QV09.....Importance of prayers

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We were discussing the essentials of Islam. The holy Quran lays lot of emphasis on regular prayers or Salat or Namaz as they are called.

Quran reminds how Allah had asked Moses to pray

“Innaneee Anal laahu laaa ilaaha illaa Ana fa'budnee wa aqimis-salaata lizikree”

"Verily, I am Allah. There is no god but I: So, serve thou Me (only), and establish regular prayer for celebrating My praise.” (Quran 20.14).

These prayers are more of thanks giving and praising God rather than asking for any specific favors.

Islam mandates praying at different times of the day. The timing of these prayers is clubbed with the movement of the Sun. Generally, they are performed at five times of the day namely

1. Just before sunrise

2. At Noon

3. Evening

4. Just after dusk

5. At night

It is interesting to note that ancient Indian tradition also mandated prayers every day at different times of the day. These times are also associated with the movement of the Sun and they match exactly with the first three times of the day as listed in Quran, i.e. just before sunrise, at noon, and evening.

These three prayers are called tri Sandhya Vandana – literally meaning prayers conducted at three junctures. Normally, these prayers are meant as thanks giving, as repentance for mistakes done, and for the peace of the entire world. They normally don’t have much personal petition to the God.


In Quran, Allah says that

“Balaa man aslama wajhahoo lillaahi wa huwa muhsinun falahooo ajruhoo 'inda rabbihee wa laa khawfun 'alaihim wa laa hum yahzanoon”

“Whoever submits his whole self to Allah and is a doer of good, he will get his reward with his Lord; on such shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve” (Quran 2.112)

People who are familiar with the Indian scripture namely the Bhagavad Gita would immediately see a one to one correspondence between this promise of God in Quran and the promise made by God in Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita says

“Focus your mind on me. Be my devotee, Worship only me. Surrender to me. I promise you that you will reach me. Because you are most dear to me.

So, forget about all natural tendencies, and whole heartedly surrender to me. I will absolve you of all your sins. Don’t grieve” (Bhagavad Gita 18.65, 18.66)

Apart from religious faith, prayer also has other reasons to work

· Prayer fills a person with confidence that someone would always be there to help him in his difficulty. That relieves lot of stress.

· A person who prays regularly would think twice before he commits a blunder, since he feels that some superior force would always be watching him.

· Prayer done properly can also serve as meditation and can result in tranquility of the mind. Here, the regular prayer helps in putting the mind in a proper condition. Even the specific time, duration, and so on, all help. So irrespective of your being a believer or not, prayer would have its own effect on the mind.

Quranic verses episode 9

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Based on verses from Holy Quran. The interpretation is by Dr.King. The Quran recitations are from various sites such as Quran.net, Quran411.com and so on.