Praise be to Allaah.
Prayer
is the greatest of the pillars of Islam after the Shahaadatayn (twin
declaration of faith). What is obligatory is five prayers during the
day and night. This establishes a relationship between a person and his
Lord, in which a person finds peace, happiness and contentment, as he
stands before his Lord and speaks to Him, and calls upon Him and
converses with Him, and prostrates before Him, complains to Him of his
worries and sorrows, and turns to Him at times of calamity.
Whatever
has been said to you about the prayer, nothing can really describe how
great and important it is, and no one can appreciate it except the one
who tastes its joy and spends his nights in prayer and fills his days
with it. It is the delight of those who believe in the Oneness of God
and the joy of the believers.
Allaah
has prescribed purification before the prayer, so that the body is
cleansed of impurities and sins are washed away. For the Muslim does
not wash any of his limbs but sins are washed away with the water, or
with the last drop of water, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) told us.
With
regard to how the prayer is done, it involves standing, saying “Allaahu
akbar (Allaah is Most Great)”, reciting Qur’aan, bowing and
prostrating. All you have to do is go to an Islamic Centre in your
country to see how the Muslims pray and learn about it.
The
fact that a person does not know Arabic does not affect his Islam, and
it is not deprive him of the honour of belonging to the faith. How many
people’s hearts are opened to Islam every day, who do not know even one
letter of Arabic.
There
are thousands of Muslims in India, Pakistan, the Philippines and
elsewhere who have memorized the Qur’aan by heart, but not one of them
can hold a lengthy conversation in Arabic. That is because Allaah has
made the Qur’aan easy, and has made it easy for people to memorize it,
as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And We have indeed made the Qur’aan easy
to understand and remember; then is there any one who will remember (or receive admonition)?”
[al-Qamar 54]
In
the prayer the Muslim must recite Soorat al-Faatihah in Arabic, so he
has to learn it. If he is unable to do so but he knows one verse of it,
he should repeat it seven times, which is the number of verses in
Soorat al-Faatihah. If he is unable to do that then he should say:
“Subhaan Allaah, wa’l-hamdu Lillaah, wa laa ilaaha ill-Allaah, wa
Allaahu akbar, wa laa ilaaha ill-Allaah, wa laa hawla wa laa quwwata
illa Billaah (Glory be to Allaah, praise be to Allaah, there is no god
except Allaah, Allaah is Most Great, there is no god but Allaah, and
there is no power and no strength except with Allaah).” See question
no.
5410.
The
matter is easy, praise be to Allaah. How many people have learned to
speak a language other than their own very well, even two or three
languages, so how can they be unable to learn thirty or forty words
that they need in their prayers?
If the language was really an obstacle, you
would not find millions of Muslims who are not Arabs, who perform the acts of worship with ease, praise be to Allaah.
So hasten to enter Islam, for no one knows
when his appointed time (i.e. death) will come. May Allaah save you and keep you safe from His wrath and punishment.
All
you have to do to enter this great religion is to say, “Ash-hadu an laa
ilaaha ill-Allaah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhu wa Rasooluhu (I
bear witness that there is no god except Allaah and I bear witness that
Muhammad is His slave and Messenger),” and you will find people among
your Muslim brothers who will help you to learn the prayer and other
matters of Islam.
Please also see the following questions:
219,
12376,
6389,
6706,
378,
2585,
20239,
10590,
4319