Forgiveness 7

Salaam All

 

"And when My servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close to them. I respond to the prayer of every suppliant when they call on Me" Quran 2:186

 

Purification of your character is a wonderful side-effect, if you will, of Prayer. Prayer helps you forgive the “unforgivable”; love the “unlovable”; understand the “unfathomable”, have compassion for the “enemy”, and show kindness for the “unkind”.

 

Forgiveness is something many people talk about but never truly do. It’s hard! Deep wounds from being wronged can fester for lifetimes, and the negative energy of the act weighs heavy on one’s shoulders.

 

Psychological trauma can be buried deep. It can appear suddenly, viciously, without warning - and with devastating effects. The ability to truly forgive and let go is critical to psychological health. Forgiveness applies whether you need to forgive someone else, or yourself. The burden of the stress caused by psychological trauma is very heavy and can even manifest in the body as disease or illness. Prayer releases this stress from the physical body and the mind. 

 

As you go deep into prayer, you lose your sense of self. That is, you lose your identification with your struggles and pain. Thoughts of “I am upset; I am hurt; I am a victim; I am a survivor” and similar thoughts that keep the negative energy alive, dissipate.

 

You go beyond that, in prayer. You go beyond experiences and your interpretations of those experiences, to a state of ‘being’ - just being, not doing, not identified with your actions and experiences. In this state, love comes easily. Forgiveness and compassion are natural. By entering this state of unity, you purify yourself of thoughts that are ego-driven.

 

The awareness to truly see your own flaws is important for personal growth to occur. During prayer, you strip away the layers of rationalizations and excuses for why you act the way you do. This is difficult introspection, but ultimately as you see your own character flaws, you also begin to see yourself in others.

 

We all share aspects of the flaws that make us human. Understanding our flaws brings the ability to improve ourselves, and at the same time have compassion for others.

 

Intense spiritual training - specifically, the mental training of prayer, produces physical change that is permanent. The point of this is that prayer can help you reach a more enlightened state of being that is more loving, compassionate, kind, forgiving, understanding... and happy. If at the end of Ramadan you reach this state...then you can rest easy that your Ramadan was successful. If you continue to get angry quickly, still hurling insults...then....

 

Shamal...if your prayer tonight is led by someone who reads the Quran like a race car or without calmness and in a sweet tone none of the above will occur. Prayer must be meditative if we want God to respond to the prayer.