Prayer · a Light
The word for prayer also means blessing the Prophet
Salah is the ritual prayer performed five times a day. The same word from the same root is what God and the angels are said to do for the Prophet ﷺ, and what believers are told to do when they say the formula asking for peace upon him. The lexicographers connect the root with supplication and with turning towards. The Qur'an gives the purpose of the prayer in three words in Surah Ta-Ha: establish the prayer for My remembrance. Not for reward, not for protection, not for good order. The verse makes the standing and bowing and prostrating an instrument of memory, which puts salah and dhikr into one sentence.
Surah Ta-Ha, verse 14
Source · Qur'an 20:14, 33:56
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The words
More Lights
- The Qur'an's name for itself is a word about memoryRoot dh k r, to remember and to mention
- The Arabic word for heart means the thing that turnsRoot q l b, to turn over
- Arabic sounds were mapped by where they are madeMakharij and sifat in tajwid
- Arabic got its dots and vowels after the Qur'anBasra and Kufa · late seventh century