11-09-2006, 10:53 PM
Bismillah
As Salam alaikum
I have heard many times before prayers, "Let us pray as if it is our last." Many times that goes right over our heads. It is such good advise that it is repeated often so (being human) we put less importance on the meaning.
But imagine what you would want you very last deed in this life to be. Uopn death, there are no more chances to pray and earn the glorious blessings that we recieve from it. If you were told that this meal was the last time you would ever get to have this particular food, would you not want to relish the moment? Would we eat the very last bowl of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge poured over it while watching tv or talking on the phone? I wouldn't. I would want to remember and expereince each sweet bite, the hot contrasting the cold, the melting and mingling flavors.
Should not our salah be the same? What if this was our last Fatihah? Did I truly feel and understand each word that I recited? Was I truly communicating with The Creator or was I just spewing words as I went over my grocery list?
"The angel of Death is at my back."
Too abstract? Think of a gun pointed at your head that will go off as soon as the last syllable of the salam leaves your lips. Would not our prayers contain more concentration? Or at the very least, they would be longer than the head banging, chickens-eating-some-grain prostrations that we fall into because "our show" is coming on or (astaghfirullah) it is a commercial break.
May Allah Protect me from hypocricy in my heart and actions.
As Salam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu