Reality of Prayer: Reverence, Reliance, Oneness, and the End of the Believers

Then they responded, saying: اَللّٰهُ اَكْبَرُ "God is Most Great!" before the manifestation of divine beauty, glory, perfection, and majesty in the mirrors of beings, ever changing on the face of the universe; they bowed reverently in their impotence, and prostrated in humility with love and wonder.

Then announcing their poverty and need, they responded with supplication and beseeching to the Possessor of Absolute Riches' displaying the abundance of His wealth and breadth of His mercy, and declared: وَاِيَّاكَ نَسْتَع۪ينُ "From You alone do we seek help!"

Then they responded appreciatively to the All-Glorious Maker's displaying the subtleties and wonders of His antique art in the exhibition of creatures, exclaiming: مَاشَٓاءَ اللّٰهُ "What wonders Allah has willed!" Observing and applauding them, they declared, "How beautifully they are made!" Beholding them, they exclaimed: بَارَكَ اللّٰهُ "What blessings Allah has bestowed!" and testified: اٰمَنَّا "We do indeed believe!" Holding everyone witness, they said in wonder: حَىَّ عَلَى الْفَلَاحِ "Come! Look at these! Hasten to the prayers and to prosperity!"

And they responded with submission and obedience to the Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity's proclamation of the sovereignty of His dominicality in every corner of the universe and the manifestation of His unity. Declaring: سَمِعْنَا وَ اَطَعْنَا "We hear and we obey!", they affirmed His unity.

Then, before the manifestation of the Godhead of that Sustainer of All the Worlds, they responded with worship and humble veneration, which consists of proclaiming their weakness within powerlessness and poverty within need and with the prescribed prayers, which are the summary of worship. Thus, by performing their various duties of worship in the mighty mosque known as the abode of this world, they carried out the obligations and duties of their lives, and assumed "the finest of forms." They ascended to a rank above all creatures by which, through the auspiciousness of belief and assurance and the Trust, they became trustworthy vicegerents of the earth. And after this field of trial and place of examination, their Munificent Sustainer invited them to eternal happiness in recompense for their belief, and to the Abode of Peace in reward for their adhering to His religion of Islam. There, He bestowed on them out of His mercy bounties so dazzling that no eye has seen them, nor ear heard them, nor have they occurred to the heart of man {[*]: Bukhârî, Bad' al-Khalq, 8; Tafsîr al-Sûra, 32:1; Tawhîd, 35; Muslim, Îmân, 312; Janna, 2-5; Tirmidhî, Tafsîr al-Sûra, 32:2; l54:1; Ibn Mâja, Zuhd, 39.} - and so He does bestow these on them, and He gives them eternity and everlasting life. For the desirous, mirror-bearing lovers of an eternal, abiding beauty who gaze upon it will certainly not perish, but will go to eternity. The final state of the Qur'an's students is thus. May Almighty Allah include us among them, Amen!