Guest Author - Serkan Tufan

God himself describes some of the most beautiful prayers in Quran from which we can take an example about how we should pray and what we should say. Here is a beautiful example from some verses in Chapter Al-i Imran (Imran family: Imran: The father of Mary, peace be upon him):

"190. Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are signs for men of understanding
191. Those who remember Allah while standing, sitting or (reclining) on their backs, and reflect in the creation of the heavens and the earth, (saying): ‘Our Lord! You have not created this in vain. Glory to You! Save us, then, from the chastisement of the Fire.
192. Our Lord! Whomever You cause to enter the Fire, him You indeed bring to disgrace, and there will be none to succour the wrong-doers.
193. Our Lord! Indeed we heard a crier calling to the faith saying: “Believe in your Lord”; so we did believe. Our Lord, forgive us our sins, and wipe out our evil deeds and make us die with the truly pious.’
194. ‘Our Lord, fulfil what You promised to us through Your Messengers, and disgrace us not on the Day of Resurrection; indeed You never go back on Your promise.’
195. Their Lord answered the Prayer thus: ‘I will not suffer the work of any of you, whether male or female, to go to waste; each of you is from the other. Those who emigrated and were driven out from their homesteads and were persecuted in My cause, and who fought and were slain, indeed I shall wipe out their evil deeds from them and shall certainly admit them to the gardens beneath which rivers flow.’ This is their reward with their Lord; and with Allah lies the best reward."

First we could understand that if God mentions believers' prayes in Quran, it means God teaches us how to pray by giving this example. Our prayers may follow the exact words from Quran, it might also be similar in context.

In the first verse(190), God gives the rationale for prayer, mentioning how everything in the universe remind us of our Lord.

In the second verse(191), God teaches us how we can pray and think about God all the times during the day by asking to pray while sitting, standing. If we are careful, we can notice that we are either standing, sitting or reclining during all day, which indicates that God is remembered all the time.

Also in (191-192), first Allah is glorified and respected by praising God, then it comes to ask something, which is asking protection from hell. Since it is most important for Quran that a person think about the end of his life and his eternal life in hereafter, in this verse the believers only ask protection from hell, not a worldly thing.

Again in (192-193) God and his absolute power and will is verbalized, the servant's weakness, sinfullness is stressed and God's forgiveness is sought. This is the perfect example of how we should be humble and respectful in our attitude towards God.

And in the last verse, 195, God is giving their prayers the most wonderful answer and it is promised for those who pray and live their life like those believers in the verse.