Prayer Service of Islam

STUDY the Muslim's way of worship, and you will agree with me, that there is no better way of divine worship.

First, he washes and cleans himself before communication with Allah (God).

In order thus: FIRST, clean the body, and then invite the clean Holy Spirit to come in, for your house (body) is made fit. He rinses his mouth, cleanses his ears for hearing, the exposed hands are washed up to the elbows (if exposed), because he is about to spread forth those hands to Allah, the Supreme Being.

WHAT EVIL those hands have committed, he has washed them with water and now asks Allah to wash them in the Spirit of Forgiveness.

He stands erect before Him with his hands spread forth, ears cleaned from the hearing of evil, and eyes closed from seeing, evil, with face toward the only Holy spot on our Planet (the Holy City of Mecca).

The city wherein Abraham made an attempt to sacrifice his son Ishmael, under a trial of Allah (God), which was also a sign of what would take place in the Last Days on finding and returning the lost-found people of Abraham and his son, Ishmael. The Muslim now opens his mouth in prayer.

DECLARING THAT ALLAH is the GREATEST and that he bears witness that there is no God but ALLAH, and that none deserves to be served (worshipped) but ALLAH, and that Muhammad is His Last Apostle (an Apostle whom Allah would rise from that lost and found people of the seed of Abraham in the Days of Judgment).

Then he (Muslim). further declares, "That he has turned himself to Allah, being upright to HIM WHO ORIGINATED the HEAVENS and the EARTH, and that he is not one of the Polytheists (a believer in more than one God).

No religion worshipper could beat such preparation for his prayer service or use more honor and submission to his Maker. The Words of the prayer are the best to be used by the so-called Negroes in America, for they fit his condition more than any other people on earth.

We have been turned from our God (Allah) towards the devil, believing and worshipping a trinity of Gods, with our faces down or upward towards the sky, and our thoughts of God in the sky.

THE TURNING, the bowing, prostrating of the Muslims in their prayer has a beautiful meaning which space won't allow me here.

The Muslims are in accord with the whole Earth's turning; it revolves on its axis eastward toward the sun, being attracted by it. Eastward is where we look to daylight, it is in that direction came the prophets and civilization of man.

It is also in that direction which we are told to expect the coming of the Son of Man (God in Person) in the last days of the wicked.

The Muslim is taught to pray five (5) times a day and two (2) at night if he awakens, a total of seven.

Do we not have seven inhabited Planets, and the seventh thousand-year after the six thousand years of the devil's rule?

Are we not reminded of this in the six work days of the week (the six thousand years of the workings of the devils), the seventh to rest which belongs to the Lord (the original owners, the Blackman)?

THE PRAYER service of Islam, as I have said, is beautiful. The Muslims' oft-repeated prayer is as follows:

"In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Master of the Day of Requital.

"Thee, do we serve, and Thee do we beseech for help. Guide us on the right Path, the Path of those upon whom Thou has bestowed favours, not of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down nor of those who go astray."

The Muslims seek in the above prayer the Path to trod that will bring to them Divine help, and for so-called Negroes, this (Islam) is that Path which will get divine help on your side.

Set your face upright for the religion in the right state. The nature made by Allah in which He has made man; there is no altering of Allah's creation. That is the right religion, but most people do not know. (Holy Quar-an 30:30)

Reprinted from the Pittsburgh Courier. September 8, 1956

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad