Hafssa El-Bouhamouchi, 27, is from Germany with Moroccan origin. She is enrolled in the Madina Institute Bachelor of Arts in Usul Al Din Program, together with her husband. They came to Cape Town in order to learn and study at Madina Institute, with the intention of transmitting Islamic knowledge in Germany.

The Benefits and Virtue of Prayer

The month of Ramadan is the month when Allah, Creator of all the worlds, revealed the last message to the Seal of all Prophets through the Angel Jibriel. A message that as Muslims accept as the basis of our way of life, our way of acting and our way of thinking; we align our existence with. The entire month of Ramadan can be viewed as a reminder and serve as an opportunity to renew this connection. But how do you internalize the message of the Quran? Through prayer, by not only reciting the Quran, but by reading and internalizing it, in the presence of the One.

 

Prayer plays a special role within the acts of worship. For this reason, when we say Allahu Akbar we bid farewell to our worldly worries and enter into the presence of Allah. This means that we do not only remember our Creator but enter into a direct conversation with Him in which He answers us when we praise Him. When we testify that we serve Allah alone, Allah answers “this is between Me and My servant and My servant shall receive what he asks for” (Sahih Muslim).

 

Allah has prescribed prayer for us and every form of worship has a purpose in it and the act itself is not an end in itself. The movements in prayer, the ritual purification before prayer, the recitation and the remembrance in prayer all these parts that make up prayer are attributed to a single goal: God-consciousness. Therefore, Allah describes those who attain God-consciousness in their prayers as successful (23:1-2).

 

So the advantages of prayer are not only in prayer itself but also in the process of the prayer. A believer who consciously worships Allah five times a day will try to keep away from sins whether they be small or large, conscious or unconscious. The awareness of the omnipotence of Allah ultimately leads to the believer improving his character and restraining his self from evil. This is already a success in this world and the success in the hereafter is much greater. The Prophet said: “The first thing for which the slave will be held accountable for on the day of Resurrection is his prayer; if it is good (by performing it properly and on time), then all his affairs will be good, and if it is ruined (by neglecting it), then all his affairs will be ruined.” [At-Tabaraani].

 

By

Hafssa El-Bouhamouchi