The meaning of prayer

Prayer is a kind of worship which has been particularly focused in a way that in narrations it is mentioned with interpretations like as means of achieving proximity to God for the pious, “The prayer is a means of attaining God's nearness for every righteous human being”, the pillar of the religion “The prayer is the pillar of religion”, and if it is accepted so that other deeds are accepted as well “If they are accepted, all his other deeds shall be accepted too and if they are rejected, the other deeds shall be rejected too''.
1. Indicator: Establishing the prayer
Various interpretations have been mentioned in the Qur'an regarding saying prayers:
1. Establishing the prayer instead of reciting it: “Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer” Surah Al-Baqarah [3].
2. Standing for prayer: “And when they stand for prayer, they stand lazily, showing [themselves to] the people” Surat An-Nisa [verse 142].
3. Coming to prayer: “and that they come not to prayer except while they are lazy” Surat At-Tawbah [verse 5]. ]
4. Completing the prayer: “And when you have completed the prayer” Surat An-Nisa [verse 103].
Meanwhile, the interpretation of establishing the prayer is considered as one of the indicators of jihadi-revolutionary Islamic lifestyle; a revolutionary believer by following Imam Hussain A.S. as it is mentioned in Arafa Dua: “I bear witness that verily you established the prayers” and by establishing the prayer, he will establish the religion.
The meaning of the word Iqama
The term "Iqama" means establishing, maintaining and doing everything right and completely.
Establishing the prayer is different from reciting and doing it. In fact the interpretation of establishing the prayer is superior to saying prayer individually and refers to the fact that the believers not only pray but they also try to establish this strong relationship with God always and everywhere. Here the prayer means that it should be done eligibly not only reading it (without attention) in a way that its goal which is forbidding the evil and remembering God is reached.

Imam Khamenei says:

It seems that the establishment of prayer, is something beyond just saying it; that is it is not just about establishing the prayer by an individual, but one have to move towards the path that prayer invites man to it and he should also help other people to move in this path too.
As if establishing prayer is that man diligently makes the atmosphere of his life and the life of others inspired by prayer; he should make it a divine atmosphere and invite others in the right path too.
Therefore, establishing prayers has a superior meaning to personally praying and it means a restoring, keeping alive, dignity and valuing the prayers in the community and among the public; in other words, prayer in the culture of divine revelation is the pillar of religion; hence, maintaining and observing it is interpreted as "establishing"; because pillar is established not recited.

The indicators

In Islamic lifestyle establishing prayer means doing it eligibly, not only reciting it without attention which has no results. The basic question is that what are the conditions of prayer?
A) Establishing prayer with happiness, not saying prayers with weariness
The Holy Quran: “Indeed, the hypocrites [think to] deceive Allah, but He is deceiving them. And when they stand for prayer, they stand lazily, showing [themselves to] the people and not remembering Allah except a little,” Surat An-Nisa [verse 142]. This verse refers to a kind of harm that can come to prayer that is saying prayers with weariness that God considers it as the signs of the hypocrites; but they want to show other people that they pray so they read it with hypocrisy.
In order to say our prayers without weariness, we should know we are standing in front of the Creator while praying, the only God that is great, the beneficent, and the merciful.

Imam Ali says:

Don’t be weary in prayer; Don’t think about yourself since man is standing in front of his Creator while he is praying and the value of the prayer is according to the amount of his attention and whether he is praying from the bottom of his heart or not''.
B) Giving importance to prayer and its virtuous time; not negligence in it Maintaining the prayer and its times are among the features of establishing the prayer in the revolutionary believer's lifestyle. Maintaining the times of saying prayers is mentioned in two verses of the Holy Quran, one as a singular noun: “And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer” Surah Al-Ma'arij - Verse 34 and the other one as a plural noun: “And they who carefully maintain their prayers” Surat Al-Mu'minun [verse 9].
What we understand from the narrations and interpretations is that maintaining the prayer means paying attention to the etiquettes and conditions of praying regarding time, place and also the number of its units; the etiquettes which both protects the appearance of the prayer from turpitude and also reinforce the spirit of the prayer which is the complete attention in prayer. They also remove the barriers regarding behaviour which prevents prayer from being accepted in a way that it observes the characteristics which are influential in the perfection of a prayer. On the other hand the Holy Qur'an has criticized disregarding the prayer and its times: “So woe to those who pray * [But] who are heedless of their prayer -* Those who make show [of their deeds] Surah Al-Ma'un [107: 4-6]. By Referring to the narrations, those who disregard prayer times are mentioned as “heedless". Yunus ibn Ammar asked Imam Sadiq: "Does carelessness mean the devil's temptation?" The Imam said: This only strikes those who are negligent to their prayers and leave saying prayers in its first time.
So the heedless people are those who are ignorant of the prayer and do not pay attention the prayer times and are not afraid of establishing it with delay whether they never read it or sometimes refuse it, whether they let be without any virtue or recite a void prayer by not being aware of its conditions, rules and issues related to it.
In jihadi-revolutionary Islamic lifestyle the virtue of establishing the prayer in its first time rather that establishing it in other times is much superior to wealth and children. A revolutionary believer gives importance to saying prayers in their first time unless he is sick or he is faced with a special problem or has another reason. For this reason, immediately after hearing the call to prayer which announces the establishment of prayer from God, he stops all his work, and stands up to pray.
Imam Ali in his treaty to Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr when he was going to Egypt as his governor wrote:
Say prayers at the appointed time. Do not say it earlier for the sake of (available) leisure nor delay it on account of pre-occupation. Remember that every act of yours is dependent on your prayer.
C) Considering meanings and secrets of prayer
When a revolutionary believer is praying he should pay attention to this point that he’s standing in front of God and he is talking to Him; therefore he should pray with complete attention so that the devil will not dare to distract him.
The good prayer is that man establish it with complete attention and respect, he must know what he says and with whom he is talking while praying. God says:
O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying” Surat An-Nisa [verse 43].

In a narration, Imam Baqir A.S. says:

Do not perform prayer while in a state of sluggishness, sleepiness and weariness because such a prayer is that of hypocrites because the Glorified God has forbidden the believers to establish the prayer while they’re impaired''.
Regarding the importance of establishing the prayer regarding its meanings and concepts the Holy Prophet p.b.u.h says:
In fact man prays while one-sixth or one-tenth of it is not accepted, except the amount that he has established with complete attention.
D) Humbleness and the presence of the heart in prayer
Establishing the prayer with humbleness is one of the characteristics of saying prayers in jihadi-revolutionary lifestyle; “Certainly will the believers have succeeded* they who are during their prayer humbly submissive” Surah Al-Mu'minun [23: 1-2].
Humbleness in prayer and supplication means to have complete attention while doing them. This feature which is also interpreted as the presence of the heart is that man must know what he is saying, what he is doing, he should know he is standing in front of God, he must pray with the presence of the heart and complete attention and praying must be a great action in his view. The first status of this humbleness is in the soul which influences the body too and in this situation the heart, eyes and all the body organs are praying.
The holy prophet saw a man who was playing with his beard while praying, then he said;
.“''If his heart was humble also his body limbs were certainly humble
Regarding the manners of the presence of the heart, Imam Ridha A.S. says:
When you want to pray, do not establish it with disinclination, weariness, sleepiness, hastiness and thinking about something else; that is at first put yourself in the spiritual status of establishing it like the real people who pray and become ready for praying. Establish a prayer in which you have the presence of the heart and peace''.
Regarding the stages of the presence of the heart, Imam Khomeini says:
The first stage of the presence of the heart is that the one who prays must generally notice that prayer is the abode of God, it is a kind of recourse to the divine names, like a person who writes and ode to praise someone and a child reads it. This child understand this ode to the point that it is for praising someone. The second stage is that the heart is fully present while praying; that is the one who prays should be aware of the elements and recitals of the prayer and pay attention to them. The third stage is the presence of the heart in the worshipped whether in the form of the manifestations of the actions or the divine names and attributes or in the form of manifestations regarding the essence of the God; that is the mystic wayfarer must know and have the intuition that all the actions, attitudes and the essences are all the manifestations of Him.
E) The continuance in prayer
Another feature of establishing the prayer in jihadi-revolutionary Islamic lifestyle is “continuance” in prayer. Surah Al Ma'arij mentions the features of those who pray as:
].“Those who are constant in their prayer” Surat Al-Ma'arij [verse 23
According to the narrations, the meaning of constancy in prayer is the continuance in Dhikr (remembrance); because prayer is considered as one of the best examples of remembrance. So those who are constantly praying are those who not only establish their obligatory prayers but also they do not remember the prayer, its time and its other valid conditions and they don’t leave any of their prayers, they always try not to make their established prayer void and they pray while they have Halal (lawful) food, clothing, place and thought. They always remember God and this remembrance is equal to prayer. If such a prayer is part of the plan for life and is performed within its limits, prevent man from evil.
C) Pioneer-ship for attending congregational prayers
Pioneer-ship for attending congregational prayers in one of the signs of giving importance to prayers. Islam has emphasized that the believers worship God together in a single queue. The Holy Quran says about it :
“And establish prayer and give zakah and bow with those who bow [in worship and obedience].” Surat Al-Baqarah [verse 43]

Imam Sadiq A.S. says;

.“Decreed upon you is praying in the mosques”
Regarding this topic the Holy Prophet said:
''Anybody who walks towards the mosque for praying, ten good deeds is recorded for every step he takes and his ten sins are forgiven and ten degrees is added to his status (in Paradise) and anyone who constantly participates in congregational prayer passes the Sirat Bridge like a lightening. ”
G) The avoidance of prohibitions
The Holy Quran considers the individual and social role of prayer in denying the evil and the greatness of God’s remembrance as one of the most basic and obvious effects of prayer in jihadi-revolutionary lifestyle and says:
Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater” Surat Al-'Ankabut [verse 45].
Immorality” here means the obvious evil deed and “wrongdoing” is the thing which is not recognized by the common sense, the right front and the religion and it is against them. The more a prayer enjoys the conditions of perfection and the spirit of servitude, the more it prevents from immorality and wrong doing''.
A young man from Ansar used to participate in congregational prayer with the Holy prophet; however he used to do evil and wrong deeds. This story was reported to the Holy Prophet and he said: “Surely one day his prayers will prevent him from evil deeds”, soon after that young man repented of his deeds and stopped doing them.
According to a hadith by Imam Sadiq, this effect of the prayer is the criterion for the acceptance or rejection of it, as Imam Sadiq says:
''Anyone who likes to know that if his prayer is accepted or not, must notice that his prayer has prevented him from evil deed or not, therefore the more it has prevented him from evil deeds, the more his prayer is accepted''.