Islam, Iman, and Ehsan — Understanding Islam

Islamic law has five rulings and whatever we do come under one of these rulings. It’s either Fard (perform; you get Reward, abstain; you get Sin), Mustahab (perform; you get Reward, abstain; you get Nothing), Mubah (perform; you get Nothing, abstain; you get Nothing), Makruh (perform; you get Nothing, abstain you get Reward) and finally Haram (perform; you get Sin, abstain; you get Reward).

The five times prayer that we perform comes under the Fard ruling and is considered as one of the five pillars of Islam. As a Muslim, we know and believe that every Fard performed has a reward both in this world and the hereafter. Yet we witness our Fards giving us nothing in return in this world( not even peace of mind). Before I get into the Why, let me tell you about the three components of Islam.

Islam serves as a bigger umbrella with three main components; islam (as a sub-category), iman and ihsan. Islam comprises of all the physical activities such as the five pillars including prayer, Iman includes the mind such as Tawhid, and Ishan embraces the purity of the soul. Unfortunately, the majority of the Muslims focus primarily on the first component and have completely forgotten about the other two — or mostly never taught about the other two components.

And that is one reason why we fail to achieve true happiness through our prayers. Most of us pray physically but completely forget about the mind and the soul. Every word said during the prayer has to be well-thought of and carefully said, only then we can understand the true reason behind the words we are obliged to say during the prayer. Analysis of the complete prayer will take a complete book to cover it — therefore, I will only focus on the Sujood in this article and how to make the most out of it.

During the Sajda (Sujood), we are required to say “Subhana Rabi Al Alaa (Glorified is my lord, the exalted). There are so many ways to do the Sajda, you can just say it three times and move on, only committing yourself physically or you can involve your body (islam), mind (iman), and soul (ishan).

As humans, we usually grieve over two things; our past sins and our future concerns. Everyone has its way of battling the two, here is how I combat with it through Sujood. In every Rakah, we are required to make two Sujoods. I take the first one for my past sins, I bring to my mind all the sins that I regret and grieve over and I say “Subhana Rabi Al Alaa (Glorified is my lord, the exalted) — it makes me believe that my lord is exalted, my sins are too small for Him to forgive. It does give me hope and gives my soul a relief.

The second Sajda (Prostration) I take, I bring to my mind all my future concerns; my business, my daughter, fraudulent friends, and everything else that concerns me and takes away my peace of mind. I then say “Subhana Rabi Al Alaa (Glorified is my lord, the exalted) — it makes me believe that my lord is exalted, my future concerns are too small for Him to address. It again gives me hope and gives my mind a relief.

This way, I go to prostration making sure that I involve all three components of my religion — my body, my mind, and my soul. At the end of my prayer, it takes away all my stress.

Thank you and I hope this helps!

Sher Shah Rahim