Communicating with Allah: Rediscovering Prayer (Salah)

Muslims are required to pray five times a day, but for too manyof us these are little more than physical movements devoid of anyspirit or divine connection? In contrast, the Prophet characterised prayer as “the spiritual ascent(mi''raj) of the believer.” In a modern world of constant distraction,how are we to achieve the communion with the Divine that prayer issupposed to be? How can we reach the state of the Prophet who wouldask his Companion Bilal to give the call to prayer with the expression:“Give us repose through it, O Bilal.”

The present short but valuable work provides us with the answer.Dr Bassam Saeh, a scholar of the Arabic language, casts a refreshingnew perspective on prayer in the modern context. With practicalexamples, and in contemporary idiom, he charts a path for theseeker of God’s pleasure to attain a deeper sense of consciousnessand devotion in prayer. The short chapters of this work are designedto be read and reread as constant reminders for us to renew ourcommitment to the Divine in our prayer.