Ayatollah Khamenei elaborated on a narration attributed to Imam Baqir (a.s.) about the ephemeral nature of this world. The following is the text of the hadith commentary:
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“Daily prayers will stabilize sincere belief.” [Speaking in Arabic]
Then, he goes on by saying that daily prayers have certain outcomes: firstly establishment of sincere faith. It means acting for the cause of God; like performing prayers, which is pure remembrance of God, while it is not mixed with anything. Since, once a man starts to perform prayers, he engages in divine remembrance—that is, if it is done with attention; [but] if we get distracted, it won’t apply to us. However, for those who are attentive and truly feel they are present before God the Exalted, their prayers would be pure remembrance of God: both by words and actions. Standing before God, bowing down to God, prostrating before God, raising hands in prayers before God represent pure remembrance, and will increase sincere faith in one’s heart. This is one point.
“…will remove arrogance.” [Speaking in Arabic]
Daily prayers will also remove arrogance from human beings because we lie prostrate while performing prayers. Nonetheless, we should be cautious that in the prayers we perform, especially those of us who are prayers leaders and a group of people perform prayers following us, this should not take the form of having a senior position that might make us arrogant. While performing prayers, if someone thinks that he is leading the prayers and the crowd of 500, 1000 or 10,000 people are following him, this is in itself a cause of arrogance. If this does not happen, then the prayers will be anti-arrogance; because it involves bowing and prostrating and humbleness.
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