr with Asr because [place excuse here]. But pretty soon, you realize it’s now Asr time and there’s no escape. Now you’re in a dilemma. The sun is making a mad dash for the horizon. You curse daylights saving time. (Lousy farmers). As the seconds slip by, you realize the inevitable; it’s now or never.

At this junction, people typically fall into three categories.

Category 1: “Hey that bench looks pretty good, off in the corner.” You decide standing up and bowing down isn’t all that crucial to prayer, and offer your prayer sitting down on a bench, hoping no one notices you bobbing back and forth like rocking chair. You figure, at least you offered your prayer in some capacity, call it a day, and move on.

Category 2: “I’m usually really good on my prayers. If I’m late one day, it’s not the end of the world. Today is just ridiculously busy, I’ll offer my prayers first thing when I get home.” Then, you get home, and guiltily offer a hurried prayer, while combining Maghrib and Isha—thereby defeating the whole point of praying five separate times a day.

Category 3: “Time to put that prayer mat Sadr MKA USA gave me to good use.” You find a corner, bust out your pocket prayer mat, and offer your salaah like a man. You don’t care who looks at you, or who stops and stares. You realize that this is an excellent form of tabligh, and you feel a sense of pride that your fear of Allah is greater than your fear of what people will think of you for praying in public. Then you go about your day, don’t mind daylight savings, and thank the next farmer you see.

To be sure, category 3 is definitely prayer. Category 1 and category 2 is “something like it.” In the end, none of us are accountable to one another. We are only accountable to Almighty Allah. With the intense and increasing emphasis Huzoor (aba) has placed on prayer as our only weapon against evil, as our only solution for success, next time you find yourself staring at the sun as it makes that mad dash across the sky, ask yourself…what category am I?

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