True Prayer: A Living Experience

It is only by the grace of God that one may pray, taking the great name of God. Such grace is bestowed only upon one who experiences the greatness of God before setting himself to pray. Taking the great name of God in prayer has no mystery about it. It only means that the suppliant, being a seeker after truth, has found the truth in the form of God and then his state is described in the Quran as “one who was dead, to whom We gave life, and a light whereby he could walk among people.” (6:122)

Verse 33 of chapter 41 of the Quran asks a rhetorical question about such a human being as lives in the remembrance of God: “Who speaks better than one who calls to God and says, ‘I am surely of those who submit.’” That is, he is one who remembers God all the time, thinks of God all the time and experiences glimpses of God at every moment. On extraordinary occasions, he gives vent to his latent spiritual feelings in a torrent of words. At that time, he starts calling on God in inspired words of a special kind. This is taking the great name of God in prayer. It is the inspiration of a righteously prepared mind.