O brother! You ask me about the wisdom behind the designation of prayer to these particular five times. We point to only one out of so many of its wisdoms.

Indeed since just as the time for each prayer is an essential turning point, [and] since it is a mirror of mighty divine action and a reflection of a divine universal benevolence within that action; it is commanded to pray – which means a greater tasbeeh and tadhim, and thanks and gratitude for the whole of the boundless blessings gathered between two [prayer] times – during those times to The Powerful One of Glory. To understand to some extent this subtle and deep meaning, it is necessary to listen to “five subtle points” together with me.

First Subtle Point

The meaning of prayer is the purification and glorification and thanks to The Almighty Truth. that is,

• It is purification by saying Subhanallah in words and action before His magesty (Jalal)

• And glorification by saying Allahuakbar in words and action before His perfection (Kamaal)

• And saying Alhamdulillah and thanking [God] by one’s heart and tongue and body before His Beauty (Jamaal).

That is to say, purification and glorification and thanks are in the form of seeds of prayer. That is why these three things are found everywhere in a prayer’s movements and dhikrs.

And it is because of this that after prayer these sacred words are repeated thirty three times for affirming and strengthening the meaning of prayer; the meaning of prayer is affirmed by these concise conclusions.

Second Subtle Point

The meaning of worship is this: for a slave to see his flaws and weakness and poverty at the door to God’s mercy and prostrate before the perfection of Divine Godhead and the power of Divine Self-Sufficiency and Godly Mercy in awe and love.

That is, just as the sovereignty of Godhead wants worship and obedience, the flawlessness [and] purity of Godhead wants the slave to see his flaws [and] declare it through repentance and through purification (tasbeeh) and subhanallah [to declare] that His Lord is clear and distant from all flaws and pure and superior to the false ideas of those who are astray and holy and clear from all the universe’s flaws.

Also, the perfection of Godhead’s power wants the slave to say Allahu Akbar in amazement and awe before the greatness of the work of [divine] Self-Sufficiency’s (Samadaniyyah) power by seeing his own impotence and the weakness of creatures [and] to bow down in submission and seek refuge and trust in Him.

Also , the endless treasure of Godhead’s mercy wants the slave to express his own need and the poverty and needs of all the creatures through the tongue of request and prayer and to proclaim the kindness and favors of his Lord with thanks and praise and [saying] alhamdulillah [All thanks be to Allah]. That is, the actions and sayings of prayer encompasses these meanings and for these has been *set into place by Allah*.