Niyyat of Salat, Intention of Prayer

Do you not see that all those who are in the heavens and on earth do tasbih of Him? And the birds when they stretch their wings to fly (also do tasbih of Him). Each one of them has its own way of salat and its own way of tasbih. And Allah is aware of what they do. (Al Nur:41)

To understand Allah you have to have an open mind.

The Sunnah of Salat, should we do it? Where should we do it? How should we do it?

When I first came to the United States, I met some muslims there and they were doing something else and they were saying, “You are wrong.” I said, “No, this is how we do it.” In my country, they pray sunnah first, then farz, then second sunnah, and then etc, etc. And I see some other, they just pray the farz. They do not pray the sunnah. But later on, I found out that the Prophet (peace be upon him), the sunnahs, he prayed mostly in his house because he said, “Do not turn your houses into graves.” Because there are no prayers done in the graves. That is a good thing. But of course his house was next to the mosque so he would pray 2 rak’at [cycles of standing, kneeling/sitting and prostrating during formal Islamic prayer] of sunnah or whatever he said to make sure that the house is also prayed in, and then he goes to mosque and they pray altogether, and I have been talking about salat, and that is how it is. And maybe those people are praying sunnah in their homes, but because I saw that in my country, we always pray in the mosque or in the house, where we were praying four sunnahs, four farz, two sunnahs, this that, we pray everything.

Ihsan, the Niyyat of Salat

So the important thing is that your intention and then that Allah is looking into your hearts and your actions. By praying (doing salat), in a way, you are proving your intention that you do accept Allah as God. And salat is actually good, if you do as you are supposed to do. How are we supposed to do? Jibril alayhi salaam [peace be upon him] or somebody else asked the Prophet (pbuh), “What is Ihsan?” Ihsan means good deed, praying to Allah as you see Him.”

Someone asked, “Do you mean ‘As if you see Him’?

“As if.” When you say “as if”, which means that you do not see. You have to see Allah there. They say “as if” because they think, “We cannot see Allah, why try?” So they say, “But we cannot see Allah.” And Prophet (pbuh) did not say, “Yes, you can.” But he said, “Even if you cannot see Allah, know that Allah sees you.”

How to stay focused and do sajda in salat

Now, when you do salat, you have to be, you have to know that at the end of the sajjadah (prayer rug), Allah is standing there. You have to assume like that, if you do not see Allah. And then you can see Allah with your heart, through your mind, etc, etc, around you, so when you do sajda [prostration], put your head right onto His knee. Does Allah have knees? No, assume. Yes, He has knees. All your knees are His knees.

The number of rak’ats in salat

So, what else? And Allah did not say, “This many rak’ats” or this that. There is nothing like that in the Qur’an. He explained only one rak’at. Number is not the important part. But because Allah said, “Aqim al salat [Establish a system of connection and devotion to Allah (a command)],” to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), he established this rak’at business (how many times you are going to go up and down, up and down).

The Joy of Salat, Doing It The Right Way

So, when you do salat, when you are up in the heavens and then you are in the first heaven, second heaven, third heaven, etc, etc, when you are doing salat, when salat brings you into the presence of Allah, then that is the right way to do it. And then that will give you joy in your heart.

Salat as a farz, obligation

But when you do salat just because you have to do it, because it is a must, then you say, “When I do salat, I think of all other things.” That is because you are not ready for salat, because you need to clean up, cut attachments to your nafs [ego], clear yourself, clear your mind, open the channels to the heart, to the brain, and then when you say, “Allahu Akbar [Allah is Greater than Great],” it means you are taking off.

Qur’an References

“Surely, I am Allah. There is no other ilah [higher power] but Me. Connect and devote yourself to Me, and establish salat [a system of connection and devotion to Allah] by doing zikr [remembrance] of Me.” (Ta Ha:14)

“The mu’minun [believers] are none but those whose hearts feel awe when Allah is mentioned [zikr], and whose iman [certainty of conviction and connection to Allah] is increased when ayats [verses] of Allah are recited to them, and those who are happy with what their Rab [Lord] decides for them, who establish salat [connection to Allah], and who share what We have provided for them. Those are the ones who are truly mu’minun. They have degrees (of closeness) with their Rab, and absolution, and a generous provision.” (Al Anfal:2-4)

This is an edited excerpt of the Online Saturday Sohbet given on January 7, 2012 by Murshid Shaykh Taner Vargonen Ansari and published on sufiview.com on December 27, 2021. The translation of the Qur’an verses are also from Murshid Shaykh Taner Vargonen Ansari.

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