How aligning your Salah can transform your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being – insights from Islamic teachings and modern thought
Islam is primarily a religion for life. Its commandments, if accepted and acted upon, improve the standard of life and lead to a qualitative existence. It aligns with the composition of man and tends to his soul and body collectively, never emphasising one while ignoring the other. The soul is the source of life for the body, and the body carries the soul as its tool for realising its potential. The former can exist independently but needs the body for movement, while the latter is incapable of life without the former.
For a happy and vigorous life, one must maintain the rapport between body and soul. The soul drives the body and gives it energy to act in the world. But the soul receives happiness and vitality from God through prayer. Prayer connects the soul to God, recharging it with divine energy that transfers to the body, making a human being happy and energetic. So once you fix your prayer, you fix your life—because happiness and sadness issue forth from the condition of your soul. A pure soul brings happiness, and an impure one brings the opposite. Prayer purifies the soul and fills it with joy, directly affecting the body.
Shaheed Muthari writes that prayers and supplications help us experience infinite existence within our finite beings, making us feel larger than we are. Yet praying can also disgruntle us. It is painful to wake up early for dawn prayers or perform ablution five times a day. But this hardship is intentional. As Ali Reza Panahian explains, God wants us to endure the bitterness of disciplined prayer so we may grow. Gradually, we begin to taste its sweetness and fall in love with God—though this is a lengthy process, and we must not give up midway.
When life’s sufferings overwhelm us, we must reconsider our prayers. The root of many struggles lies in prayer’s quality. A good prayer leads to a joyful, enthusiastic life and resolves both material and spiritual challenges. If our problems persist despite prayer, we must ask: Do we pray correctly, seriously, and attentively? Prayer should not merely mean standing before God; it must be a profound communication, a vital meeting, and a transformative union with the Divine—one that satisfies, encourages, and energises.
A sincere prayer eliminates life’s deficiencies—physical, spiritual, social, intellectual, emotional, and economic. It regulates life, soul, and body, propelling us forward. Dejection is death; hopelessness is death. Prayer reignites hope and dispels despair, helping us endure pain and rise above problems that seek to crush us. It is a weapon against life’s trials.
Soren Kierkegaard, reflecting on modern existential crises, wrote that faith—and prayer—saves us. To him, hopelessness is a sin, antithetical to faith. “The function of prayer is not to influence God but to change the nature of the one who prays,” he asserted. Prayer transforms pessimism into optimism, reminding us that an All-Powerful Being can heal our wounds.
The soul, like the body, grows weary and disordered from daily strife. It needs a recharge and realignment. As Hazrat Ali taught, the soul tires from the world’s chaos and requires renewal. Prayer is the ultimate refreshment—a daily reunion with the Creator, offering rejuvenation and peace.
Fida Hussain Bhat
az*********@***il.com