Prayer is the greatest virtue, the only way of being free from all sin.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
The first aspect of prayer is giving thanks to God for all the numberless blessings that are bestowed upon us at every moment of the day and night, and of which we are mostly unconscious.
The second aspect of prayer is laying our shortcomings before the Unlimited Perfection of the Divine Being, and asking for forgiveness. This makes us conscious of our smallness, of our limitation, and therefore makes us humble before our God. …
There are many virtues, but there is one principal virtue. Every moment passed outside the presence of God is sin, and every moment in God’s presence is virtue. The whole object of the Sufi, after learning this way of communicating is to arrive at a stage where every moment of our life passes in communion with God, and where our every action is done as if God were before us. Is that within everyone’s reach? We are meant to be so. Just think of those who are in love: when they eat or drink, whatever they do, the image of the beloved is there. In the same way, when the love of God has come, it is natural to think of God in everything we do.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume IX – The Unity of Religious Ideals, Part I: Prayer )
Prayer is a great virtue and is the only way of being free from all sin. In prayer we reach the Spirit of God which is All-Powerful and Ever-Forgiving; and the power of prayer opens the doors of the heart in which God, the All-Merciful resides.
There are many different feelings which have their influence upon us, and give joy and exaltation; but there is none greater and more exalting than that of offering our faults and weaknesses before God and asking for pardon with true repentance and humility. No ethics, no philosophy, can give greater joy than this, which is sincere devotion to God; and the deepest joy is theirs who know best how to humble themselves before God. The proud, ignorant of the Greatness of God, and of God’s All-Sufficient power, do not know this exaltation, which raises the soul from earth to Heaven.
( from Unpublished papers from the Nekbakht Foundation Archives:Prayer )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
What is this prayer? This prayer is the continual process of approach to God and submission to God’s Will. If one prays a little, the prayer may be answered, but in the flux of things the answer may not be noticed and then one will doubt the merit of prayer. Mohammed instituted five prayers daily, which really meant a rhythmical concentration on God, and it was the sincere prayers in the mosque which brought victory to the armies on the battlefields. With the advent of insincerity came the dawn of defeat.
To the Sufis, cessation of prayer constitutes defeat. Every breath, every step, and every thought is a prayer for them. This is the great merit of Fikr, continually carrying the thought of God on the breath, so great it cannot be compared to anything else. By prayer, Sufis mean Fikr; God alone is wise, God alone is good, and therefore full dependence on God is the only and the greatest virtue.