The etiquettes of prayer

In Islamic lifestyle, praying, has special traditions that observing them cause that the prayer is answered sooner and neglecting them perhaps make the prayer uninfluential.
References
A) In the name of Allah" at the beginning of prayer''
The Holy prophet said: “The prayer which is started in the name of Allah will not be rejected''.
B) Praising God before prayer
Muhammad ibn Muslim said: Imam Sadiq said:
“Stated in Imam Áli’s book (or letter) that praising comes before asking. So, when you pray to Allah, glorify Him first.” “How is that done?” I asked. He said: “You say: O You, who is nearer to me than my Jugular vein. O You, the Performer of what He desires. O You who stands between a man and his heart. O You who is in the Highest Horizon. O You who like Him there is naught”. [Reference: Makarim al-Akhlaq].
C) Recourse to Ahl al Bayt and sending Salawaat (Sending Blessings on the Holy Prophet & his family)
Normally, an unvirtuous person makes mistakes and commit sins and therefore he will of ashamed of Allah and guilty. Therefore if he has recourse to those who are the great men of God and close to Him because of that his prayers are answered sooner. In the Islamic Ummah no one is dearer to God than prophet and his family. The Holy prophet said:
.“Remember me at the beginning, during and at the end of your prayers”
Imam Sadiq also said:
The pray is continually concealed (hidden), until the blessings are sent on Muhammad and his family.
D) Humility and raising the hands up to the sky
It is narrated that the Holy prophet used to raise his hands up to sky at the time of prayer and litany:
“The Holy Prophet - peace be upon him and his family - (when praying) used to raise his hands and pray with crying, like a poor person who is requesting for food''.
E) Having a high opinion of the acceptance of prayer
Imam Sadiq said: “Pray with complete attention and the presence of the heart and then be sure of its acceptance''.
F) Insistence on prayer
Imam Sadiq narrates from the Prophet that he said:
“May God-Almighty bless the servant who seeks his needs from God-Almighty and pleads for their fulfillment through supplications whether his wants are granted or not. Then he recited the following verse:
.“(It may be that in prayer unto my Lord, I shall not be unblessed. (19:48
G) The presence of the heart
The presence of the heart is among the conditions of praying in which the one who prays must talk to God with complete attention. Imam Ali said: “God does not answer the prayers of those whose hearts are unaware” also the one who prays must be totally aware of the sacred essence of God and abandon everyone except him and have no hope in others to help him.
H) Praying in the right time and place
The time and circumstances that praying within them is closer to acceptance, are as follows: Prayer after the obligatory prayers, at the time of adhan, at the beginning of the noon, when the Quran is recited, when the winds blow and it's raining, with lenity, on the battlefield, The Witr (odd number) prayer, just before the dawn and at fajr and.... Praying is very important especially at dawn. The infallible Imams had paid attention to some of these times more than others and considered the possibility of its acceptance at those times more than other times. Among them are Ramadan month particularly Qadr nights, the day of Arafah, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Ghadir and Friday nights.
Imam Baqir regarding this topic said:
“Every Thursday night till the end of Friday, Allah calls his believing servants from the Upper Heavens, inviting them towards Himself and announces: 'Is there any believing servant who before the day breaks asks forgiveness for his sins and I forgive him, is there anyone who seeks anything from me and I grant his requirements, is there a believing servant, who cries for Me, and I respond''? '
The right place for praying has also an important role in the acceptance of prayer. The more a place is sacred, the sooner the prayer is to be accepted such as: the Holy Mecca, Medina, the Holy shrine of the Imams especially under the dome of the shrine of Imam Hussain, mosques, the Holy shrine of the offspring of Imams and the graves of the martyrs.
I) Generalizations and praying for everyone
Imam Sadiq narrates from the Holy prophet that he stated:
''If one of you wants to pray he should pray for all the people, because it is more essential to pray''.
D) Sadaqah before praying
Imam Sadiq says:
Whenever my father wanted to pray, he used to ask for it at noon, in a way that firstly he used to donate something and used perfume and moved towards the mosque, he used to pray there and ask God for its acceptance.
2. Observing the conditions of praying
In the Islamic lifestyle, praying has some conditions that their existence will lead to the acceptance of it.
The references
The most important of those conditions that are considered as the top ones based on Qur’anic verses and traditions of Ahl Al Bayt are as follows:
A) Knowing and recognizing God
The holy Prophet said: «God the Almighty says whoever asked me for something while he knows I am the one who hurts and benefits I will answer him''.
It is narrated by Imam Kazim that a group of people told Imam Sadiq A.S.: “Why our prayers are not answered?” Imam said:
.«You are calling someone that you do not know Him.»
B) Acting according to the knowledge
Some people asked the commander of the Faithful about the verse “Call to me and I will answer you” that if this verse exists why our prayers are not answered? He answered:
“Because your hearts betrayed in three stages, you recognized God but you didn’t fulfill His right the way you were obliged to it; therefore that recognition was not useful for you… in this situation how you expect the answering of your prayers? While you have closed the doors of praying and its ways?''
C) Gaining wealth in a Halal way
Imam Sadiq says:
''Whoever wants the acceptance of his prayer should gain wealth in Halal way and pay the other people’s right. The prayer of a person who gains wealth in an illegal way or the one who doesn’t pay the rights of people will not be answered by God''.
D) Being disappointed of anyone except God
According to verse 186 of Surah Baqarah It also can be noticed that one who prays must only have recourse to God and being disappointed of all means and people. Based on this it says: "when he calls upon Me" the one who hopes in everything except God, cannot call God in his prayer and the Lord has not promised him to accept and answer his prayer.
Being despaired of anyone except God, makes the one who prays more determined to have recourse to God who is the origin of existence and asks for his needs more sincerely. Imam Sadiq says:
If one of you wants that God gives him what he prays he must be disappointed of everyone except God and only hope that the Glorified God can answer his prayers''.
E) Praying together
One of the other factors that influential in the answering of praying is doing it together and this shows the importance which Islam has given to society. One reason is that if the number of people increases, the prayers are answered sooner by God because of any individual and the virtues that they have in themselves. Imam Sadiq said: “Whenever an unpleasant event happened that made my father sad, he used to gather together his wives and children and then he prayed to God and they used to say Amen''.
3. Avoiding the obstacles to the answering of prayer
As some factors accelerates the answering of prayer, in the Islamic lifestyle, some reasons also prevent the answering of them.
The indicators
These obstacles which are the top ones include:
A) Sin
Sin is man's oldest and dangerous enemy and the barrier which repels him from material and spiritual blessings and is considered as a great obstacle to the way of perfection. The sinner's prayer are not answered and his cries are not important. Imam Baqir says:
“Truly a servant asks God for a worldly need in his prayer and this affair is done by God that he answers his prayer in a short or long time, then at that time man commits a sin therefore God tells the angel who is responsible for answering his prayer that do not answer his prayer since he has ignored my dissatisfaction and has entailed the denial of his prayers''.
B) Cruelty and oppression
God revealed to the Prophet Jesus that: “Say to the chiefs of the Children of Israel ... know that I am not responding to your prayers and anyone who is cruel to my servants” that is the one who has oppressed another person.
C) Usury
As pointed out earlier, as the lawful sustenance leads to the acceptance of prayer in short time, usury is an obstacle to the answering o prayer. The Holy Prophet says:
''The prayer of a person whose sustenance is Haram is worthless for forty days and his prayers are not answered for forty days and equal to the amount that his body has been grown by Haram food, he deserves the hell fire''.
The Holy Quran
The Quran is the last divine book which was revealed to the Holy Prophet of Islam and became a way for the only God to talk to his servants. This "greater weight", is an important component in life; because whatever was needed for the salvation and redemption of humanity has been stated in it.
One of the signs of servitude and worship to God in the Islamic lifestyle is intimacy with God's word and the Holy Quran. "Affability" lexically has the opposite meaning of "terror". When someone is accustomed to something, it means that he is calm because of it and has no fear. Imam Ali says: «If you want to have an intimate companion The Koran is enough. »
In addition to these statements, recommendations of the Quran to read, recite, reflection and expressing the conditions of them all indicate the importance of this issue.
Intimacy with the Holy Quran, means reading it again and again and reflecting on the Quranic concepts and understanding them''.
Regarding this topic Imam Khamenei says:
The truth is that we are still far apart and far away from the Qur'an. Our hearts must be close to the Quran. Our lives must be familiar with the Koran. If we consider Quran as our companion and grasp Qur’anic teachings with our hearts, our live and our society will be inspired by them; it will need no pressure and no policy. In fact our hearts, lives and minds must be inspired by Quran.
The indicators
1. Recitation
"Recitation" in the Quran and Hadith lexicon means reading and studying, to the extent that the reader must know the meanings of words and sentences conventionally and it does not only refer to pronunciation of letters and words. Reflection on the Quran verses and the Infallibles’ narrations shows this issue very clearly: “And [it is] a Qur'an which We have separated [by intervals] that you might recite it to the people over a prolonged period. And We have sent it down progressively” Surat Al-Isra [verse 106].
The Holy Prophet said: “You read the Quran until it prevents you from [the sins of]. So if you did not prevent, [it is as if] you have never read it.” It means that by following the Quran and being addressed by it regarding the commands and prohibition the result is a kind of recitation that pronunciation is along with understanding the concepts.
Based on the Holy Qur'an and Hadith, "recitation" is a kind of reading which results into action. The Holy Prophet has interpreted the “recite it with its true recital” Surat Al-Baqarah [verse 121] as “obey it with its true obedience.