The Value of Prayer
(Muhammad Arsalan Ilyas, karachi,Pakistan)
"More things are wrought by
prayers, than this world dreams of..."
These are the famous words of an English poet Lord Tennyson. Indeed it is found
many times that when all human resources fail, payers help us.
Let us suppose a man is in great trouble, he starts praying. Now, his prayers
may not make his troubles vanish into thin air as if by magic but he will
certainly get extra strength to fight these difficulties and he will probably
come out successful. The moral strength, which he gained from prayers, is the
great blessing of Allah سبحانہ وتعالی .
Some people, nowadays, look lightly upon prayers. Regular prayers, offered at
fixed times, are an excellent method of teaching discipline. Salat offered in
congregation, like the salat on Fridays, teach fellow-feeling and the ideal
equality of men before Allah سبحانہ وتعالی which are the valuable lessons for
life. When people go to attend mass prayers, they feel that all men are equal
before their Creator and that it is their duty to help their fellow human beings
in their time of need.
That is so far as mass prayers are concerned but even prayers offered
individually in the seclusion of the house help us in the same way. A person who
bows down in salat before the Almighty must learn humility. He realizes that he
will have to stand before his Creator again for his prayers and so he will be
afraid of doing anything wrong in his day to day activities of life.
The greatest good of salat is the supreme feeling of peace that one gets after
offering one's prayer. Allah سبحانہ وتعالی is forgiving, and thus forgiveness is
a divine virtue. Faith in Allah سبحانہ وتعالی develops faith in one's own self
and enables us to live in the world better than we could do without such faith.
It is said that:
"To err is human, no doubt, but to forgive is divine."