Foreheads to the Ground, Hearts in the Heavens

There's a certain beauty in all the actions of prayer which holds a significant meaning. The way we keep our eyes trained to the ground before us. The manner of reciting the verses of Allah with attentive hearts and barely audible mutters. The recurrent motion of bowing our heads and body in submission before our Creator. All of these simple gestures we've been taught to perform from a young age have become robotic movements we unconsciously follow through without giving a moment's reflection. The importance of these actions are many, and only Allah knows the true reward we receive in exchange for little than an hour of our time everyday for Him. The most glaringly obvious reason which we can grasp, however, is the encouragement of humility. A second thought on the matter makes everything seem so clear. Our days in this self-centrist world are spent fawning over ourselves and our urgently critical affairs. "I need to complete so-and-so task today." "I look so good in that picture." "My possessions must be increased in number and grandeur." We're always caught up in these trivial pursuits of our own desires and self-pampering, raising our own significance above anything else that resides in this world. Until our feet are planted on the bristly fibers of our prayer rug. It is in that moment that we recognize that our worldly matters aren't as vital as we aggrandize them to be. We realize, as our heads are lowered in humility, that we are nothing in comparison to the greatness of our Lord and we regret the time we spent focusing on ourselves rather than the entity that allowed us to exist. And as we bend our knees and place our full bodies upon the very ground we will reside in one day, we achieve the humblest of positions. Our titles and reputations in this world dissipate as we reside in the most vulnerable and beautiful state possible: sajdah. Prostrating means we acknowledge Allah's power and our own weakness and therefore ask the One who has the ultimate control to pull us away from our sorrow and adversities. This act serves as a reminder that at the end of the day, our significance and capability pales in comparison to that of our Lord's and hence the tears fall in recognition of our helplessness. In this humbling deed, and the other acts of prayer, lies the key to breaking our arrogance and the attitude modern society has cultivated within our mindsets. So let us obey the words of our Rabb as He relays the cure to conceit in the verse, "And they fall down on their faces weeping, and it adds to their humility." (17:109)