"According to Mu'adh ibn Jabal: 'A man gets no credit for a Prayer in which he deliberately notices those on this right and left.'"
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship
I'm hopping back and forth between the Quran and al-Ghazali's work, and for the worst of all reasons - sometimes I have one in front of me and sometimes I have the other in front of me. Do we really need any more proof of why I'm such a terrible "scholar," let alone a terrible scholar. This passage spoke to me because it it circles back to the issue of "monkey mind" and my propensity to lose focus during prayer. Again, I'm trying to be honest, and not just say what it sounds like I should say. If you're noticing the person praying next to you or envisioning yourself praying, then clearly you've lost the thread. Does this mean that your prayer is invalid? I'm sure al-Ghazali would say yes, and my Imam would be moved to say yes (but being a good soul he would make the point more gently). I'm not certain that your prayer in that distracted instance would be invalid, but it certainly wouldn't be very productive. To me prayer is a moment of something akin to meditation, where you are removing yourself from the madness and transience of this world and trying (trying) to focus on something more quiet and pure and eternal. If your mind wanders I can't believe that the entire process is worthless, but you're definitely not taking advantage of an increasingly rare moment to link up with something profound, even if that profundity is totally within you.
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship
I'm hopping back and forth between the Quran and al-Ghazali's work, and for the worst of all reasons - sometimes I have one in front of me and sometimes I have the other in front of me. Do we really need any more proof of why I'm such a terrible "scholar," let alone a terrible scholar. This passage spoke to me because it it circles back to the issue of "monkey mind" and my propensity to lose focus during prayer. Again, I'm trying to be honest, and not just say what it sounds like I should say. If you're noticing the person praying next to you or envisioning yourself praying, then clearly you've lost the thread. Does this mean that your prayer is invalid? I'm sure al-Ghazali would say yes, and my Imam would be moved to say yes (but being a good soul he would make the point more gently). I'm not certain that your prayer in that distracted instance would be invalid, but it certainly wouldn't be very productive. To me prayer is a moment of something akin to meditation, where you are removing yourself from the madness and transience of this world and trying (trying) to focus on something more quiet and pure and eternal. If your mind wanders I can't believe that the entire process is worthless, but you're definitely not taking advantage of an increasingly rare moment to link up with something profound, even if that profundity is totally within you.
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