By the power of prayer, one opens the door of the heart, in which God, the ever-forgiving, the all-merciful, abides.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
There are three kinds of people among those who offer prayer. One kind in praying feels they are fulfilling a certain duty, which they consider to be one among the other duties of life. … The second kind who offers prayers prays because they have been taught to do so, and yet is uncertain as to whether there is any God and whether their prayers are really heard. … Then there is the third kind who have imagination which is strengthened by faith. They not only pray to God, but they pray before God, in the presence of God. Once imagination has helped people to bring the presence of God before them, God is awakened in their own hearts.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume IX – The Unity of Religious Ideals: Part I – Prayer, Section ii )
The word of Christ is that God is love; and if God is love, then we, every one of us, can prove God in us by expressing God in our life. According to the external customs of the different religions, one goes to the church, one to the mosque, one to the synagogue, and another to the temple. The inner church however, is none of these, but in the heart of humanity, where God abides and which is the habitation of Christ.
In prayer one reaches that spirit of God which is All-Powerful and which is Ever-Forgiving, and it is by the power of prayer that we open the doors of the heart, in which God the Merciful abides.
( from Unpublished Papers from the Nekbakht Foundation Archives, Prayer, 8 May 1921 and 15 May 1921 )
What is real prayer? Praise to God. And the meaning of praise? Appreciating; thus opening the heart more and more to the Divine Beauty one sees in manifestation.
If one asks why God should create beings in order that they should sing God’s own praise, the answer is that God does not wish to receive praise. The praise of God is a prescription for humans, in order that by this prescription we can come to that understanding which brings us nearer to God. In other words, by praising God we complete the action in which lies the fulfillment of the soul’s purpose in coming on earth.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume IX – The Unity of Religious Ideals: Part I – Prayer, Section ii )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Prayer, no matter how selfish it may seem, begins with a petition to a higher power. It admits the limitation of self, and so the Sufi recognizes good in every form of prayer. One also sees the childishness of some forms but regards the devotee as a child rather than as a sinner. In this way God looks upon such prayer. Divine Forgiveness is unfathomable for it is God’s Nature to forgive. What prevents humanity from receiving this forgiveness is that every sin — in fact every act — makes its mark upon mind. Until one repents, that mark remains on the mind. Repentance is the sign of the awakening of the heart; it is the blood of the penitent which is called the blood of the Lamb in Christian terminology, which removes the thought-mark from the mind.
Sufis call this process “unlearning” when applied to acts or knowledge having no moral quality and “penitence” when applied to acts or knowledge having some moral significance. It is the awakening of heart which removes sins and burdens. Consequently there is no forgiveness without repentance; even God cannot touch the unrepentant until given the opportunity. At least so the Universe operates. While the love of God is beyond analysis, it always produces a maximum of harmony and beauty in life.