Surah 1-2 - YasSarNal QuR'aN

Al-Baqarah (The Cow) | CHANGE OF DIRECTIONforfeited as the days passed, and the time had come when the Muslims could emergeas independent and rightful claimants to that heritage, and move on to declare itsuniversal and eternal message to the rest of the world.It had become imperative for the Muslims to forge ahead in that way and toestablish their distinct identity as a religious force for advocating the central principleof God’s oneness, or tawĥīd. The symbolism of the Ka`bah as the exclusive andpermanent direction in prayer for the Muslim community was most important.Symbolism, ritual and form in religious practice can be easily misunderstood, iftaken in isolation from the ideals and principles of the religious faith itself. Physicalexpression of feelings and emotions is a natural human tendency, because man has amaterial as well as a spiritual aspect to his nature. Emotions and feelings are onlyfulfilled when expressed in a physical or tangible form, through which they arereleased to one’s happiness and satisfaction. This action brings about balance andharmony between the outer and inner aspects of the human soul, and provides ameans of fulfilling man’s desire to know what lies behind the apparent symbol andthe outward physical form.All Islamic religious rituals are based on this basic natural philosophy. Mereintention expressed privately, or abstract spiritual meditation, is not enough tosatisfy the requirements of religious worship. These involve the participation of thesenses, coordinated movement of the body, and position, direction, dress, andrecitation of set text, as well as abstention at specified times from food and drink. Inthis way, every movement and bodily action will have a religious significanceattached to it, while religious ritual assumes meaning and dignity, thus bringing souland body into full harmony.In those religious communities where this innate human craving for symbolismand physical expression and representation of religious devotion is misunderstood orabused, people have gone astray. Idolatry and the worship of inanimate objects suchas stones, trees, planets and stars, as well as animals and birds, can be traced to suchabuse and misunderstanding. Islam presents a unique, straightforward concept ofthe nature of God Almighty, who is not anthropomorphic and whose attributescannot be defined or represented in physical form. Nevertheless, physical means, orsymbols, such as the qiblah, that point man’s senses, heart, soul and body towardsGod are important. God cannot be restricted by the confines of space, but man needsthe dimension of space to direct and concentrate his devotion and feelings towardsGod. That is how the important need for the qiblah arises.Once that principle was understood, it was necessary for the new direction inprayer, qiblah, to be unique and exclusive to Islam, in order to underline Islam’sdistinction and eminence.145