No Conflict Between Prayer and Commerce The Sunday Guardian | March13, 2011 | Page 15
According to the Quranic scheme of life, there is no conflict between prayer and commerce. In the chapter entitled Al-Jumu'ah (The Day of Congregation), the Quran says: "Believers! When the call to prayer is made on the day of congregational prayer, hasten to the remembrance of God, and leave all worldly commerce: this is for your own good, if you but knew it. When the prayer is ended, disperse in the land and seek to obtain (something) of God's bounty; and remember God much, so that you may prosper" (62:9-10).
This Quranic verse makes it clear that people are allowed to engage in commerce before the call of prayer; and after the completion of prayer, they are again allowed to go about their business. So these two activities are not at variance with each other. According to the Quran, the essence of religion is living in the remembrance of God. Prescribed prayer is a formal kind of remembrance of God, but in the course of commercial activities, believers are again required to keep remembering God,
for — in the religion of Islam — without doing so, life is lacking in any religious virtue. Religion and worldly activities are only different faces of the same coin; the true believer discovers this divine truth. This discovery is so strong that it brings about a great change in the believer's life; it revolutionises his mind and heart. Such a person becomes an all-time believer, day and night, morning and evening. When he is engaged in formal worship, his is mentally remembering God Almighty and when he is carrying on his trade, or is busy in any other worldly activity, he is again engaged in God's remembrance.
In this sense, there is no dichotomy in the believer's life, for his personality is holistic in nature. This is the true concept of the Quranic life.