Y10 Lesson 5 A Journey Through Salah

A lesson on the inner dimensions of each ṣalāh posture, the secret of sujūd, and two additional duʿas for prostration.

• The inner dimensions of ṣalāh: The lesson moves through each posture from wuḍūʾ to salām, asking what each one demands of the heart. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī opens the lesson with a direct warning: beware of asking Allah for Paradise and seeking protection from Hell-fire while your heart is heedless and you do not know what your tongue is saying.
• The bismillāh and the takbīr: Saying bismillāh is explained as both a seeking of help through Allah’s Name and a seeking of blessing from Him. The lesson asks what should be present in the heart at the takbīr, what ṣalāh is a manifestation of, and what it means to bow mentally in rukūʿ.
• The secret of sujūd: The lesson draws on the account of Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه and the question Rabīʿah رضي الله عنه put to our beloved Prophet ﷺ, and establishes why the servant is closest to Allah in prostration. Muslim b. Yasār is quoted repeating in sujūd: “When will I meet You and You are happy with me?”
• Adhkār of sujūd: Two duʿas are added to the adhkār bank duʿa from Muslim asking Allah to forgive all sins, minor and major, first and last, public and private; and the duʿa ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها heard our beloved Prophet ﷺ making in prostration at night, recorded in Nasāʾī, seeking protection in Allah’s pleasure from His anger and in His forgiveness from His punishment.
• Salām and what comes after: The lesson closes with why sending salām upon our beloved Prophet ﷺ at the end of ṣalāh should be a source of happiness, how a person should feel once their ṣalāh is complete, and what sujūd will look like as the mark of the believers on the Day of Judgement.