to be un-absentminded, fully attentive

Bismillah.

How else then should we worship God? Did He not create both, soul and body, together? And this being so, should man not pray with his body as well as with his soul?

Listen, I will tell you why Muslims pray as we pray. We turn toward the Kaaba, God's holy temple in Mecca, knowing that the faces of all Muslims, wherever they may be, are turned to it in prayer, and that we are like one body, with Him as the centre of our thoughts.

First, we stand upright and recite from the Holy Koran, remembering that it is His Word, given to man that he may be upright and steadfast in life.

Then we say, "God is the Greatest," reminding ourselves that no one deserves to be worshipped but Him; and bow down deep because we honour Him above all, and praise His power and glory.

Thereafter we prostrate ourselves on our foreheads because we feel that we are but dust and nothingness before Him, and that He is our Creator and Sustainer on high.

Then we lift our faces from the ground and remain sitting, praying that He forgive us our sins and bestow His grace upon us, and guide us aright, and give us health and sustenance.

Then again we prostrate ourselves (by our body and soul) on the ground and touch the dust with our foreheads before the might and the glory of the One.

After that we remain sitting and pray that He bless the Prophet Muhammad who brought His message to us as well, and all those who follow the right guidance; and we ask Him to give us of the good of this world and of the good of the world to come.

In the end we turn our heads to the right and to the left, saying, "Peace and the grace of God be upon you" - and thus greet all tho are righteous, wherever they may be.

It was thus that our Prophet used to pray and thought his followers to pray for all times, so that they might willingly surrender themselves to God - which is what Islam means - and so be at peace with Him and with their own destiny.

An Excerpt taken from one of the books in the currently-reading shelf - The Road to Mecca by Muhammad Asad. Well initially, in the first chapter of the book, I, with some sort of blur and confused yet intrigued countenance, was like, "buku ni nak cakap pasal apa niii? (sebab takde synopsis dan memang awal-awal tu, hah? amende la yang dia nak cite ni kottt?)." But as I dive into the following chapters of the book, I came to sense that it is worth reading! Can't tell if it is a must-read since I haven't finished it just yet.

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