The following is the full text of the speech delivered on November 19, 2008 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to participants of the 17th National Prayer Meeting.
In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful
First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the dear brothers and sisters who are responsible for propagating prayers. This is a righteous and valuable deed everywhere, especially in universities. I pray to Allah the Exalted to bestow grace on all of you as well as on Mr. Gharaati and other people who are in charge of this great duty-and who started this propagation. Their efforts have become very successful today. I pray to God to grant them a long life so that they can continue carrying out this duty.
The importance of propagating prayers is due to the importance of prayers themselves. Islamic teachings-the Quran and the statements left from our Prophet (s.w.a.) and infallible Imams-have encouraged Muslims to pay attention to prayers. When we see the importance that has been attached to prayers, we realize that prayers have a pivotal role among the elements that contribute to physical, mental, individual, and social health of human beings. Performing all religious obligations and avoiding all unlawful acts come together to form the divine prescription that has been provided for man. This is to increase our psychological strength and to improve our status in this world and the hereafter-that is, our personal and social status. However, there are a number of key elements on this prescription, and maybe we can refer to prayers as one of those key elements. "Those who, if We establish them in the land, will keep up prayer." [The Holy Quran, 22: 41]. Faithful people, those who are engaged in jihad, and those who are devoted to promoting divine teachings act like this. When these people are established "in the land" and when they are given power, there are many things that they are expected to do: establish justice and many other things. But the first thing they do is to "keep up prayer". Why is it so important to perform prayers? What is the secret behind all this?
Performing prayers has been discussed in detail. There are irrepressible passions in all of us. These passions are like an elephant that has to be controlled, in which case the same human passions will bring about improvement. Passions are a set of human instincts which can help man achieve the peaks of perfection if they are controlled and utilized in an appropriate way. The only problem is that they are hard to control. These passions must be controlled. The reason why we have oppression in the world is that there are some individuals or groups of people who let their passions loose. That is also true of corruption, insult, loss of human dignity, and poverty. That is the reason why a great portion of the world population is deprived of divine blessings. It is the passions of oppressors that give rise to oppression. It is the arrogant people who disempower others. It is the greedy and ruthless people who cause poverty and hunger. All the corruption in the world from the beginning of time up to the present has been caused by human passions. Throughout history the more man has tried to utilize his talents, the more he has been involved in his passions. An oppressor who has an atomic bomb is different from the oppressor who has only a sword. These passions have grown more and more dangerous for human beings.
Human beings inherently suffer from these passions, and one day they have to control them. These passions could be controlled through remembrance of God, taking refuge in God, feeling dependant on God, feeling humble before the glory of God, and realizing one's ugliness compared to the absolute beauty of Allah the Exalted. These are all due to remembrance of God. A pious man-that is, one who is careful and exercises self-restraint-would not cause iniquity, oppression, and corruption. Remembrance of God is a factor that keeps pious people from these things. "Surely prayer keeps (one) away from indecency and evil." [The Holy Quran, 29: 45]. This does not mean that saying prayers limits people. Prayers just help us control our instincts. Some people believe this verse means performing prayers puts an end to corruption and unlawful acts. That is not the case. It simply means that your inner voice grows strong when praying and constantly warns you against corruption and unlawful acts. These constant warnings are certainly effective, and they make the heart humble. That is the reason why prayers have to be repeated during the day. We have been advised to fast once a year and go on hajj pilgrimage once in a lifetime. But prayers have to be repeated several times a day. That shows the importance of praying.
If we perform prayers, we will feel psychologically and socially secure. Prayers make our mind, body, and society secure. That is the inherent characteristic of prayers. That shows the effect of praying on society. That is the reason why prayers have been stressed so much. This is the duty of the organizations in charge of promoting prayers in different parts of our country, and among people from different social backgrounds - especially among our elite young students. I mean you are responsible for leading the country towards collective remembrance of God. Everyone-young or old, male or female-including government officials and those who are self-employed, must be careful about moral issues. When people are aware of God, they will do their job appropriately. Most of our sins are rooted in lack of vigilance. That is the reason prayers have to be repeated constantly.
These issues have been discussed in detail, and I have talked about them on several occasions. Prayers have a body and a soul. You must pay attention to this point. Each and every one of us, including myself, must pay attention to this point. Prayers have a form as well as substance. We must take care not to separate the soul and body of prayers from one another. That is not to say that the body of prayers is totally ineffective. Even the body alone is not totally devoid of positive effects. However, the type of prayer that has been emphasized by Islam, the Quran, sharia, the Holy prophet (s.w.a.), and the infallible Imams (a.s.) is one that has a body as well as a soul. The form of prayers has been tailored to their soul. Prayers are composed of different parts such as ruku, sajdah, prostration, and tashahhud. These various parts are there to fulfill the different needs that prayers are supposed to fulfill, and there is a secret behind each of the parts. Together, these parts form the body [form] of prayers. This form is very important, but attention to God is the soul of prayers. We must be aware of what we are doing. As I told you, when praying is not accompanied by attention to Allah, it is not as effective as it should be.
Sometimes people perform their prayers out of the force of habit. Sometimes we pray for the same reason as we, for instance, brush our teeth or exercise. But sometimes people pray in order to feel God's presence. That is a different issue. We are constantly before God, no matter if we are asleep, awake, unaware, or aware [of God's presence]. There are other times when we perform wudu and ghusl-becoming spiritually and physically clean as a result-and pray to God. That is how we must feel during prayers. As I told you, you must feel God's presence. That is the psychological status that prayers require. We must feel we are before Allah. Producing some vocal signals is not the purpose of praying. That is not what we have been advised to do. We can just say: "Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Master of the day of Requital...." [The Holy Quran, 1]. Then we have just produced some sound waves. Or we can perform prayers in a good voice, but inattentively. But we have still done nothing but produce some sound waves. That is not what we have been required to do. We have been required to feel that we are before God. We must talk to and from our hearts. These are all important. These are the soul of prayers, and we must pay attention to them when we pray, propagate praying, or teach it to other people.
Of course the soul and the form of prayers are inter-related. It is not possible to think that one can engage in dhikr instead of saying prayers. As I previously mentioned, the form and soul of prayers are inter-related. According to Islamic traditions, different positions have been recommended to us for different pasts of prayers. Of course, these positions are not obligatory. Rather, they are recommended acts. For instance, it has been recommended where we should look when we are standing or are during ruku and sajdah. In other traditions, it has been recommended that we should close our eyes when we are during ruku. Still in some others, we have been recommended to look ahead when during ruku. These positions will all help us be more attentive during prayers.
Let me refer to the importance of saying prayers, although we may not be able to truly explain the importance of prayers. Imam Sadiq (a.s.), while ill in bed and about to die, told his executor before his death: "Those who debase prayers are not among my followers." This means those who do not consider prayers as important.
Considering all the positive aspects of saying prayers, how much time do we usually spend per day saying our prayers? The obligatory prayers which we say during the day-17 rikaats-will take almost 34 minutes of our time in a day if we are to say our prayers attentively. Otherwise, the time we spend everyday on saying our prayers would be even less. Sometimes, we spend 15 or twenty minutes of our time watching TV advertisements while we are waiting for our favorite program to start. These advertisements are not useful for us, but we just watch them and lose twenty minutes of our time just to watch our favorite program. There are lots of similar cases in our life in which we waste time in a similar fashion-like when we wait for a taxi, a bus, a friend, or our professor in a class. In all these cases, we lose ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes of our time. We can spend these minutes praying which is a great and important act.
The youth should pay even more attention to praying than the others. Through praying, the hearts of our youth get enlightened and they gain more hope. Through praying, the youth gain spiritual vitality. These feelings are typical of the youth. They will gain a lot of vitality out of praying. If God Almighty bestows upon us the blessing to say our prayers attentively, we will realize that one will never get tired of praying if one prays attentively. When we say our prayers attentively, we can enjoy praying more than any other thing in the world. These are the results of attentive praying. Saying prayers inattentively and getting bored during prayers are among the characteristics of hypocrites. Of course, this does not mean that those who do not feel well while saying their prayers are hypocrites. God Almighty mentions the characteristics which are typical of hypocrites in the Holy Quran. There were some hypocrites during the Prophet Muhammad's (s.w.a.) time who did not believe in praying but would only pray for the sake of others. "And when they stand up for prayer, they stand up sluggishly-they do it only to be seen." [The Holy Quran, 4: 142]. When one prays without remembering God, praying would turn into a boring act for him. Even the four or five minutes which we spend to say four rikaats of prayers would seem like a very long time if we pray without remembering God during the prayers. If we pray for the sake of God and remember God during the prayers, we will see that time passes very fast during the prayers and wish we could spend more time praying.
This is something which our youth have to learn. If our youth learn this, praying properly will not be difficult for them when they reach our age. For those who are not used to praying properly, learning to do so will be possible but difficult when they reach our age. Praying properly means praying attentively and remembering God when praying. This means speaking to God from the bottom of one's heart while praying. If these points are observed, praying properly will turn into a habit and will not be tiring for anyone. In this case, one will continue praying attentively until the end of one's life.
A point was mentioned by Mr. Gharaati. This is a point which he has mentioned several times in the past and which I have always emphasized as well. The point concerns the insufficient number of mosques in densely-populated areas. This is a point which the administration officials who are present in this meeting-the honorable ministers present in this meeting-should pose in the cabinet meetings. In all the great building projects which are carried out inside the country, building mosques should be a priority. When building subway stations, train stations, airports, and satellite towns, building mosques should always be a priority. In places where more than one mosque is required, they should be built. Is it possible to develop a plan for a city without any streets? Is it possible to build a city without any streets? Building mosques is equally important. Building satellite towns without any mosques is not acceptable. Building mosques should be one of the prerequisites for issuing licenses for mass building projects.
Another point that was mentioned concerned the issue of praying during flights-both domestic as well as international flights. If possible, the flights should be scheduled in a way that makes it possible for the passengers to say their prayers on time. For instance, it should not be the case that a particular flight takes off before the dawn and lands after the sunrise. The flights should be scheduled to allow the passengers to say their prayers on time-either before the flight or after the flight has landed. However, if this is not possible, the required facilities should be provided for the passengers to say their prayers on the plane. Of course, locating the Qiblah is easily possible. This is something which pilots are well capable of. The same is also true of train schedules.
Our current situation is not comparable to that of the pre-Revolution era. Most of you may not remember the pre-Revolution era. Things were really strange, both here as well as in other places. I once took a trip to Iraq to make a pilgrimage to the holy shrines there. The train did not stop for morning prayers although we insisted a lot. Of course, it was not possible for the train to stop due to the schedule which had been previously set. As a last resort, I jumped out of the train while it was near a station in order to say my prayers. It was not possible for me to say my prayers inside the train because the train was very dirty. However, what I intend to say is that these points were not observed before the Revolution. Of course, the situation is quite different now, but I still expect more from you. The importance of prayers should be clarified for everyone.
I have said many times before to prayer leaders of the different cities-including Tehran-that enough facilities should be built inside our mosques. The sound of the call to prayers should be heard everywhere. All the manifestations of attention to prayers should be visible in an Islamic city-especially in cities like Tehran and the other large cities in our country. Both our people and the people who enter these cities should see these manifestations in our cities. The manifestations of an Islamic city should be clearly visible in our cities, just as they should in our architecture. The Zionists use the sign of the unlucky Star of David on all the buildings they construct in the world. This is one of their policies. Similarly, the manifestations of Islam should prevail in our architecture.
I hope Allah the Exalted will bestow success on you all. Being in charge of prayer-related affairs is not an insignificant task. Rather, it is of paramount importance. I hope all those who are involved in these affairs will be among those who are referred to as "those who keep up prayers" in the Holy Quran. In the Holy Quran, pure-hearted, faithful people are referred to as "those who keep up prayers". [The Holy Quran, 4: 162]. I hope you will all be among those who promote prayers, and I hope God Almighty will bestow upon us the blessing to benefit from prayers.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings