Every pillar of the prayer, its words and its movements, read slowly. What they mean, and what they ask of the one who stands before Allah.
The author calls it the book that took him longest to write. He kept pausing to make sure the intention behind it stayed clean.
These are the real pages from the book.
Fourteen chapters follow the prayer itself: Niyyah, Takbir al-Ihram, Qiyyam, al-Fatihah, Ruku, Sujud and on to the final Salam.
Softcover, in English. Translated by Dayana Ariffin.
Take the very first words of every prayer. The book looks at the grammar first, then at what the grammar is quietly telling us.
“Akbar” is a comparative: greater. Grammar expects a second term, greater than something. The phrase never gives one.
“If we are to attempt a completion of the sentence, that Allah is bigger than x, then there will be nothing worthy to come to an end of that sentence.”Takbir al-Ihram · p. 53
The same words become a way of putting down whatever we carried into the prayer: the work, the chores, the worry.
“The proclamation of ‘Allahu Akbar’ reminds us time and again that no worries or problems of ours are greater than Allah.”Takbir al-Ihram · p. 54
The word itself, and what it means to be one who prays.
Intention held in the heart: its purpose, which prayer, and that it is obligatory.
Crossing the threshold into the sacred space of solah.
Standing still as surrender. Rooted, not frozen.
The opening supplication and its narrated wordings.
The longest chapter in the book, given to the surah recited in every rak'ah.
Being settled and at ease before moving to the next pillar.
Bowing, where we are creatures of obedience.
Rising again, and being made to find balance.
Seven points on the ground. The closest a servant comes to Allah.
A closer look at the words we repeat in ruku and sujud.
What we are saying each time we call Allah our Lord.
The last sitting, and the testimony spoken in it.
“Its beginning is takbir and its end is taslim.”
Standing still is a form of surrender, not just immobility.
During ruku we are creatures of obedience; during iktidal we are made to find balance; in sujud we are commanded to surrender completely.
Unnecessary movements have ceased. What is left is presence, a thorough and complete presence.
The reflections are the heart of the book. Around them sits enough practical detail to check your own prayer against.
Each term traced through its Arabic root and usage, such as qama behind qiyyam.
What the act or recitation points to in our role as servants of Allah.
A simplified kaifiyat for each pillar according to the Shafi'i school.
Khilaf notes comparing the other madhhabs, meant to widen understanding.
Sunnah readings narrated for each rukn, so the prayer is richer in remembrance and du'a.
Hadith with their numbers, and classical works such as al-Majmu' and Tuhfat al-Muhtaj.
Ṣalāh is the newest of three reflection books by Hafizul Faiz. The other two stay with the Qur'an: one walks through all 30 juz', the other through its words. If Ṣalāh speaks to you, these two will as well, and the three together cost less than two on their own.
Take any of them down to look inside. All three are by Hafizul Faiz, translated into English by Dr Dayana Ariffin.
Ṣalāh alone is RM49. For RM50 more, you get the other two books.