The people around the globe who claim themselves Muslims what they practice are festivities, show offs and crowding to the Masjids, even to the Ka’bah instead of practicing God given rites following His words in the Quran to remember and please Him dedicating their prayers and practices to Him Alone to be successful in the Hereafter being preached by the ignorant scholars and their puppets, while most Muslims do not know what is in the Quran giving an opportunity to the so called religious scholars to continue their business with the religion using other sources and their opinions, and both groups – scholars and followers are proud of what they are doing, but not being certain what will happen to them in the Hereafter. On the other hand, there are people and groups around us who are very active in presenting Islam from their scholarly viewpoints claiming that the Kalima of the Muslims is the spirit for them to make jihad under a leader, and until they can establish it Muslims cannot get back their lost prestige, and their practices will not be acceptable to God, while other groups are claiming that the Quran is not a reminder for the people of the world limiting it for the people of Makka and the people around it as God has sent messenger to every community with their own language. Thus, they are disputing about the Kalima, the salat prayer, ablution (wuduu) and call (`Azan) for the salat prayer misinterpreting the messages in the Quran.
Kalima
God given Shahaadah (statement of faith) is known as Kalima to the common people. There are people and groups who claim that the Kalima of the Muslims is the inspiration for them to make jihad under a leader, which is a difficult task for them, and until they can establish it Muslims cannot get back their lost prestige and their practices will not be acceptable to God. Thus, their version of Kalima: laa-ilaaha illaa allaha muhammadur rasuulallah means “there is no lawgiver except God being Muhammad is a messenger of God.” Their slogan is we will not accept any lawgiver other than God being their objective is to establish Islam at the state level based on the spirit of this Kalima that the people can be rewarded in the Hereafter for their belief and practices, while they claim that they follow both Quran and hadith, and highlight the history of the prophet and the caliphs after him being it their model to motivate people to participate in the jihad to reform to be acceptable their praises and prayers to God, but they do not bring into consideration that the scripture/Quran is the basis of God’s religion at all times and the Kalima is a state of our mind to worship One God and ilaah is an attribute of God not an attribute of a scripture.
God has given the Shahaadah for the mankind, laa-ilaaha illaa allah (there is no god except God), which has been corrupted with adding Muhammad’s name as a messenger of God to it down the generations to turn Islam a personality cult and paganism, while He has given us an opportunity to confirm it from the messages in 146 instances of ilaah found in 123 verses of 54 surahs in the Quran along with deriving an explicit proof from the total number of instances, verses and surahs being the sum is a multiple of 19 => 146 + 123 + 54 = 323 (19X17) that there is no god except He and also to confirm that ilaah means god/deity but no way to mean it lawgiver as claimed by the group. In addition, He has also blessed us to have explicit proof from a small set of crucial verses from occurrences of ilaah wherein God Himself has borne witness that there is no god except He (3:18) as well as where He has taught His prophet that there is no god except God (47:19) and His prophet has recited it to the people that there is no god except God (38:65) if the relevant surah and verse numbers are added, the sum is a multiple of 19 => [3 +18] + [47 +19] + [38 + 65] = 21 + 66 + 103 = 190 (19X10) being 19 is a common denominator of a derived fact from the Quran for mathematical coding of it. It may also be confirmed reflecting to the message in the following verse in the Quran that God has not created the jinns and the humans except to worship Him, while the Quran is a statute book being God is a lawgiver that we may reflect to have clear understanding that we must worship our Creator:
[51:56] And I have not created the jinns and the humans except that they worship Me.
The salat prayer and ablution and call for the prayer
The salat prayer including the ablution and the call for it is an inherited practice being prophet Ibrahim is the father of Muslims having evidences from the book “To Pray as a Jew” by Hayim Halevy Donin. In the book the author put diagrams showing the movement and positions during the prayer to realize the similarity of the prayers of the then Jews and the salat prayer as practiced by the Muslims today.
The author wrote In his comment about these positions: “In most contemporary congregations very few people keep to the tradition of falling prostrate. Sometimes it is only the Prayer leader and the rabbi who does so. In more traditional congregations, however, some worshipers, men and women, will join the Prayer Leader and rabbi in the act of prostrating themselves. In Israeli synagogues, the practice is more widespread than in synagogues elsewhere. Since this is a position that we are unaccustomed to, one who has never done this before might very well demur. But once accomplished, the experience provides such a spiritual uplift that one looks forward to repeating it. Those willing to try this ancient ritual form on the rare occasions that call for it might welcome the following diagrams of the correct procedure”
It is also learned from this book that the prayers of the Jews involve wash before the prayers, (like wuduu or ablution for Muslims), and the call for prayers (like the Azan for the Muslims). However, the ultimate reference for the Muslims is the Quran wherein we find that the salat prayer was in existence, intact, and practiced long before the advent of Muhammad (10:87, 19:31, 19:55, 21:73), while the Quran has confirmed that prophet Ibrahim who had been given all the rites of Islam was the father of Islam (3:95, 4:125, 22:78) and prophet Muhammad who had been given the Quran was the follower of the religion of Ibrahim (16:123), and we also know from it that the salat prayer was lost after some generations for the people of the book (19:59), while the salat prayers of the people at the House (Ka’ba) being the disbelievers in the Quran were not except playing and amusement (8:35). The wuduu that makes the salat prayer special has a sequential steps found in (5:6) including nullification of it in (4:43), while the call that makes the congressional salat prayer special found in (62:9), and any of these practices cannot be ignored just for misinterpretation of the messages in the relevant verses of the Quran, and the believers are to glorify with praise of their Lord 5 times found in (20:130):
[10:87] And we had inspired to Moses and his brother that you shall settle houses in Egypt for your people and shall make your houses as places of worship, and shall establish the salat prayer, and shall give a good news to the believers.
[19:31] And He has made me (Jesus) a blessed wherever I have been and He has enjoined me with the salat prayer and the zakat as long as I have been alive.
[19:55] And he (Ismael) has done to enjoin with the salat prayer and the zakat to his people, and he has been pleasing one with his Lord
[21:73] And we had made them leaders, they had guided with our commandments, and we had inspired to them doing of the good deeds, and of establishing the salat prayer and of giving the zakat, and they had been worshipers of us.
[3:95] Say, “God has proclaimed truth that you shall follow a religion of Abraham – Monotheism, and he had not been with the idol worshipers.”
[4:125] And who has better religion than whoever has submitted himself to God, and he is a good-doer and has followed a religion of Abraham – Monotheism? And God has taken Abraham as a friend.
[22:78] And you shall strive for God true striving of Him. He has chosen you and has not made any difficulty upon you in the religion (Monotheism), a religion (Submission) of your father Abraham. He (God) has named you the Submitters before and in this (Quran) that the messenger would be a witness over you, and you would be witnesses over the people. So you shall establish the salat prayer and shall give the zakat, and shall hold fast to God. He is your Protector that He has been the excellent Protector and has been the excellent Supporter.
[19:59] Then there has succeeded after of them successors, they have abandoned the salat prayer and have followed the lusts that they will meet evil.
[8:35] And it has not been their salat prayer at the House except playing and amusing. So, you shall taste the punishment for what you had done to disbelieve.
[5:6] O you who have believed, when you have intended for the salat prayer that you shall wash your faces and your hands to the elbows, and shall wipe of your heads and your feet to the ankles. And if you have been impure (for sexual contact), then you shall purify. And if you have been ill, or on a journey, or one of you has come from the toilet or has contacted the women, then you do not find water, then you shall do dry ablution from clean soil that you shall wipe of your faces and your hands with it. God does not intend to make any difficulty upon you; but He intends to purify you and to complete His blessing upon you that you may appreciate.
[4:43] O you who have believed, you do not go near the salat prayer, while you are in intoxication until you know what you are saying; nor impure except travelers on road until you take bath. And if you have been ill or on a journey, or one of you has come from the toilet, or you have touched the women, but you do not find water, then you shall do dry ablution with clean soil, then you shall wipe of your faces and your hands. Indeed, God has been Pardoning, Forgiving.
[62:9] O you who have believed, when a call has been made for the salat prayer on a day of the Friday, you shall hasten to remembrance of God, and shall leave the business. That is better for you, if you have been of those who know.
[20:130] So, you (Muhammad) shall be patient on what they say; and shall glorify with praise of your Lord before rising of the sun (at Fajr) and before setting of it (at `Asr), and from hours of the night (at Maghrib and Isha), then you shall glorify also at ends of the day (at Zahur), so that you may please (your Lord).
It is unfortunate that the salat prayer is the most corrupted and distorted rite among all the rites given to us by God as practiced today by the majority people all over the world who claim Muslims. Despite extra Salat and extra rakats of Salat, the infiltration of corruptions and distortions are also found in what they recite at different positions during the prayer. The recitation of any other surah or a part of a surah upon completing surah 1 (al-Faatihah), especially in the first 2 units of prayer, the recitation of distorted Tashahhud and Salaam, extra recitation between standing and before making move to prostration (rabbanaa lakal- hamd), and extra recitation between two prostrations (allahumma aghfirlee war-hamnee wa-ihdinee war-zuqqnee), and extra recitation at the sitting position for praising Muhammad and Ibrahim as well as their families (darud) are very common. Such distortions help us down the generations to have the correct recitations in different positions based on the purpose of the salat is to remember God (29:45) as shown in the table below supported by a simple fact derived from it that we may establish the salat prayer avoiding these distortions, even the sequential steps of establishing the salat prayer is not found in the Quran, and keeping in mind that there is no enough time to recite anything in between standing and going to prostration as well as in between two prostrations:
Note: The recitation at 7 positions, and the number of words and letters that we recite if these figures are added, i.e., 7 + 50 + 228, the total of 285, is a multiple of 19 => 285 (19X15) being it a fact not to have any doubt to establish the salat prayer with appropriate recitation in each position.
In conclusion, even the present picture of Islam all over the world is worse than ever before for using resources other than the Quran as well as making it difficult for the common people inviting them to jihad having a leader for it to accomplish their achievement or for the claim that the Quran is a reminder only for the people of Makka and the people around it as God has sent a messenger for each community with their own language, but the true believers have opportunity to practice it in a right way if they base the Quran for their guidance and accept the proof and fact derived from it as God has made individually responsible everyone for her/his own soul (17:15 and 29:6).
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal (7/18/2025).