BEAUTY OF THE NAMÂZ

Meanings such as, “There is no mawjûd (existence) other than Allâhu ta’âlâ,” and “There is no maqsûd (purpose) other than Him,” are for the beginners of the progress and for those who have progressed half way. The meaning, “There is no other maqsûd,” is higher than meanings such as, “There is no other mawjûd,” and “There is no other wujûd;” it is closer to the meaning, “There is no ma’bûd but Allâhu ta’âlâ.”

This should be known well: Improvement in the power of the heart’s sight is exclusively contingent on the (prayer termed) namâz. The namâz is the worship continuously performed by those who have attained the final grade. The other acts of worship are, so to speak, assistants of the namâz, so that they compensate for the defects in the performance of the namâz. It may be to this effect that our superiors have stated: “Beauty of the namâz, like beauty of îmân, is of itself. Beauty of other kinds of worship is not of themselves.” Wa-s-salâm.

[’Ibâdat (worship) means to do the acts that please Allâhu ta’âlâ. ’Ubûdat means to know what pleases Allâhu ta’âlâ. ’Ubaydullah Ahrâr ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, (806), Tashkent – 895 [1490 A.D.], Samarkand,) states as follows in Rashahât: “’Ibâdat means to do the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ and to avoid doing what He has prohibited. ’Ubûdiyyat means tawajjuh and iqbâl towards Allâhu ta’âlâ. In other words, it is heart’s peace and awakeness.