(Tafsir Loghawi - linguistic tafsir references taken from tafsir Imam Al-Khuarzmi.
Stranger: The very first thing mentioned after stating that the Mu'mineen are the successful is that they are sincere in their prayers.
الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِى صَلاَتِهِمْ خَـاشِعُونَ
(alatheena hum fi salatihim khashi'oon)
They are those who are in their prayers khashi'oon.
All Muslims pray, but when a mu'min prays he or she prays with khushoo' and this is what makes all the difference. We usually find khushoo' translated as sincerity.
Dr. Yes it is sincerity, and more. Ibn Qayim al-Jawziya said that khushoo' is the soul (ruh) of prayer. So if you have no soul in something it is dead, and so prayer without khushoo' is just movements and the prayer is dead.
Stranger: How is khushoo' manifested in prayer?
Dr. It all comes from the heart and it affects the mind, body and soul. The Messenger of Allah (peace upon him) said that if their is khushoo' in the heart the whole body will be in harmony. to get khushoo' in one's heart on must have mindfulness of Allah, that Allah is watching your salat (and all actions) very closely. Like when we are summoned by the boss or someone in authority, we may feel some shyness and lower our gaze and speak in a polite and respectful way, so when we pray, we need to remember that it is ALLAH who has summoned us to stand before Him and is watching and hearing our prayer. We are praying to Him and need to feel the awe in our hearts of His Greatness and Majesty.
When we stand in prayer before Allah we humble ourselves, and lower our gaze to the place of sujood (prostration). We don't fidget, scratch, adjust our clothing, pick our nose or any other action outside salat. Such fidgeting is not khushoo'. A man was fidgeting with his beard while praying and The Messenger of Allah said that if he had khushoo' in his heart his body would have khushoo'. Meaning that he would not fidget.
Stranger: So it would also not be khushoo' when during salat we start getting thoughts and think of other things, remember things we need to do and so on.
Dr. Of course, this is not khushoo, this is shaytan interrupting your concentration when in front of Allah. Shaytan always wants us to forget our duty to the Creator.
Stranger: So khushoo of the mind - concentrating on what one is doing while praying and blocking out other thoughts is part of building khushoo.
Dr. It is essential - how can we pray to Allah while thinking about our duniya things and what we are going to do after praying. This is Allah the Highest we are in front of, not some feeble school principal or boss at work!
One needs the correct and pure intention - the niyah. Salat is not just movements and words. All actions are by intention as the hadith reported by Omar goes. You hear adhan and immediately you start making the niyah and the khushoo' starts to build, through wudu, through walking to the masjid or preparing a place to pray inside the house, praying the Sunnah, making the supplications and then when in prayer and reciting the verses of Allah, we don't just ramble it off like an automatic pilot, we pronounce each word and know its meaning. Know what you are saying when you recite.
Stranger: Yes, my khushoo' improved a lot once I had done tafsir studies of the surat that I had memorised. Understanding the ayat made a great improvement in focusing my mind and eyes and of course my heart as the meanings are so powerful and intense and that feeling of awe and sublimity of Allah the All-Powerful grow.
Dr: Exactly, I should also point out that khushoo is essential in dua. The dua with sincerity is like a sword - very powerful.
Stranger: SubhanAllah
Dr: The khushoo' is from the heart and then affects the rest of our body, so that is important for us to note when trying to follow they way of the mu'mineen. The heart is essential.
Just another thing to note other than khushoo' is that ALlah said in the ayat that they are "fi salatihim" and not fi salat. This should be noted as it is very specific that the prayer is upon each and every individual to be responsible over each and every one of his or her prayers.
Stranger: So a true mu'min doesn't have a bad hair day in relation to the prayer, they are all with khushoo'. On paper it looks easy, but it takes real serious effort and faith, but we are all capable of achieving it if we truly want to please Allah.
Dr: Yes, there is no time for a bad hair day in salat! They are all important. May Allah keep us steadfast and khashi'een in our salat and may he accept our sincere salat and dua.
Stranger: Amin
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