Just like all other Prophets before hint, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also devised a system of prayers based on Divine Commandments. This system was devised so that people of all levels of society and ability could perform it and because of that could establish a connection with God. After Unity (tawheed), prayer (salat) is the most important pillar of Islam. Salat reinforces the idea of God’s omnipresence and by simply repeating it creates God-awareness. In the Salat all the movements of daily life are assembled so that a person, no matter what he is doing, remains at the higher level of God’s awareness.

Regarding prayer the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has said,

“While performing the prayer, feel as if you are witnessing God or that He is watching you.”

This above statement shows that the purpose of the prayer is to have full mental focus on God. Hence the prayer (salat) is not just the physical activity and the uttering of certain words. In the prayer, qayam (standing), ruku and sajada (prostration) and recitation are physical aspects while attention directed toward God is the spiritual one. In its essence salat (prayer) is a combination of both the physical and spiritual activity. Just as physical activity is essential, mental focus is necessary as well. Performing prayer by combining these two factors with full concentration is what establishing prayers (qayam us salat) means. Based on the definition of Muraqaba already given in earlier chapters, we can say that the salat (prayer) is that kind of Muraqaba in which along with the physical activity, awareness of God is envisaged. When a person always performs prayer with the above mentioned protocol then the Divine Lights (anwaar e’lahii) starts to store in his inner being and this storage of the Lights enables him for his spiritual flight.