Book: Practices, From Prayer to Pilgrimage

This book, Practices: From Prayer to Pilgrimage, is a compilation of fundamental lessons on rituals and practices in Islam. The book is meant to explain the philosophy and etiquette behind Islam’s most important rituals.

Along with chapters on prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage, the book looks at a number of other key practices, such as supplication and modesty. Finally, the book concludes with a chapter on the commemoration of the tragedy of Imam Hussain (a) as a form of devotion and commitment to God and His message.

Human beings are unique to the rest of God’s creation in that they are not only living but they have the faculties of intellect and reason. These faculties are what actually gave humanity the distinction of being chosen as the leaders of the world. Unlike animals, human beings are able to think abstractly, theorize, conceptualize and utilize their intellect and reason to advance themselves. Thus, as the religion of God that realizes this reality, Islam calls its believers to seek knowledge. God has made the measures of sophistication and greatness directly related to knowledge. In the eyes of Muslims, seeking of knowledge is linked to their belief in God as opposed to the philosophies of other faiths that fought and ostracized the scientists of their communities. The people that were once in the shadows of ignorance transformed toward the light of knowledge. It is from this spirit of seeking knowledge that we realize the importance of our practices and rituals – from prayer to pilgrimage.

About the Author

Sayyid Ali Al-Hakeem is an esteemed Muslim scholar, lecturer, and researcher residing in Dubai, UAE. Sayyid Al-Hakeem spent ten years studying at the Islamic seminaries of Qum, Iran. There, he completed his Advanced Seminars (a Ph.D. equivalent in Islamic seminaries) in Islamic Jurisprudence and Thought. He also received a Master’s degree in Islamic Thought from the Islamic University of Lebanon. Sayyid Al-Hakeem has dedicated the past twenty-two years of his life to service of the Muslim community in different capacities. He serves as a resident scholar in the Imam Hassan Mosque, Dubai. He is the Chair of the Religious Committee and the religious supervisor of the Charitable Deeds Committee of the Ja’afariya Endowment Charitable Council of Dubai.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Worship

Emulation….

The Marjaeya

Knowledge

Islam’s System of Worship

Prayer

Reverence

The Mosque

The Holy Quran

Supplication

Salawat

Fasting.

Bibliographic Information

Title: Practices, From Prayer to Pilgrimage

Author: Sayyid Ali Al-Hakeem

Translator & Publisher: The Mainstay Foundation

Language: English

Length: 232 pages

ISBN: 978-1943393947

Pub. Date: September 30, 2015