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Yet if you obey God and His Messenger, He will not withhold<br />
from you any reward that your deeds deserve. Verily God is<br />
Forgiving, Merciful. (<strong>Al</strong>-Hujurat, 49:14)<br />
Nevertheless, it does involve the soul consciously fully acknowledging<br />
God, and that is why it is in principle sufficient for salvation.14<br />
Moreover, it necessarily involves the ‘breast’ (sadr), for God says:<br />
Whomever God desires to guide, He expands his breast<br />
to Islam; and whomever He desires to send astray, He<br />
makes his breast narrow and constricted, as if he were engaged<br />
in ascent to the heaven. So, God casts ignominy over those who<br />
do not believe. (<strong>Al</strong>-An‘am, 6:125)<br />
(2) The Five Canonical Daily Prayers (Salat):<br />
The canonical prayers are five prayers said at specific times during<br />
the day,15 namely: fajr (dawn); duhr, (noon), ‘asr (evening),<br />
maghrib (sunset) and ‘isha (night). Each prayer consists of either<br />
two, three or four cycles (rak‘ahs)—a minimum of seventeen in<br />
total daily16—which each <strong>com</strong>prise four positions: standing, bowing,<br />
prostrating and sitting in a kneeling position on the ground. Each of<br />
these prayer positions symbolizes (and in fact actualizes) spiritual<br />
attitudes that have their roots in human beings being God’s regents<br />
on earth, their being His servants, their being His creations and<br />
14 The Prophet said:<br />
No servant ever said: “La ilaha illa <strong>Al</strong>lah” (there is no god but God) then died upon that<br />
but that entered Paradise … even if he <strong>com</strong>mitted adultery and stole. (Sahih Bukhari,<br />
Kitab <strong>Al</strong>-Libas, no. 5827; Sahih Muslim, Kitab <strong>Al</strong>-Iman, 95/1, no. 94; see also Sahih<br />
Muslim, Kitab <strong>Al</strong>-Iman, 55/1.)<br />
No servant ever said: “La ilaha illa <strong>Al</strong>lah” (there is no god but God) sincerely from the<br />
heart but that the gates of Heaven were opened to him so that he could reach the throne of<br />
<strong>Al</strong>lah, as long as he avoided mortal sins. (Sunan <strong>Al</strong>-Tirmidhi, 45:10, no. 3660.)<br />
15 God says: … [S]urely the prayer is for believers a prescription at specific times. (<strong>Al</strong>-Nisa,<br />
4:103).<br />
16 The seventeen rak‘ahs are divided as follows: fajr (dawn): 2; duhr, (noon): 4; ‘asr<br />
(evening): 4; maghrib (sunset): 3; and ‘isha (night): 4.<br />
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