The power of prayer

The Promised Messiah (as) wrote that the exercise of reason can only take man as far as concluding that the perfection of creation ought to have a creator and living sustainer. But in order for a person to come to know that God exists with certainty, he must come to that part of Islam that will liberate him from the chains of doubt. He must seek God through prayer. 

Prayer in Islam, is the foremost duty of the believer after his attestation of faith.

It actually is an offshoot of the attestation itself. 

When a person prays, he is physically acting out his declaration of faith by using his time in humble worship; proving that he doesn't hold anything worthy of his worship except God. The result? An unshakable certainty that God exists.

A person usually comes to God for two reasons: 1) after a calamity or trauma in his life seeking answers. Or 2) a person, out of sheer reverence of the world around him finds him compelled to rationally question religion and seek answers from the Source.

But what benefit does prayer give to those who practise it? And how does true certainty really enter the heart?

For this, it is important to know that unless one is sincere, he can never attain certainty. The very least that can be expected of a human is for him to be true to himself- and when one is, the doors of divine gnosis are accessible to him. There are many benefits of prayer. Enough to make a whole new article on. But for certainty to enter ones heart, prayer is beneficial because it acts as a catalyst between our questions and their respective answers.

True certainty enters the heart when we become a part of the conversation between man and God. Many utter the words of prayer but are bereft of true union because they lack the willingness to learn its meaning. It is like being in an amazing conversation with two of your friends and both of them speaking a different language. The Promised Messiah (as) said that the reason why people slack in prayer is because they do not ascribe that level of importance to God as they do other needs. And that, in my opinion, is because they haven't come to God through one of the two avenues previously mentioned.

Once we find that compelling reason to worship God, we make efforts to learn the language and partake if the heavenly conversation that is prayer.

Through prayer one can establish and strengthen ones relationship with the One living God.

Before I close, I would like to quote a Hadith Qudsi which summarises how we should think of God.

"I am to My servant as he thinks Me to be, so he may think what he likes."

It is of utmost importance to know that the God you beseech is All-Hearing so that he can listen to your prayers. What use is there in praying to a god who you believe has not the capacity to listen to or respond?! Our God has marvellous powers and is alive today as he was alive before. He can do today what He did before. The Promised Messiah (as) highlighted the relationship between Rasulullah (saw) and Allah through the power of prayer in the following excerpt-  

‘A strange and phenomenal event took place in the deserts of Arabia, when hundreds of thousands of dead become alive within a few days, and those who had been corrupted through generations took on Divine colour. The blind began to see and the tongues of the foolish began to flow with Divine wisdom. Such a revolution took place in the world as no eye had seen or no ear had heard of before. Do you realise what this was? All this was brought about by prayers during the darkness of the night of one who had been wholly lost in God. This created uproar in the world and manifested such wonders as seemed impossible at the hand of the unlettered helpless person.'

May Allah enable us to strive to establish a genuine desire in our hearts to seek God and may he facilitate for our spiritual   advancement at every stage, amin.