Hamza Yusuf – Prayer – Part 2

			Now obviously you have to in Islam, you purify yourself before you do it. And that's preparation for
entering into this state, like the Quran before Hajj, you're going into a sacred space. And so you
want to prepare for that space. And so the will do is aware and what comes from brightness, because
the face will be luminous on the Day of Judgment, and the arms and limbs from will do what it means
to be luminous or bright. And the prophets allies, Adam said on the Day of Judgment, they asked him,
How will you know your followers, he said, they'll be horrible how genuine, they will be like the
Piebald horse, you know how these horses have the white, they're Brown, but then they have the white
		

			on the face on the and then they have the front and the hind are all white. That's how he described
his followers. And he said from the method will from the effects of will do. So again, what you're
doing is preparing yourself for something that occurs in the next world, which is the luminosity of
practice. And this is why if you've ever met anybody that's mastered anything, it has affected their
being. It can't I don't care if they're a master pianist, a master ballerina, whatever it is, you
will see that they have qualities that you don't find in ordinary human beings, I guarantee you, it
doesn't matter what the mastery is, you will find that a committed practice to something in which a
		

			person has done it
		

			religiously every day, it has an effect on their character. And that is why the highest thing that
you can do is to work on perfecting your soul, on your heart, on your experience of the world as a
theater of divine manifestation. So that is what prayer is about. And water is a purifying element.
It's an outward element, but it's the purest thing that we know of in the world, we talk about it in
our language in our metaphors.
		

			He was it was crystal clear, it was as clear as water. So problematic because you're so focused on
the rules, you can't really focus on the spirit of the prayer. But it's that's a necessary stage of
prayer. So learning the rules really well until they really become second nature. And then you begin
to work on your spiritual presence in the prayer. And part of that has to do with the amount of
Vicar that you do during the day. And that's why the more Vicar you do, the better your prayer. And
also will do is very important. See, Dr. Rock said Your presence in your will do determines your
presence in the prayer. And one of the things that people do is they do will do very hastily and
		

			very ritualistically. So that their will do is no longer an act of worship. And one of the best
things that I ever was exposed to was watching what that had to do. Because it really hit home The
first time I saw it is a deep act of worship will do. And we tend to forget that we'll do is
actually part of prayer. It's a very deep act of worship. So being present in who do not do and will
do in a bathroom is really important to not doing it where the toilet is doing in a place. It's
		

			I mean, there's other things there's the one of the things he says saying before you start your
peril cut out
		

			before you actually go into the prayer, just to remove the West West, and get out of that. And then
do that, which is another amazing thing because it's so extraordinary that other religions have
these calls like the shofar, which is how the Jews call with the ram's horn, and the Christians have
the bell. How did the Prophet sighs them through a dream? Different people saw it be that was one of
them they saw to call with the human voice, people to prayer. So not to use anything artificial but
to use the voice itself to call people to the prayer and then saying Allah is greater. I bear
witness that there's no God but Allah, a bear witness at the Mohammed is a messenger of God, and
		

			then hurry to prayer, hasten to prayer. hasten to Fela. Fela is harvest. That's what Fela is. So
what you're coming to is a harvest. That's what prayer is, you're reaping the benefit of the day,
because the day was made for prayer. And if you miss the harvest, you've missed the point of the
day.
		

			It's just like somebody who
		

			Who's planted seeds all spring. And then when summer comes and it's time to harvest, they don't go
and they don't harvest what they planted. So what was the point? The same in being in the world, the
point of being in the world is this practice. And that's why never belittle the reality of the
prayer. The Prayer is the most important thing that you will do in your life as a constant practice.
And you should be committed to perfecting your prayer. And it's, it's a struggle, it's a struggle to
be committed to wakefulness, to be committed to doing your will do correctly, all these things, and
some people can see it as tedious. But the beauty of practice, and every master knows this, is that
		

			the proof is in the pudding like the English say, the better you get, the more important the prayer
become. And that's why the prophets all I said, I'm said, rational be hyena give our souls repose by
calling us to prayer, oh, be that
		

			rational beha. And he said his repose within his prayer, and he said, the coolness of my I was in
prayer. And the Arabs use the coolness of the eye as cold tears are tears of joy. Hot tears are
painful tears, the cool tears, the joyful tears. So what he was saying is that the joy of my life is
in my prayer. Prayer was not something that was dreadful to him. And I've even had him said, from
the time I became Muslim, I never heard the adon except I was yearning for the time. And that was
his experience of the prayer. From the time he became Muslim. He never heard the line. It wasn't
like, I gotta pray now. It's
		

			anybody who does prayer seriously. You thank God for that. Just that stopping. So the prayer is a
gift and people that really practice it. You can't even imagine immediately though, I went 18 years
without doing the Muslim prayer. Since I became Muslim. As far as I know, I've never missed a
prayer. I couldn't imagine not praying. I could not imagine I just I could not imagine it. I
couldn't. It's just something I can't even imagine being deprived of prayer would be like being
deprived of breathing. And the prophet in his beautiful descriptions, a lot of Sam points out the
prayers affect the prophets ally, Sam said, Tell me if one of you had a river at his door, and he
		

			washed in it five times a day when any of his filthiness remain. And they said nothing of his
filthiness would remain. He said that is the likeness of the prayer five times a day. God
obliterates wrongs with it.
		

			So that's part of the going back to the prayer so that's prayer and a start up somebody was Salam.
There's a lot of
		

			verses in the Quran to use the prayer as a way of taking soccer and help from Allah. Tada Omar will
be lined up in the water informatics in almost said Madhava will have an idea for the mess, you are
at fault for Mumbai, I have already messed up. Whoever is mindful of the prayer, and God's his
prayer, then he will be mindful of everything else. But whoever is negligent of his prayer, he will
be more negligent about everything else. For a worker in an RV Hmm. And you have no idea
		

			what they are doing. Many follow her cancer. I saw 1000s upon 1000s innumerable numbers that were
vigilant about doing the prayer that I can only really count about five who were mindful in the
prayer,
		

			renewal academic and he says Indeed, it is like that.