Abdullah Oduro – 5 Pillars Made Plain – Why do we pray

			Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all.
I'm Abdullah odo and welcome back. Why do we pray or why pray, we're going to sum it up into three
things for reflection, redemption, and renewal. And actuality it's in that sequence.
		

			reflection, you reflect over what has happened and reflect over things that may happen. But you're
pondering over the current situation, the past situation, you're thinking. redemption is an action
that emerges from that reflection, once you think about something, you're going to act on it. And
particularly redemption is one of the things amongst many thankfulness, or fear. redemption is one
of those seeking forgiveness, you felt bad about doing something. So you seek forgiveness because
you thought about it. And renewal is the conclusion of that once you sought forgiveness for
something, you renewed yourself, and you've had some type of spiritual rejuvenation, you sought
		

			forgiveness and you asked for God to forgive you to where the next time you're encountered with that
particular thing. You won't fall into it by the permission of Allah. This is actually mentioned
throughout the Quran and numerous verses. But what I want to talk about in particular, is that
what's happened with Prophet Moses, peace and blessings be upon him in the 20th chapter, verse
number 11, through 14, a lot of talks about when Moses was on his way back to Egypt, and he was with
his family in the cold blazing, blazing Blizzard, and he saw a fire from a distance, he told his
family stay here, I will go to this fire and perhaps use it with my staff and take a portion of that
		

			fire as a guide for us on our way back to Egypt. But Allah says, when he came to that blazing fire,
he was called out Oh, Moses, indeed, I am your Lord, take your sandals off for you are in the valley
of what is called Tour, which is Mount signing, Sinai, and I have chosen you. So listen to what is
about to be revealed. Verily, I am a law there is no god except me. Worship Me, by establishing the
prayer for my remembrance. So here we see that Allah firstly revealed themselves to set himself to
Moses, establishing who he is, and giving him a responsibility. So upon Moses, knowing that he has
been chosen as a prophet Now, what is the first thing that a lot tells him a lot tells him fat
		

			Buddha, and he worshipped me, the first pillar of Islam was akima salata and establish the prayer
second pillar of Islam, Why leave victory for my remembrance, and that is the 14th verse here. So
that's what we want to highlight on that when a lot chose him as a prophet. What's the first thing
that he told him, he told him about himself, who he was, gave him knowledge, and then gave him an
action plan, gave him a responsibility. So we see the first pillar of Islam is the knowledge. It's
the knowledge of Allah, and the acknowledgement of that. And then the action plan, which is
initially establishment of the prayer, to establish the prayer to pray. So what's the reason for
		

			that? Is reflection for my remembrance. So we say, reflection is recalling based on knowledge that
you have knowledge of a law, you reflect on his greatness. And the best time to do that is when you
have detached yourself. you've tuned out when you pray. So you remember God's greatness upon you
what you've done earlier in that day, and you thank him for that. You remember God's greatness upon
you how he is the partner, how he is the off forgiving, he forgives us for any shortcomings that we
may have. And you remember that and you ask Him for His forgiveness, with your undivided attention,
praying to Him, and that's the redemption. When you're done and you conclude with the prayer because
		

			of your hope, your fear, your trust, your love, all of these actions of the heart seeking
redemption. You have a spiritual renewal, you feel a little clean, you feel a little ease, it brings
you a form of salaam, peace. And that's the goal. And that's why we say Islam is submission and
surrender to the Creator. For means that peace is salvation, you obtain this peace, through
submission, you obtain this peace through prayer. That is why we pray.
		

			So when we look at this, consider this. The prayers in Islam are five, as we see the second pillar
of Islam is praying five times a day, throughout the span of a day. So throughout 24 hours, we have
five legislated prayers. Let's compare these five prayers to the amount of sins we commit
		

			more than
		

			On a 24 hour basis, so look at the ratio of sins compared to the prayer. And look at the wisdom of
Allah subhanho wa Taala, the Exalted the wisdom, how he appropriates the knowledge of our sins of
our nature, that we embrace our humanity, of our deficiency, and of the complete perfection of God.
And through that, we pray five times a day, throughout the span of a day, sunrise, you wake up, you
perform prayer, you reflecting on yesterday, you reflecting on what you've done yesterday, then you
ask her forgiveness of what you've done, you ask a lot to make you strong on maybe something you
felt weak upon, or to make you strong on what you're about to embark on on that day. And when you're
		

			done, because you've had that type of serenity, you've obtained peace, and you're ready to start
your day, the middle of the day, you may perform some mistakes, you may have looked at something
that you shouldn't have looked at, you may have said something you shouldn't have said, you've done
something that you shouldn't have done. That's why the prayer relinquishes and does away with
wrongful immoral deeds. Allah says in the chapter number 29, verse 45, and establish the prayer or
establish recite the book that has been revealed to you and establish the prayer For verily prayer
relinquishes wrongful and immoral actions. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest thing. And
		

			Allah is well aware of what you do. So prayer relinquishes and takes away, and maybe even by the
permission of Allah erases those bad deeds on our record when we have to stand in front of him for
every single thing that we have done, good and bad. So again, we pray for means of reflection,
redemption, for spiritual renewal, to reflect on what we've done, which will bring actions of the
heart and which will In conclusion, by the permission of Allah, make us people that have Salaam and
peace within their hearts, in their actions, Muslims, may Allah bless you all, and make use of those
that understand why we pray to increase us in our togetherness with each other and establish that
		

			strength of a relationship with our Creator as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Thank you.