Please also see our section on the Contact Prayers

Notis: Det följande är en reproduktion av artiklen " Extra Salat - Prayers, THE QUESTION, in Islam (Submission)".

Salamun Alaykum K.P.,

You wrote:

<<It appears to me that you do not approve of the additional prayers that the Traditionalist Musslims do. Yet in the Qur'an, God enjoins the believers to remember Him much. We also read that Salat is referred to as "thikr" which is remembrance or commemoration of God, 62:9. >>

I think the following verse will clear this issue for you.

[4:103] Once you complete your Contact Prayer (Salat), you shall remember GOD while standing, sitting, or lying down.* Once the war is over, you shall observe the Contact Prayers (Salat); the Contact Prayers (Salat) are decreed for the believers at specific times.

In this verse we see that God commands us to remember (Dikr) God always AFTER completing our Contact Prayers. Thus, God makes a clear distinction between Salat and other forms of commemoration of God. Also at the end of this verse we read that the Contact Prayers are decreed for the believers at specific times (kitaban Mawkota) .

The word for Salat is a very specific word that is only used in regard to the five Contact Prayers. Although Salat also is a specific form of commemoration of God, it is not the only form. With the revelation of the mathematical code of the Quran, the number of daily Contact Prayers (Salat) has been confirmed to be 5.  See our file at: http://www.submission.org/salat-where.html or
http://www.underkastelse.org/islam/salat_var.html

[2:200] Once you complete your rites, you shall continue to commemorate God as you commemorate your parents, or even better.....

The word for commemorate is Dikr here as well. This (again) shows that Dikr cannot be Salat, since the word used for "commemorate" is the same word for both God and the parents. Furthermore, it is again talking about AFTER we finish the religious rites as in 4:103.

You wrote:

<<Also, in 48:29 we read that the companions of the prophet their marks are on their faces as a result of prostrating. This implies much prayers to be performed, only because prostrating is done during prayers. I know that we prostrate at some passages in the Qur'an where prostrating is mentioned; in my view this is not enough.>>

The idea that we have to prostrate when certain passages in the Quran are mentioned is an innovation, and does not belong in our religion. Prostration is a motion that we go through in our Salat, or at other times when we want to express our reverence for Almighty God. This is for example what the magicians did when they witnessed Moses miracle.

[20:70] The magicians fell prostrate, saying, "We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses."

Thus, they were overwhelmed with reverence and recognition of God’s power, and felt that the natural way for them to express this emotion and submission was to fall to the ground and prostrate.

Apart from our frequent prostrations during Salat, other times for prostration are not set. Instead it is something that is left entirely up to each and every one of us.

The word prostrate is a word that doesn’t always have the meaning of the physical position we know from Salat. This word is also used to symbolize submission and obedience to God. We learn this from the following verses.

[55:6] The stars and the trees prostrate.

[13:15] To GOD prostrates everyone in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and so do their shadows in the mornings and the evenings.*

[16:49] To GOD prostrates everything in the heavens and everything on earth - every creature - and so do the angels; without the least arrogance.*

[22:18] Do you not realize that to GOD prostrates everyone in the heavens and the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the animals, and many people? Many others among the people are committed to doom. Whomever GOD shames, none will honor him. Everything is in accordance with GOD's will.

In the following verse we read about the angels prostrating before Adam. Again, this doesn’t mean that they fell down to their chins in prostration. It means that they served Adam as commanded by God.

[17:61] When we said to the angels, "Fall prostrate before Adam," they fell prostrate, except Satan. He said, "Shall I prostrate to one You created from mud?"

In the following verse we read about people prostrating upon hearing God’s revelations.

[32:15] The only people who truly believe in our revelations are those who fall prostrate upon hearing them. They glorify and praise their Lord, without any arrogance.

This doesn’t mean that as soon as people hear the Quran recited to them, they fall to the ground in prostration (Sujud). Imagine a Quranic study if this was true! Everybody would be in constant Sujud. No, what it really means is that when the believers hear God’s revelations recited to them, they submit to them, and obey God’s commandments.

About the marks on the foreheads mentioned in 48:29. This verse is very misunderstood throughout the Muslim world. It is being interpreted as if these marks are visible marks on the flesh. As a consequence of this many people prostrate on stones, and rub their foreheads against the ground trying to develop this “mark” of approval and sign of piety.

The word ‘mark’ also means, sign, characteristic, expression. This is why we see in the same word in several other verses in the Quran, used to explain, not the physical features of someone, but rather their characteristic or radiance.

In 47:30 for example, we read about being able to recognize people just by looking at them, or ‘by their marks.’ This doesn’t mean that there are specific physical features allowing the recognition of these people. No, it means that the emission or radiance from these people are such, that it can be recognized.

It is exactly the same way with the ‘mark’ mentioned in 48:29. It is simply the radiance, and characteristics of these people that can be recognized.

Also in 2:273 God says that the righteous can be recognized by certain signs (same word as in 48:29), and then He gives an example of this sign– They do not beg from the people persistently. Thus it is not a physical mark, but rather a characteristic.

We sincerely hope that this has been helpful to you, and are looking forward to hearing from you again.

Peace