T h e Fo u r Pill a rs
43
One day the Prophet called on Bilal to deliver the
adhan
. These
were the words that came to the Prophet’s lips:
Bilal, make ready for prayer; and comfort us thereby (
Abu
Dawud
).
The ideal way to pray is not by reciting the entire Quran once,
or even twice in the course of the prayer. The most important
feature of prayer is one’s pondering over the verses of the Quran
as one recites them. One who treats recitation of the Quran as an
outpouring of feeling for God, who remembers God as he repeats
His words, cannot possibly recite the whole of the Quran once or
twice in a day. Only one who mechanically repeats words learnt by
heart can do that. Sometimes the Prophet would spend one whole
night reciting a single chapter of the Quran. It is related by ‘A’ishah
that when the Prophet was told about certain people who recited
the whole Quran once or twice in a single night, he replied, “They
recite, but they do not really recite at all.” (
Ahmad
). “I used to stay
up the whole night with the Prophet,” ‘A’ishah continues. “He
used to read the chapters Al-Baqarah, Al-Imran, andAn-Nisa only.
When he reached a verse in which there was some warning, he used
to seek refuge and invoke God’s protection. When he reached a
verse which contained good tidings, he would show eagerness and
pray to God.”
Z
akat
Zakat
, in essence, is a form of sacrifice. Its purpose is to fulfil God’s
desire for a society in which people are ready to give rather than
take; in which people seek opportunities to benefit rather than
exploit others; in short, everyone should feel responsible for the
welfare of his fellow men.
Zakat
, designed to create a spirit of
social co-operation, makes each individual fully aware of his having
duties rather than rights in this world.
The great importance of
zakat
in the religious system is evident
from an exchange which took place between the Prophet and
