ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Principles of Faith (Usul al-Din) Branches of Faith (Furu’ al-Din) In this concise book we cannot discuss the philosophy and secrets of the Branches of Faith. The Branches of Faith are Divine rules and laws for systemising man’s personal and social situations. Furthermore, they systemise the connection between the Creator and the creation. Thus, Jurisprudence has been compiled under forty-eight titles. Each one of these titles contains many chapters.

It is not possible to comprehend the obvious philosophy behind the Jurisprudential titles, let alone that which cannot be understood by the intellect. We will briefly discuss some aspects of the philosophy behind the prayer and the poor-rate. The Philosophy and Secrets of Prayer The prayer consists of parts, conditions and rules about what is forbidden: The condition for the permissibility of the place of the prayer informs the performer that he must not breach upon the rights of others.

The condition that a person should be clean from physical and ritual impurities guides to the fact that the physical impurities that can be cleaned with water, or the ritual impurities that affect the spirit that are cleaned with ritual bathing, both cause invalidity of the prayers. They hold back the human being from paying attention to the Honourable and the Glorified.

Based on the above, it is possible to visualise the effect of the impurity of the evil deeds that a person intentionally commits, like lying, dishonesty, oppression and extravagance. It is also possible to imagine the impurity of ill manners in depriving from the reality of the prayers, which is the ascension of every believer and immolation of every pious.

*** Indeed, the parts of the call for prayer [ adhan ], the call to the presence of Allah, the Exalted, and the parts of iqamah , the preliminary for the preparation of the spirit for the ascension to the status of nearness to the Glorified, contain the essence of Islamic teaching.

If one ponders upon the beginning of the call for prayer and its end, then by starting with ‘Allah is the Greatest’ and ending with ‘There is no god but Allah’, illustrates the emphasis upon teaching and training in Islam. When the call for prayer begins with the word ‘Allah’ and ends with it as well, then a worshipper can learn that He is the First and the Last.