Sol-laa is about doing deeds

Everything that a person does should be for God. We are not asked to perform any rituals or to pray to Him or to worship Him. All that is enjoined upon us is to believe in God, be sincere in serving Him by upholding our commitments and do good works. Ritual prayers and worship are the pagans’ shortcut to give idol-worshippers a sense of satisfaction that they have discharged their obligations to God when what is really required of them is that they discharge their Sol-laa amongst fellow humans and themselves.

According to the Reading, the main essence of the message revealed to Abraham and Moses is:

No burdened soul will bear the burden of another¹, and every person is responsible for what he or she does. For whatever things that they do, it will be witnessed, and they will be fully repaid. (53:36-41)

In other words, each minute thought and deed is taken into account and recorded. God is recording all the deeds (and not the regimented mutterings) of His servants.

Since We created the human being, We are fully aware of his innermost thoughts. We are closer to him than his jugular vain. The two energies at right and left are recording all his deeds. Not a single utterance does he utter without a vigilant watcher. (50:16-18)

The majority of people do not believe God is omnipresent and that He can be with every human all the time, twenty-four hours a day. However, He knows every single thing a person does, even his innermost thoughts. No one person can hide anything from the Supreme Being. Everything is recorded. In the Hereafter, they are told to read their own record of what they have done to themselves.

You will see every congregation humbled. Every congregation will be invited to view its own record. Today you will be paid for your deeds. This is the record pronouncing the truth about you. Indeed, We have recorded all your deeds. (45:28-29)

Ritual prayer, unfortunately for those who put their faith in it, is not in the category of good deeds. What it is, is a form of religious worship, which goes against the essence of God’s revelations.

It is absurd to imagine a world where regimented prayers have moral precedence over good deeds. Besides, one can look around the world and see many places where people regularly perform ritual prayers and where serious crimes abound: rape, sexual abuse, cheating, stealing and corruption. These people ignore the priorities:

You shall uphold what was prescribed, and also those who repented with you, and not transgress. Indeed, He knows whatever your deeds are, watching. Do not be inclined to those who are wicked – they will make you suffer the Fire, and there is none for you except God as a protector. Then you will not be helped. And uphold your commitments (aqimi-Sol-laa-ta) through the ends of the day and the parts from the night. Indeed the good deeds nullify the bad. That is the remembrance for those who want to remember. You shall be steadfast. God never fails to reward the righteous. (11:112-114)

The verse clearly says we are to uphold what has been prescribed, and not transgress. God is recording all deeds. People must fulfil their commitment to do righteous deeds through the ends of the day and parts of the night. The concept is simple. Good deeds will nullify the bad and this is one way to remember God. Deeds can never be fulfilled through a fixed number of ritual prayers. If the concept of deen is correctly understood, it is clear to the devout Muslim that it is incumbent upon him to commit to these instructions, uphold and observe them. A simple definition of righteous deeds is clearly prescribed in the Reading and it does not include the act of worship or the performance of religious rituals.

Righteousness is not the turning of your faces towards the east or the west. But righteousness is to believe in God, the Hereafter, the energies, the Scripture and the prophets. And to donate of one’s wealth despite one’s love thereof to relatives, the orphans, the needy, those who are in hardship, to beggars, and to free mental enslavement by upholding the commitments and keeping them pure. And to keep the promises that are made, and to remain steadfast in the face of adversity, hardship, and war. These are truthful, these are righteous. (2:177)

The problem arises when a person’s mind is pre-conditioned to believe that Sol-laa means ritual prayer. Thus, righteous deeds are totally ignored. One so conditioned often insists that Sol-laa does mean ritual prayer, although a contextual study of the subject demonstrates that such a position does not make any sense.

Surah 107 is a very short chapter with only seven verses the name of which is Charity. A person who commits himself to the prescribed deen should not neglect his commitment to do charity and good deeds as a way of life.

Do you not notice those who are lying with the deen? They neglect the orphans. They do not advocate the feeding of the poor. Therefore curses be on those who are obliged, while heedless of their commitments. They only show off, and they are averse to charity. (107:1-7)

The religionists and the u’lema believe that God is cursing² the people who pray ritually. They then teach their values to others who will listen without question – just as they did. Compare this rendition with that sanctioned by the religionists’ twisting culture:

Do you know who the rejecters of faith are? They neglect the orphans. They do not advocate the feeding of the poor. Therefore a curse be on those who pray ritually, while heedless of their ritual prayers. They only show off. And they are averse to charity. (107:1-7)

All seven verses are interrelated: taking care of the orphans, feeding the poor and carrying out charity work can only be fulfilled by the deeds of a committed person. The religionists say God is cursing those who pray whilst heedless of their prayer. They encourage their followers to pray ritually in order to solve the problem of the orphans, the poor and in lieu of charitable work. Instead of committing themselves individually and collectively to taking care of orphans, the poor and to doing charity from their own earnings, the Arabs trained their priests in the Arab religion to become income generators. They take illegal collections from the people by corrupting the word zakaa in the Reading to mean religious tithes.³ The Reading spells out other examples of good deeds to be observed by those who are committed to the prescribed way of life from God:

Successful indeed are the believers, who are upright in their commitments (Sol-laa-ti-hem) those who avoid vain talk, those who keep it pure, they guard their chastity except with their wives, and with those who rightfully belong to them do they have sex without being blamed. (23:1-6)

They are trustworthy when it comes to deposits entrusted to them, or the promises they make, and they constantly uphold their obligations (Solawa-ti-hem) (23:8-9)

In this verse it clearly says that those who avoid vain talk, guard their chastity and commit themselves to these values as a way of life are the successful believers. Additionally, they uphold their obligations diligently in fulfilling what they have promised and they are trustworthy when it comes to deposits entrusted to them. In other words, the Reading emphasises sincerity and honesty through deeds – not through ritual prayer. Unfortunately, we seldom see these good values in the Arab religion. Be that as it may, each time the word Sol-laa or the derivatives from this root word appears in the Reading, it appears in the context of good deeds that people are encouraged to uphold.

A further example:

They fulfil their promises to God and they do not violate their covenant. They linked (ya-Siluu) with it what had been commanded so that it binds (ai-yu-Sol-laa) as they are concerned about their Lord and they fear the dreadful reckoning and they steadfastly persevere in seeking their Lord’s grace. They uphold the commitments (Sol-laa-ta) and they give to charity from Our provisions to them secretly and publicly. They counter evil with good. They have deserved the ultimate abode. (13:21-22)

Here the two letter root Sod Lam signifies the fundamental meaning of ‘link’ for the word ya-Siluu whereas ai-yu-Sol-laa denotes the ‘binding’ and Sol-laa-ta is the proactive ‘commitment’. A person upholds his covenant with God by committing himself in doing the deeds that binds him. The meaning of ‘aqor-mus-Sol-laa-ta’ in this context is to ‘uphold the commitment’ for the covenant. It is ridiculous to assume that we uphold our covenant with God just through ritual prayers everyday.

In 23:1-9 quoted earlier the religionists has deliberately corrupted the meaning of the words ‘Sol-laa-ti’ and ‘Solawa-ti’ in these verses to mean ‘ritual prayer’. They trained their blind followers to ignore the context of the subject completely. Instead, they encourage their followers to concentrate on ritual prayers.

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1 This is the fundamental concept of God’s orderly way of life sanctioned to all prophets. Unfortunately Rabbis, pope, priests, monks and mullahs say they can cleanse people’s soul. Only God can cleanse people including the freaks in religious garbs. In 33:15 it says, “No soul will bear the burden of another, when a burdened soul implores for help, nothing can be unloaded, not even by a close relative. So, what are these religious morons doing in our life?

2 This is the most ridiculous way of thinking – obviously not to the priests of the Arab religion.

3 See chapter six.