Harun Yahya
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ping Allah. When they perform the prayer, they have no idea that it
could bring them closer to Allah. Their minds are too involved in
their daily affairs to remember Allah and praise Him. In the Qur'an,
Allah gives a warning to those who are neglectful of their prayers:
So woe to those who do the prayer, and are forgetful of their
prayer, those who show off… (Surat al-Ma'un: 4-6)
This means that they delay the prayer outside of its due time or
even don't do it at all. However, although the Surah doesn't refer to
it, intelligent people take warning of being distracted in the prayer.
Distracted people make the mistake of thinking that they are
doing something for Allah without fearing Him, thinking about Him
and without sensing His presence or nearness. The behaviour that
will bring a person nearer to Allah consists of sin-
cerity in performing prayers, fear of Allah and
obedience and humility before Him.
Some people have a very limited con-
cept of prayer thinking that it is sufficient
to obey a few of Allah's commands in
the course of the day. But according to
the Qur'an, worship is not limited only
to religious duties like prayer, fasting,
pilgrimage and giving sadaqah.
Worship means service. That is, it con-
sists of a person's attitude and state of mind and
everything that he does and says as a slave of
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