Surah Al Ma’arij (70)

ً ‫ﻖ َھﻠُﻮ‬
١٩ ‫ﻋﺎ‬ َ ‫۞ إِﱠن ٱ ْ ِﻹﻧ‬
َ ‫ﺴٰـَﻦ ُﺧِﻠ‬
Indeed, humankind was created impatient:

ً ۭ ‫ﺸﱡﺮ َﺟُﺰو‬
٢٠ ‫ﻋﺎ‬ ‫إِذَا َﻣ ﱠ‬
‫ﺴ ﮫ ُ ٱﻟ ﱠ‬
distressed when touched with evil,

‫َوإِذَا َﻣ ﱠ‬
ً ‫ﺴﮫُ ٱْﻟَﺨْﯿُﺮ َﻣﻨُﻮ‬
٢١ ‫ﻋﺎ‬
and withholding when touched with good—

َ ‫إِﱠﻻ ٱْﻟُﻤ‬
٢٢ ‫ﺼ ِﻠّﯿَﻦ‬
except those who pray,

َ ‫ﻋﻠَٰﻰ‬
٢٣ ‫ﺻَﻼﺗِِﮭْﻢ َدآﺋُِﻤﻮَن‬ َ ‫ٱﻟﱠِﺬﯾَﻦ ُھْﻢ‬
consistently performing their prayers;

‫َوٱﻟﱠِﺬﯾَﻦ ﻓِٓﻰ أ َْﻣَٰﻮِﻟِﮭْﻢ َﺣ ۭ ﱞ‬

٢٥ ‫ﺴﺎ ٓﺋِِﻞ َوٱْﻟَﻤْﺤُﺮوِم‬

٢٦
and who ˹firmly˺ believe in the Day of Judgment;

In these verses, God talks about Prayer as a remedy for impatience, distress and
greed among other diseases of the heart.
But if you really look within yourself - do you honestly feel this is the kind of effect
that prayer has on your life? Sadly, probably not…

So the question is –
how come these kinds of imperfections are not addressed by OUR Prayer?
So..Prayer is meant to be the utmost exercise of reflection (tadabbur). And there
can be two kinds of reflection - spiritual, and intellectual. But do we reflect?

For you to be able to reflect, you need to be able to think clearly. And for you to
be able to think clearly, you need to not be distracted or thinking about other
matters. And God - in His infinite wisdom - has created this institution - where you
have to leave everything of the world behind.

You can not look at your text messages, you cannot scroll through your phone,
you cannot talk to anyone else, you cannot look around, you cannot even make
unnecessary bodily motions - you’re physically restrained in your situation.
Literally. And it should be the perfect opportunity to genuinely leave the world
behind and truly reflect.

And if you’re blessed to reach that state - if you become a person of reflection - it
starts cleansing the way you think, and it cleanses your heart.

Prayer can do that if it is a conscious exercise. But how come our Salah is not
doing that? Because it’s missing reflection.
If anyone of us really sets any spiritual goals for ourselves - this should be our real
life-long project that takes a priority.
Our character transformation should be in the prayer. That should be our spiritual
healing. This should be our ultimate project.

And God knows - it is so incredibly difficult for us to turn everything else off once
we stand in front of Him and declare ‘Allahu Akbar’.
Physically we all leave the world behind. Physically we are in the same line, doing
the same motions. But internally - we are all on different pages.
But the sad reality is that the majority of us - in our hearts and minds - are still
continuing whatever we just physically left behind.

But then why does God follow all this up by talking about the people who share
their wealth with the poor?

Because.. if you are really a person of reflection - you will realize that your time
on this Earth is limited, and you start thinking about the rights of others.
And you will want to make the right investments. And you will remember: there
are rights in the money you have earned - that belongs to others.

To the beggar, and to the mahroom, i.e the poor, i.e the one who does not ask.
But if they do not ask, how can you know that they are in need? You have to be in
touch with people around you - your family first and foremost, and your
neighbors - and be aware of what is going on in your community. So in a sense,
you could say that this ayah also encourages a sense of community… because you
cannot know who is truly in need, unless you know the needs of the people in
your community.

So if you do these two things - you do your Salah, and you give your Sadaqa - it is
your own personal proof that you are among those ‘who firmly believe in the Day
of Judgement’. Salah - because you have to give up your time to make Salah. And
your time is possibly your greatest asset. Often more valuable than money. And
your next valuable asset is your money. And you give it up because you know and
believe that a much better wealth is coming your way.

---

In the same Surah, God also says that the faithful are those who keep their trusts
(70:32) and are honest in their testimony (70:33)

Salah is an amanah - a promise to God; trust with God. And if we truly realized
that - we would understand the value of all promises. We would understand that
we have a binding agreement with God that is bigger than this world. And
because of that - we should hold ourselves to a different ethic that is on a higher
level. We should be very cautious about honesty and dishonesty in every single
situation we encounter because we are answerable to God. Business ethic,
entrepreneurial ethic, work ethic, corporate ethic - all of it should be held to the
highest standard. And it can be really really difficult, especially if family and loved
ones are involved. But in Islam, does family come first? No. Truth has to come
first.

These are the traits that should be the consequences of our prayer.
Our prayer should change our personality.
And that is why God says that prayer is the remedy.
SIDENOTE

God addresses people’s lack of reflection in two different ways in the Quran:

1. ‘Do they not then reflect on the Quran? Or are there locks upon their
hearts?’ (47:24)

In this verse, God addresses the kind of reflection that is spiritual. And in this case
- the reflection of the Quran is not there because there is a spiritual problem.
Something is wrong with the heart. But if they only knew - the reflection of the
Quran would actually address their spiritual problem.

2. On the other hand, in the verse ‘Do they not then reflect on the Quran? Had
it been from anyone other than Allah, they would have certainly found in it many
inconsistencies.’ (4:82)

God says - if you truly pondered over it - you would realize that it is the truth. This
is the result of an intellectual reflection, a thought process.

To bring this into more simpler terms:

So instead of just glancing at the verses of the Quran as you read through the
words, God calls us to reflect. And if we truly reflect - we would dive into the
verses and think more deeply…what are the lessons for me to learn here?

Hope this is helpful

LOVE U