After reciting the Tauz, the Tashahhud and the first chapter of the Holy Quran Imam Zafrullah Domun said:

In Islam we understand that there is another life after our death. Allah has placed us here in order to try us and to see who is most excellent in conduct. In chapter,Al Mulk  He says “  Tabaarakallazi beyadehil mulka wa howa a’la koulle shay’in qadir al lazi khalaqal mauta wal hayaata le yablowakoum ayyokoum ahsano a’mala awa howal azizul ghafoor” which we translate as “Blessed is He in Whose hand is the kingdom, and He has power over all things, Who has created death and life that He might try you — which of you is best in deeds; and He is the Mighty, the Most Forgiving.”(67:2-3).To have excellence in conduct is not at all a light matter. Sometimes we may think that our conduct is beyond reproach but Allah who knows all our inner motivations may think otherwise. So for the believer every day every moment of his life is an uphill path. He has to struggle to reach the top or to achieve his goal.

Although the path to achieve moral excellence is difficult yet it is achievable. Throughout the pages of history we see innumerable persons who showed moral excellence in their behaviour. But for a believer and a follower of the Holy Prophet Mohammad ^saw this path has been made smooth by the prescription of prayer. In fact the daily five prayers prescribed are means by which we may achieve moral excellence and eventually become spiritual beings. In many past sermons I have been speaking about several aspects of the prescribed prayers. Today I will read you some extracts from the writings of the Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as about this most important subject. My aim is to help you and make you reflect about your daily prayers. You will have to ask yourself whether you are offering them with all necessary prerequisites or are you just going through them like a thoughtless routine. Since our beloved prophet ^saw said that “Prayer is the ladder of the believer” we should view our daily prayers as the steps of a ladder that will lead us to everything that is good in this life and in the next. May Allah help each one amongst us to achieve this.

It should be well understood that Prayer is an entreaty which a worshipper makes to God at the time of his separation from Him in torment and with a melting heart that he may be granted a meeting with God, inasmuch as no one can be purified unless God purifies him and no one can meet with God until God brings about a meeting. Man is held in a diversity of chains and collars. He desires to get rid of them but they persist. Despite man’s intense desire to be purified his reproaching self (Nafse- Lawwamah) does sometimes stumble. It is for God to purify a person from sin. There is no power that can purify you by force. God has prescribed Prayer for the generation of pure sentiments. Salat is a prayer which is submitted to God in travail and burning with a heart aflame, so that vicious thoughts and evil designs may be got rid of and a holy love and a pure relationship may be established and one may be enabled to keep God’s commandments. The word Salat indicates that true Prayer is not offered only with the tongue but must be accompanied by burning and sizzling and being consumed by fire. God Almighty does not accept Prayer until the worshipper at the time of prayer arrives a kind of death….

Salat is prayer at a very high level, but people do not appreciate it duly. In this age many Muslims are devoted to frequent repetition of pious formulas, as, for instance, the Naushahis and Naqshbandis, etc. It is a pity that none of these is free from innovations. These people are unaware of the reality of Salat and defame God’s commandments.

For a seeker none of these innovations is of any benefit compared with the Salat. The way of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) was that at a time of difficulty he made his ablutions and stood up in Salat and made his supplications in the Salat.

My experience is that nothing takes one so near to God as Salat. The various postures of the Salat demonstrate respect, humility and meekness. In Qiyam (standing posture) the worshipper stands with his arms folded as a slave stands respectfully before his master and king. In Ruku‘ (bowing) the worshipper bends down in humility. The climax of humility is reached in Sajdah (prostration), which indicates extreme helplessness.[Speeches to Jalsah Salana, 1906, pp. 6-8 ]

From the above extract we easily understand that our daily prayers properly done is the means through which we will eventually progress towards greater God –consciousness and better behaviour. Speaking further about the subject Hazrat Ahmad says:

            “What is Salat? It is a supplication addressed to the Lord of Honour without which a person cannot be truly alive, nor can he procure any means of security and happiness. When God Almighty bestows this grace upon a person it is only then that he obtains true comfort. From that moment he will begin to feel pleasure and delight in Salat. As he derives pleasure from delicious food he will begin to derive pleasure from his weeping and crying in Salat. Before he experiences that condition in his Salat it is necessary that he should persist in Salat as he swallows bitter medicine so that he may be restored to health. In the same way it is necessary for him to persist in Salat and in making his supplications while he derives no pleasure from them. In such condition he should seek pleasure and delight in Salat with the supplication:

Allah! Thou knowest how blind and sightless I am, and at the moment I am like the dead. I know that in a little while I shall be called and shall present myself before Thee and no one will be able to stop me. But my heart is blind and unenlightened. Do Thou cause to descend upon it such a flame of light that thereby it may be inspired with Thy love and devotion to Thee. Do Thou bestow upon me such grace that I shall not be raised up sightless nor join the blind.

When he supplicates in this manner and persists in the supplication he will see that a time will arrive when something will descend upon him while he is engaged in such type of prayer which will melt his heart. [Malfuzat, vol. IV, pp. 321-322]

Now try to see how much efforts you are making daily and persistently to offer prayers in the matter just described. I am reminding you of these words of Hazrat Ahmad as so that you might be reinvigorated and you earnestly try to improve the way you offer your prayers.  The next extract that I am going to read to you is one that I read when I was only about 22 years old. I can tell you that it had a very profound effect upon me. I hope it will have an even great effect upon your heart and you will try to remember it forever incha Allah. Hazrat Ahmad ^as says:

“And who diligently guard the observance of their Prayers.’(23:10)This means those believers… who are themselves watchful over their Prayers and do not need any reminder from anyone else. Their relationship with God has the quality that the remembrance of God becomes dear to them and becomes the source of their comfort and their very life, so that they are constantly watchful of it and every moment of theirs is devoted to it and they do not like to be parted from it at any time. It is obvious that a person is extremely watchful every moment only of that the loss of which he deems would spell his ruin, like one who, while traversing a waterless wilderness in which there is no likelihood of his finding water or food for hundreds of miles, is most watchful of such provisions as he has with him, holding them as dear as his life because of his conviction that their loss would mean his death. Thus the true believers are watchful of their prayers like such a traveller. They do not neglect their prayers even at the risk of losing their wealth or honour, or of incurring someone’s displeasure. Any apprehension of missing their prayer causes them great anguish and brings them near unto death. They cannot endure the thought of being neglectful of the remembrance of God for a single moment. They deem prayer and the remembrance of God their essential nourishment on which depends their very life. This condition is reached when God Almighty loves them and a bright flame of His personal love, which is the very soul of their being, descends upon their heart and bestows a new life upon them and thereby their spiritual being is illumined and becomes alive. In such a condition they occupy themselves with the remembrance of God, not out of any sense of formality or desire for appearance, but because God makes their spiritual life, which they hold dear, dependent upon the nourishment provided by His remembrance, as He has made man’s physical life dependent upon physical nourishment. Therefore they love this spiritual nourishment more than physical nourishment and are apprehensive of its loss. This is the consequence of the spirit which is caused to descend upon them like a flame and which generates perfect inebriation with the love of God in their hearts. They do not desire to be separated from it for a single moment. They suffer for it and endure torments on its account but do not wish to be separated from it for a moment, and are constantly watchful of their prayers. This becomes natural for them, inasmuch as God has made the Salat, which is their loving remembrance of Him, essential nourishment for them, and by manifesting His personal love for them has bestowed upon them the delicious delight of Divine remembrance. In this way the remembrance of God becomes as dear to them as, and even dearer than, life itself. The personal love of God is a new soul that falls on their hearts like a flame and makes Salat and the remembrance of God nourishment for them. Thus they believe that they live not by bread and water but by the Salat and the remembrance of Allah.

The remembrance of God charged with love, which is called the Salat, truly becomes their food without which they cannot survive and which they guard and watch constantly, like a traveller who in the midst of a stark wilderness guards his scanty supply of bread and water. The Absolute Bestower has appointed this condition also as a stage in the spiritual progress of man which is the last stage. The remembrance of God charged with love, the technical name of which is Salat, truly becomes for a worshipper a substitute for nourishment. Indeed he repeatedly seeks to sacrifice his physical soul in return for this nourishment and cannot survive without it, as fish cannot survive without water. He deems a single moment away from God as death itself. His soul is always in prostration at the threshold of God and he finds all his comfort in God. He is convinced that if he were parted from the remembrance of God for even a moment, he would die.

As food generates a feeling of freshness in the body and strengthens the physical senses like seeing and hearing, in the same way at that stage the remembrance of God which is surcharged with love and devotion strengthens a believer’s spiritual faculties, that is to say, his eye acquires the faculty of beholding visions clearly and in a subtle manner, and his ears hear the word of God Almighty and his tongue gives expression to that word in a clear, bright and delightful manner. He sees true dreams frequently which are fulfilled like the advent of the dawn, and on account of his pure and loving relationship with God he partakes of a great number of true dreams that convey good tidings to him. This is the stage at which a believer feels that the love of God serves him as nourishment. This new birth takes place after the spiritual framework becomes ready, and then the spirit, which is aflame with the personal love of God, falls upon the heart of such a believer and suddenly a superior power lift him above the stage of humanity.” [Brahin-e-Ahmadiyya, Part V, Essence of Islam page 299-302]

All Ahmadi Muslims should aim to raise the level of their daily prayers as described in the above extract.  If we do so we will then definitely become an Ahmadi as Hazrat Masih wanted us to be. Otherwise we will be like all the ordinary Muslims who most of the time prays without knowing what they are saying to Allah. May Allah help each one amongst us to become amongst the group of people who love Allah and whom Allah loves. Ameen