ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Philosophy of Islamic Laws Question 9: How Does Prayers Keep a Person Away From Sin? Question: According to Qur’an's point of view one of the effects of Prayers is that it keeps one away from sins and unlawful things. Because Qur’an says: And keep up prayer; surely prayer keeps (one) away from indecency and evil… [^1] Then also we see that many people who pray commit sins and evil deeds and there is no effect of prayers on their words and deeds.

Then what is the meaning of the above-mentioned ayah? Answer: First of all one should remember that for a person to remain away from sins, the primary thing is remembrance of Allah and Faith. One, who forgets Allah, doesn't think about his actions and character and to fulfill his desire never thinks of any limit. The opposite of this is that the remembrance of Allah keeps us away from sensual desires.

The remembrance of that God who is All-aware of our small and big deeds and whatever we think, He is all knowing. To control unlawful desires, the natural and straight way is to remember God, to know the status of godly people, to remember the punishment meant for sinners and to remember the rewards for those who follow the divine commandments.

The holy Qur’an describes the godly people in this way: Men whom neither merchandise nor selling diverts from the remembrance of Allah and the keeping up of prayer and the giving of poor-rate… [^2] Amir al-Mu’mineen Ali (a.s.) gave special importance to the remembrance of Allah and says as follows: “Allah the most High has created lights in the hearts of his servants, due to that shining their ears start listening and eyes start seeing and they leave enmity and mischievousness and obey His commands.”[^3] Imam Ali (a.s.) in these sentences said that 'forgetfulness' is the disease of the heart and deafness and blindness, which make the human beings rebellious, quarrelsome and inimical from the true and right path.

In comparison to this your property is the remembrance of Allah, through which your heart listens and enlightens, which bring the sensual desires under the control. On the basis of whatever is said above, one who is unmindful about the rewards and punishment of Allah is like a blind and deaf, who rides an untrained horse.

certainly the horse will hit the stones and fall into a pit, but those people who are awakened and their hearts remember the Lord; they closely observe the results of their deeds.