Why 5 times a day?
Now you may ask the reason for prayer to be prescribed for us at various times of the day. It is said, this is according to the practices of some of the Prophets of Allah. The Dawn or Suboh Prayer is said to have been offered by Nabi Adam Alaihi Salam, the Noon or Zuhor Prayer by Nabi Ibrahim Alaihi Salam, the Afternoon or Asar Prayer by Nabi Sulaiman Alaihi Salam, the Sunset or Maghrib Prayer by Nabi Isa Alaihi Salam and the Night or Isyak Prayer by Nabi Musa Alaihi Salam.
The form and the sequence of the 'Call' for prayer may have differed during the time of the other prophets but the prayers of the five stipulated periods were of the same form as they are today.
There are many reasons given for the varying number of Rakaats in prayer at the prescribed periods. It is indeed very rational Allah the Almighty has endowed man with many blessings. The greatest of them is the blessing known as the "Five Senses" or the "five kinds of knowledge" or Hawassul-Khams. These are really the five kinds of knowledge we derive through our five senses of Smell, Taste, Touch, Sight and Hearing.
Through our Sense of Smell we learn of things by their sweet fragrance or their foul odour. Because we have accepted these two gifts from Allah, we offer two Rakaats of Suboh Prayer at Dawn in gratitude for His blessings.
Through our Sense of Taste we learn of things by their taste of sweetness, sourness, bitterness or astrigence. In gratitude for this blessing we offer four Rakaats of Zuhor Prayer at Noon.
We gain much knowledge through our Sense of Touch. We learn of things by four responses to touch - Hot, Cold, Hard or Soft. In gratitude for this blessing we offer four Rakaats of Asar Prayer in the Afternoon.
We also gain much knowledge through Sight which acts in three directions - Front, Right or Left. This is a great blessing Allah has bestowed upon us, and in gratitude we offer three Rakaats of Maghrib Prayer at Sunset.
Knowledge comes to us through our Sense of Hearing. We hear from all four directions. In gratitude for this blessings we offer four Rakaats of Isyak Prayer each night.
Thus the time and the varying numbers of Rakaats in prayer are the realistic and rationalistic teachings of Islam. Therefore let us follow the teachings of Islam and be reasonable in our practise for it leads to peace, progress and the prosperity of the nation.
taken from Understand Islam Series (6) leaflets entitled "Rationalistic Teachings of Islam" - published by Islamic Dakwah Centre, Brunei Darussalam
The form and the sequence of the 'Call' for prayer may have differed during the time of the other prophets but the prayers of the five stipulated periods were of the same form as they are today.
There are many reasons given for the varying number of Rakaats in prayer at the prescribed periods. It is indeed very rational Allah the Almighty has endowed man with many blessings. The greatest of them is the blessing known as the "Five Senses" or the "five kinds of knowledge" or Hawassul-Khams. These are really the five kinds of knowledge we derive through our five senses of Smell, Taste, Touch, Sight and Hearing.
Through our Sense of Smell we learn of things by their sweet fragrance or their foul odour. Because we have accepted these two gifts from Allah, we offer two Rakaats of Suboh Prayer at Dawn in gratitude for His blessings.
Through our Sense of Taste we learn of things by their taste of sweetness, sourness, bitterness or astrigence. In gratitude for this blessing we offer four Rakaats of Zuhor Prayer at Noon.
We gain much knowledge through our Sense of Touch. We learn of things by four responses to touch - Hot, Cold, Hard or Soft. In gratitude for this blessing we offer four Rakaats of Asar Prayer in the Afternoon.
We also gain much knowledge through Sight which acts in three directions - Front, Right or Left. This is a great blessing Allah has bestowed upon us, and in gratitude we offer three Rakaats of Maghrib Prayer at Sunset.
Knowledge comes to us through our Sense of Hearing. We hear from all four directions. In gratitude for this blessings we offer four Rakaats of Isyak Prayer each night.
Thus the time and the varying numbers of Rakaats in prayer are the realistic and rationalistic teachings of Islam. Therefore let us follow the teachings of Islam and be reasonable in our practise for it leads to peace, progress and the prosperity of the nation.
taken from Understand Islam Series (6) leaflets entitled "Rationalistic Teachings of Islam" - published by Islamic Dakwah Centre, Brunei Darussalam
|
|
4 comments:
aslmkm....
i would also like to add the 5 times of prayers also serves as a remembrance 2 us in that day....to constantly remember allah at each time of the day...so when we deter abit from the straight path, the solat makes us come back or into align with that path again....
...we start the day in allahs name and end the day in allahs name...
...also in solat we also ask for forgiveness and glorifying allah...
allah has blessed us with our solat so we can stay on the path he has chosen for us and also with the wudhuk that we take, it cleans us and takes away some of our sins...how merciful allah is 2 bestow this upon his servants...if im not mistaken...it is said that on the day of judgement, there are those whose parts of the body that we take the wudhuk with will shine...and if im not mistaken, "bilal" one of the followers of the prophets always is in the state of maintaining his wudhuk and retakes it soon after the wudhuk is "batal"....
may allah forgive me for anything i have said wrong and may readers of this site be given the berkat, hidayah and knowledge to implement what has been said....
can i suggest that what would be great for this site is a;
q&a forum and a
chatter box
...so viewers of the site can communicate with each other????
:) ...may allah bless the people who made this site possible...love the post on this tho...never knew that additional info on solat...
i would also like to add a very interesting view on the solat...
does anybody realise that we renew our testament of faith when we do our solat during our "tahyat" awal and akhir???
so throughtout the day, 10 times a day... we constantly renew our testament to allah and his prophet(pbuh)...
interesting isnt it?? :)
may allah forgive me for anything i have said wrong...
Really appreciate this post coz only now, after 30 years, I get to know the "hikmah" behind the "rakaats" in our solat. Rahsia Allah, indeed, which we all have to find, by God's will..
Post a Comment