Day 4

Sahih International

And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive [to Allah ]

Yusuf Ali translation:

Nay, seek (God's) help with patient perseverance and prayer: It is indeed hard, except to those who bring a lowly spirit.



Sahih International

O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.

Yusuf Ali translation:

O ye who believe! seek help with patient perseverance and prayer; for God is with those who patiently persevere.


In these two wonderful verses from Surat al-Baqarah, Allah has some extremely important advice for the believers, and indeed all of humanity. The key to understanding these verses is to understand why Salah or prayer, is so important, and understanding what exactly is meant by the term sabr. We will touch on the importance of salah today and then focus on the meaning of sabr in our next reflection inshAllah.

So why is salah, or prayer mentioned here rather than anything else? Salah is the most important type of worship. It is the basis of the connection between a person and his or her Lord. It should also be noted that God is saying "Seek help" or "seek assistance" through patience and prayer. Of course, in Surah al-Fatiha, we affirm so many times on a daily basis that we seek assistance only from God. This is why prayer, whether in the form of the ritual salah, or in the form of supplication, which was the linguistic meaning of the word "salah," is a fundamental means of seeking the help and assistance that we all need. Whenever the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, used to face a difficult situation or feel anxiety or worry, he would turn to prayer. He (saw) would say to Bilal, his close companion who would call the people to prayer, "comfort us with the call to prayer." In the lives of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and people of faith, the prayer is a respite from concerns and anxiety, and not just another item on our list of tasks which only adds to our anxiety.

It is interesting to note that one of the reasons that the prayer does not always contain the same power for us, the power to comfort, to strengthen, to transform, that it is meant to have when it is done according to its full potential, is the lack of khushu' -- of humble submissiveness of the heart. Many of us, especially those of us who feel we are busy and pressed by many different obligations, would have to admit that many times even when we do take a break for prayer, sometimes our heart and/or our mind, are not fully present. As the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, informed us, when that is the case, the prayer will not have the intended effect. It is not just a matter of going through the motions on the outside, it is a matter of being truly present in the ways that matter most. The verse here tells us clearly that this should be no surprise, that seeking help consistently and fully in prayer is truly difficult, except for the khaashi'een, those who are humbly submissive, or as Yusuf Ali translates it, bring a lowly spirit. If arrogance is the key spiritual disease, then we can see from the above that regular prayer is both a treatment for that disease which should lead to humility, but also in some ways we cannot truly benefit from the prayer without that humility. As far as I can tell, what this means is that spiritual progress is a process which takes time, and this might be a cause for us to appreciate the opportunity to come to prayer at least five times each day.


Questions for Reflection/Spiritual exercises:

What are some ways one can try to increase one's state of khushu' -- of humble submissiveness and concentration in prayer? What role might the ritual washing before prayer (wudu') play in this process? Other suggestions are to reflect upon the majesty and greatness of the One before whom you are standing, especially, but surely not only, while you are in prayer, and to focus on the reality of one's own actions and of being accountable to God for those actions. This humble submissiveness and concentration should, according to the scholars, be characterized by feelings of both hope and fear in the heart. Do you identify with that? Some people, especially in our culture and time, take issue with the notion of fear as an emotion one experiences when thinking about God. In any event, the scholars have emphasized that when doing a good deed one should primarily focus on hope and the mercy of God...hope is something of which I think we can all understand the importance.