Understanding the vocabulary of salah

Day 2: Saturday

Lets look at some definitions

When ever we discuss terms, there are LINGUSTICS and TECHNICAL (FIQH) definitions

We will be more concerned with the linguistic definition of things

The word SALAH is the most basic word in this course.

We know it refers to the prayer we offer 5 times a day

There are 4 possible options for the root meaning of the word salah, where the word originates form, (the etymology)

1. 
   Salah in the linguistic roots means TO PRAY FOR MERCY. This is the opinion of the majority of the scholars. The word salah means to pray for mercy (A DUA ILAL RAHMA)
   
2. 
   The second option is the majority of the LINGUSTIC scholars. That salah comes from the word SILAH- which means connection. We know salah is a connection between the slave and Allah
   

The hips of the body is called ASALAWAAN (it’s the connection between upper and lower part of the body) Athletes tell you the core of the body is the hips, mid section. Similarly in classical Arabic they would have saying “ASLATIL FALAS” when horses are racing each other, when one horse comes in first and another is close second, the head of the horse of the 2^nd horse is aligned with the hips of the first horse so what they would say “THIS HORSE CAME IN A CLOSE SECOND”. This points to the congregational prayer. When we follow imam and do we go in sujood, we follow.

3. 
   Third option is the root means to BURN SOMETHING. There is a figure of speech SALAYTUL OOD BIN NAAR” I burned the wood with fire. If you try to bend wood it breaks and snaps but the only way to bend and mold wood is to heat I up in a fire. When a person would humble themselves before someone else, “I humbled the wood with fire, I took something that could not be bent and I was able to bend it, I humbled it”
   
4. 
   Minority opinion- it’s a foreign word that transcended into Arabic language and it means prayer. Many words in languages transcend into each other from another language. Example is jahanaam, its not an Arabic word per se, it is from another language. So the word SALAH was there before the language of Arabic. This shows the consistency of salah itself! So salah PRECEEEDS our ummah, not only that but THE SAME NAME, it was known by that name by the ummahs before us as well.
   

Which is closest to the truth? Allah knows best
The truth is somewhere in between all of these opinions

This just shows you the RICHNESS of the word;

Shows how powerful and comprehensive it is.
The TECHNICAL DEFINITION OF SALAH vs the fiqh definition of salah

There are a few things we need to get out of the way

The way the packets have been organized, you will see a lot of Arabic
We want to show translations DO NOT DO JUSTICE to the beauty of the Quran.

Translations do NOT do justice to them

As a Musim community there needs to be GROWTH, we STARTED with translations, but it seems like we never got past that! It seems that the translations was a excuse for us not to do more!. We need to move past that. We try to inspire people to go PAST the translations to see the beauty of the Quran.
Translation is provided so you can compare translation with its in depth meaning discussed in class.
The second major disclaimer s that whenever we talk about salah, the first word that pops in someone mind is FIQH, oh okay, we will study fiqh-NO we wont. Theres nothing wrong with studying fiqh, but we focus on QUALITY over quantity. Its better to study 1 ayah with understanding than pages just reading it.

We are focusing on ONE topic-not just fiqh.

FIQH DEFINITION ON SALAH- by worshiping Allah by certain knowledge. Lets look in the book
When you take the word salah and observe it in the Quran, its used as VERB, an action. The doer of the action many times is ALLAH himself! Can it mean worship then? NO, so we have to figure that out.

If Allah is ever doing the action of salah in the Quran, then realize it means TO SEND SPECIAL MERCY AND SEPCIAL BLESSINGS - that’s what it means.

33:43, Allah says “He is the one who does the act of salah on you”

2:157 Allah says about patient people “Those are the people upon them are the salawaat from their Lord”- this means special blessings, mercy

Some places in the Quran, the doer of the action of salah are the angels themselves,

33:56 “Most definitely Allah, and his angels, they “yasoolanah”, on the Prophet pbuh

What does it mean- means TO PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS FOR SOMEONE

40:7 “Angels are all glorifying and singing praises of their Lord, and they are SEEKING FORGIVENESS ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO HAVE BELEIVED. The angels are seeking forgiveness ON OUR BEHALF! When the angels do the act of salah means they are seeking forgiveness for us

If HUMANS are the doer of the action of salah- it means TO WORHISP.

4:103- Salah has most definitely been fixed

62:9 When the call is made for salah… Talking about JUMAM ASTHAAN