Chapter - The Preperations and It's Meaning
The washing and cleansing of all exposed parts of the body of filth and uncleanness, to stand and bow before the Lord of the Worlds.
The rinsing out of the mouth (the impure and evil that the mouth is guilty of speaking).
The washing of the hands that are subject to the handling of clean and unclean things. They are cleansed to be spread before Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
The Holy Qur'an says that our hands will bear witness against the evil-doers on the day of Resurrection. They will say: AO hands why hast thou borne witness against me? The hands will say: "As Allah makes everything to bear witness, so has He made us to bear witness." Whatever we do, every member of our body plays a part in it.
The feet are washed up to the ankles if they were exposed. The feet should be washed once every day, even though one wears shoes.
A total bath should be taken if there were sexual relations.
He is now ready for prayer. He stands erect with his face and body towards the rising of the sun (the East) in the direction that the earth is rotating, and all the planets.
In this direction is the Holy City of Mecca, the only Holy place on the earth. From this direction do we look for Allah (God) and His Angels to come to judge the world.
He lifts his opened hands with his thumbs pointing towards his ear lobes. He says, "Allah is the Greatest" (Twice). "I bear witness that none deserves to be worshiped besides Allah (repeated twice) and that Muhammad is His last Apostle" (twice).
The regular Prayer Caller in the minarets of the Mosque calls the prayer from four (4) directions: East, West, North and South. He repeats "Allah is the Greatest" four times.
He begins his prayer by saying: "Surely I have turned myself to Thee being upright to Him who originated the heavens and the earth and I am not of the polytheists. Surely my prayer, my sacrifices, my life and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. No associate has He, and this am I commanded. Oh Allah, Thou art the King, there is no God but Thee. Thou art my Lord and I am Thy servant."
THE MEANINGS:
First, the cleansing of the body before asking prayer to the Most Honored and Wisest Person in the Universe, the Lord and King over all, none is His equal, shows respect for Him. He desires to show (in words) in his prayer that his words are clean and coming from a clean heart.
Should not that clean heart be in a clean body? If one is offered clean water in an unclean outer surface of a glass, will he accept it? This is so with a Muslim; he believes in cleanness internally as well as externally.
THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS TAKEN IN PRAYER
Standing erect to address our Superior is proper and again it shows respect and honor. The raising of the hands with the palms open in the same direction shows an act of surrender to the King of Kings and Lord of the Worlds and is coming before Him with clean and emptied hands.
The hands, the most active members of our bodies, play the part of evil and good for the body. They sometimes bear witness for, or against us. The Muslims declare that there is only One God, and none deserves to be worshiped except Him. This is true.
Almost all religious persons acknowledge that there is but one God who made the heavens and the earth. The Muslims declare in one of their prayers that they worship Allah (God) in the best manner, in the direction (East) in which He turns Himself -- towards to the holiest of places and one day the whole of the people of earth will be just as holy or holier. I would say holier.
This position also has another meaning; it refers to the lost and found people of Islam. Before their return they must turn in this direction with clean hands and hearts, bow in submission to the will of Allah alone with the righteousness that they may be welcomed to take their place again among their own people. This shall soon be made clear to my people here, that if holy war be declared, no so-called Negro could return to his native land and people unless he or she accepts Allah as his God and Islam as his religion.
"O you who believe, enter into submission one and all, and do not follow the footsteps of the devil. Surely he is your open enemy." Holy Qur'an 2:108
Here the Muslim is about to begin his prayer. He has cleansed all the exposed parts of his body, washed out his mouth, nose and ears. Standing upright, with his face towards his Holy City (Mecca), which is in the direction of sunrise, he lifts his cleansed hands up beside his head with the thumbs towards the lobes of his ears and declares that: "Allah is the Greatest" (four times), and that: "Nothing deserves to be worshiped but Allah."
What better preparation could have been made for the service of our God? With due respect and great honor, he is turned in the direction of sunrise in which our planet is carrying him at a speed of 1,037 1/3 miles per hour. Physically, he has turned his face in the direction in which he is traveling, and in which he looks forward to the light of day. From the same direction (sunrise) came all the spiritual light -- the holy prophets, the holy land and the holy cities of the earth.
With his cleansed hands open, with the palms towards the Holy Land and cities he signifies an open confession of his internal purity and entire submission to the will of Allah (God). Whatever evils he has committed with his hands, by washing them with the water of life he shows for this his heart's repentance for the evils that his hands have committed.
Now as the open cleansed hands show forth a sincere surrender to their Maker without concealing or hiding anything, so it is with the heart -- that only Allah (God) can see into -- is clear of the evils and desires forgiveness, for such evils have been washed from the heart, the ears from hearing them, and the eyes are closed to keep out the evil morals, for none can turn away from me the evil morals but Thee.
The above prayer is preferred as the morning prayer, but can be said by the individual any time that he likes. Here the prayer declares that he is strictly a believer in one God Who originated the universe (the Heavens and earth) and not in three, and further declares "that his sacrifice, life, and death are all for Allah (God) and to Him does he submit." He acknowledges his sins and asks protection against them, or rather against a future sin.