Khamis, 29 Disember 2011

The First Step in Performing the Solah



I will try to explain the meaning of the words being said in the 'solah' so that we can understand what are being said and thus help us stay focus in our submission to Allah during all the actions that we do in our prayers . This is a sincere contribution from me to share the knowledge that I have, which is not absolute, and are still open for debate. If I make a mistake, please be frank and correct me for the good of us all. I will explain the meaning of the words and also to some extent on the grammar of the Arabic language.
For a start, let us look at the pronouncement or 'nawa'  in every solah. The 'nawa' for the pre dawn prayer or 'Subh' goes like this, أصلى فرض الصبح ركعتين اداء لله تعالى   The first word is أصلى.  The meaning of the Arabic أ  is 'me / I' and صلى to pray / prayed.  أصلى with ل  tashdid kasrah, is a present/future tense verb. صلى with ل  tashdid fathah is past tense verb or ماضي, with personal pronoun he (masculine) is hidden. Thus the meaning صلى is 'he prayed'. If there is no prefix ت, ي, ن, أ before the verb, and letter ل tashdid 'kasrah', it showed that it is in the present / future tense) or مضارع the Arabic term. If suffix م is put before صلى , it creates a noun to indicate the place of praying. Thus مصلى is a noun that means the place for praying. Other words produce are,  صلاة which means prayer, and the plural صلوات prayers. We always use the word صلى for the purpose of praying for Allah. We are recommended to pray for Prophet Muhammad, صلى الله على محمد  . This phrase is very common to every Muslims which is a prayer for Prophet Muhammad and is called صلوات which means 'May Allah Blessed Upon Him (Muhammad)'.

Sabtu, 10 Disember 2011

Three components of a perfect Solah

As a Muslim, the five daily prayers or solah is the pillar of faith or iman. In performing the solah, one must conforms the rules of solah, which are, adult or 'baligh', sound of mind and clean from small 'hadath' or big 'hadath' (this will be discussed at a later time). You must pray when the time for prayer comes, even if you are sick or travelling in any kind of transport or during a war.  There are several adjustments from the normal way of solah, to enable the performing of solah in any kind of situations. Islam is an open faith where you can ask almost anything and there is always the answer to every questions asked about the religion, after consulting the Quran and Sayings or 'hadith' of Muhammad the Prophet, unlike most other religions, where, the followers are not permitted to question freely.  Coming back to the three components of a solah, the first is your mind, then your actions and the last your words. These three components must go together and if one is missing, then the solah is unaccepted by Allah.  Your mind must be focus on the solah, because to muslims, you are in front of Allah. When you stand, bow, sit or prostrate your mind is never to be away from Allah's presence while at the same time your lips is saying the words of the solah which are no other then praising Allah as the Supreme Power, asking for His forgiveness and guidance, and also asking Allah's blessings onto Muhammad, the prophet and his families as well as to ourselves and fellow Muslims. There is no place for hatred, bad intentions, or wrong doings in Islam. It is a sin to ask Allah to do harm to other human beings, even if to our enemies, except the 'satan' which is the true enemy of human beings.