Imam al-Sajjad (a) said in this relation...

Imam al-Sajjad (a) said in this relation: "حق الصلاة ان تعلم انها وفادة الى الله عز وجل، وانك فيها قائم بين يدي الله عز وجل فاذا علمت ذلك قمت مقام الذليل الحقير، الراغب الراهب، الراجي الخائف، المسكين المتضرع، والمعظم لمن كان بين يديه بالسكون والوقار، وتُقبل عليها بقلبك وتقيمها بحدودها وحقوقها" "The right accorded to prayer is that you should know prayer as entering the presence of Allah the Most High, and that, when saying prayer, you are standing before the Most High Allah.

So, knowing this, you should stand in prayer as an abased and humble servant, eagerly devoted, hopefully fearful, helplessly lamenting; and proceed to prayer peacefully and gracefully with great respect to the One you are standing before, and perform it whole-heartedly with (full) observance of its rules and rights."[^2] The reverend Shaykh said about the courtesy of presence: "The Satan is always distracting man; remember not to break your attention to God, be courteous in prayer as when you stand attentively before an eminent personality, so that if your body is pricked by a needle, you would not move!" The Shaykh said the above in reply to his son who said to him: 'You smile sometimes when you say prayers.' His son said: 'I guess he was smiling at the Satan implying that he cannot challenge him (i.e.

the Shaykh)!' Anyway, the reverend Shaykh believed that any move (of the body) in the presence of the Lord is considered as rude and is caused by temptation from the Satan. He said: "I saw the Satan kissing the part of the body that one scratched in prayer!!" Presence of Heart The quintessence of prayer is remembering God and sincere presence of the performer's heart in the sacred companionship of Most Exalted God.

Thus the Holy Prophet (s) said: "لايقبل الله صلاة عبد لا يَحظر قلبه مع بدنه" "God would not accept the prayer of a person whose heart is not present with his body."[^3] In view of this issue and before leading the congregational prayer, the reverend Shaykh tried to prepare those attending the prayer to find presence of heart. His own prayer was a typical one with presence of heart. Accordingly, Dr.

Farzam said: 'His prayer was very sober and good mannered.[^4] Sometimes when I arrived late for the mass prayer and (passing before him) saw his stature in prayer he looked as if his whole body was shivering; with radiant, pale countenance, he was absorbed in what he was reciting. His attention was totally directed on prayer and his head was always lowered.