Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Speaking Tree Website | April 17, 2017
Once an old peasant was seated alone in a village church. Somebody asked him, “What are you waiting for?” He answered, “I am looking at Him and He is looking at me.”
The answer of the peasant expresses the essence of prayer. True prayer is an act of communication with an all-powerful Invisible Being. It is a state of consciousness which permeates one’s entire character and manifests itself in all of one’s actions. If one’s remembrance of God is confined to a place of worship, and not reproduced in everyday life, then one’s prayer is not prayer at all.
For how can one be humble before God and then go out and be proud before one’s fellow human beings? How can one show self-discipline in the performance of prayer and then lead a life bound by no code of conduct? How can one be a picture of piety one moment and a barbarian for the rest of the time?
The truth is that inconsistency of this nature can only come from artificial prayer. True prayer is a way of life, and the truest way of life is literally a way of prayer.