Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/260



quoted for the practice of praying hastily, and so shortening the time taken by the devotion as to give Satan no chance of distracting the thoughts."

Al-Ghazali, however, believed in reverence and emphasized outward and inward preparation for this act of devotion. " Prayer, * says he, " is a nearness to God and a gift which we present to the King of kings even as one who comes from a dis tant village brings it before the ruler. And your gift is accepted of God and will be returned to you on the great day of judgment, so that you are responsible to present it as beautiful as possible." He quotes with approval a saying of Mohammed: " True prayer is to make one’s self meek and humble," and adds that the presence of the heart is the soul of true prayer and that absent-minded ness destroys all its value.

" True prayer," he continues, " consists of six things: the presence of the heart, understanding, magnifying God, fear, hope, and a sense of shame." He then treats successively these elements of true prayer, showing in what they consist, how they are occasioned and how they may be secured. We secure the presence of our hearts by a deep sense of the eternal. What he says in regard to God’s greatness may well be compared with such passages as the eighth Psalm, " What is man that Thou art mindful of him? " Our sense of shame is quick ened, he says, by remembering our shortcomings in