Why is Congregational Prayer Necessary?
Someone asked me a question
if it is permissible to offer Salat behind a Deobandi.
I answered him.
When I answered him, the Barelvi clerics made numerous videos against me.
What was my answer?
I was asked if offering Salat behind a Deobandi is permissible.
My answer was that the prerequisite for Salat is the presence of the Spiritual Heart.
If you have attained the presence of the Spiritual Heart,
your heart has been initiated with God's name,
then you can offer Salat behind anyone.
Your Salat will be accepted.
As it is the heart which takes your Salat to God.
Now I'd like to say one more thing to those clerics who posted videos [against me].
Please explain why it is necessary to offer congregational prayer behind an Imam?
Just explain this.
Once I explain it to you, offering Salat behind a Barelvi will also be completely useless.
The Imams of the past used to be anointed by Prophet Mohammad.
An Imam would be appointed through a Ghous uz Zaman.
And the Salat of people would reach God through that Imam.
This is why it was necessary; if someone did not attain the presence of the Spiritual Heart
but if he offers Salat behind an Imam anointed by Prophet Mohammad,
then his Salat would reach God.
This is why congregational prayer is necessary.
The clerics only know that you earn 27 times the reward for offering congregational prayers.
They are only after rewards.
They are unaware of the reality.
Now if congregational prayers are being carried out
behind an Imam who is appointed by Prophet Mohammad
if a worshipper has not attained the presence of the Spiritual Heart,
offering Salat behind such an Imam will help his Salat reach God.
This is the benefit of it.
Now the question is if a Barelvi has also not been appointed
forget about a Deobandi -
If a Barelvi has not been anointed by Prophet Mohammad
then what is the point of offering Salat behind a Barelvi Imam?
So what I said was correct
if you have the presence of the Spiritual Heart, you don't need an Imam
because an Imam is necessary for those who don't have the presence of the Spiritual Heart
so that their Salat reached God through the Imam.
An Imam is necessary for those who have not attained the presence of the Spiritual Heart.
Because it is a prerequisite for Salat; if you do not have the presence of the Spiritual Heart, find such an Imam
who has attained the presence of the Spiritual Heart and is leading Salat.
But if you attain the presence of the Spiritual Heart, you do not need an Imam.
Furthermore,
when your sub-spirits come out -
you have seven subtleties and nine sub-spirits; 16 souls altogether
and counting the body makes it 17
So even if you offer Salat alone, the 16 souls will offer Salat with you.
So it's a congregational prayer, isn't it?
This is why a Sufi's Salat is congregational even if he offers it alone.
A Sufi's...[audience: Salat is congregational]
even if he offers it alone.
A Sufi can offer Salat behind anyone.
This is why I said
that the prerequisite of Salat is the presence of the Spiritual Heart.
If you attain the presence of the Spiritual Heart
you can offer Salat behind anyone, even a Deobandi and it will be accepted.
Why will it be accepted?
Because you are not dependant on that Deobandi Imam.
Your own Spiritual Heart will take your Salat to God.
Now, when you become an Enlightened Heart
even if you offer Salat alone
your Salat
reaches God.
Worry about your Salat reaching God not about offering Salat in a group.
Worry about your Salat reaching God.
You must not stop offering Salat after becoming an Enlightened Heart.
You must offer Salat.
And when God imprints his name onto your heart
it's imperative you do not stop offering Salat.
When you became an Enlightened Heart, you became a Momin (devout believer).
What do you become? [Audience: Momin]
You become a devout believer.
This is the next stage after servitude (worship)
you have reached the stage of Faith.
You have come under the divine sight.
So offering Salat will help you progress [spiritually].
If you are lazy in terms of Salat, your progress will be halted.
However, even at this point, God is lenient upon a devout believer.
When God writes his name upon your heart
you will not be a devout believer but a Friend of God.
Once you become a Divine Friend
you absolutely cannot stop offering Salat.
God would be offended.
Right?
Once God writes [his name on your heart], you must not skip Salat.
You must offer Salat even in extreme illness.
Not for a long time while you are ill, just a short period.
So for how long?
You have so many entities inside you.
You need to strive to extract them as soon as possible otherwise you will have to offer the five prayers all your life.
Be hasty in extracting your sub-spirits; enlighten all your subtleties.
Once they are enlightened and extracted, have them offer Salat and you can go to sleep.
Sultan Haq Bahu said, 'Some are awake while asleep and some are asleep while awake'.
Some people are asleep
but considers them to be awake.
While some are awake and worshipping
but God considers them to be asleep because their hearts are heedless.
One day, Samundari Baba -
He said
'A dervish came to me in the jungle
and he challenged me to see who can worship more.
And the competition began.
Suddenly, there was a shriek of an animal
and the concentration of the dervish was disturbed and he ran away'.
Samundari Baba said, 'I was fearless'.
'I stayed there'.
A while later
he met another dervish in the jungle.
And he also challenged Samundari Baba to see who can worship more and he agreed.
The dervish and Samundari Baba perfomed ablution.
They both did.
The dervish who came this time took a nap after performing ablution.
while Samundari Baba started worshipping.
After a couple of hours of worshipping
he also relaxed because he thought since the other guy is sleeping, he is guaranteed to win.
The dervish awoke in the morning
and said, 'Alright, let's find out who won'.
Samundari Baba laughed and said, 'You were sleeping the whole night'.
'At least I did two hours worth of worship last night'.
He said, 'I was asleep but my spiritual system was wide awake'.
'My inner faculties were engaged in worship'.
Similarly, when your spiritual system is revived
When your spiritual system is revived, it will do the same.
Some people complain that many saints did not offer Salat
Why do they say this?
Because they think that Salat is offered by the body only.
Now tell me, is the body greater or the soul?
Once your soul is revived and becomes capable of offering Salat
then you will engage the soul in Salat, won't you?
And once this happens
the soul's Salat takes place in the House of Anointment.
And when it is time to pray
and you become a hindrance in the way of the soul going to the House of Anointment
and go to the mosque instead, it would be a great sin.
So what should you do?
When it is time to pray, you simply close your eyes and send the soul to the House of Anointment.
People will judge you by your body and say you don't worship.
It is said that the Salat of a dervish is offered in the higher realms
well, it won't be the body that goes to the higher realms which you are looking at and judging.
It is the inner faculty that reaches the higher realms.
You cannot tell whose souls have reached the higher realms
but you will meet them up there once your souls reach this stage.