Receiving spiritual care through mindful solat

• Main Author: Alias, Intan Aidura
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Qurʾan and Sunnah Studies, International Islamic University Malaysia 2021
• Subjects: BP175 Psychology of Islam
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/97126/1/97126_Receiving%20spiritual%20care%20through%20mindful%20solat.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/97126/; https://conference.iium.edu.my/inspire/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/e-Proceedings-of-INSPIRE-2021.pdf
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

The paper discusses how to receive spiritual care through mindful ṣalāt by applying cognitive psychology and physiological psychology concepts. The ṣalāt is a religious ritual performed obligatorily five times a day according to certain procedures. The procedures are a coordination of a total of thirteen physical, verbal and spiritual arkān consisting of physical movements (rukn fiʿlī), recitations (rukn qawlī) and feeling/emotions (rukn qalbī). Each serves a certain function. Considering that all rukn has its own function, it is imperative that they be performed with full consciousness or mindfully. A mindless ṣalāt, even though not rejected, will certainly not be effective in meeting its purpose in shaping one’s behaviour as mentioned in the Qurʾanic verse, … Indeed, ˹genuine˺ prayer should deter ˹one˺ from indecency and wickedness … (al-ʿAnkabūt: 45). The ṣalāt has to be performed in such a way that can help control one’s behaviour. Examining the recitations in the ṣalāt, we find that they are mostly about giving praise to Allah and glorifying Him. It is through this holy connection, that we can feel Allah’s care, the spiritual care that we need. It is said in the Qurʾan that Allah is the Saviour, the Help that we need. In addition, some recitations are in the form of duʿāʾ and statements of repentance. However, these can only be realized if the mind is attending to them closely. The ability to attend can be understood and enhanced by the application of certain cognitive concepts in cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychology explores the processes involved in the thinking process from the basic core process of attending to higher order processes such as decisionmaking. Other relevant cognitive concepts are attentional blinks, working memory, cognitive inhibition, episodic memory. All these concepts would be relevant in achieving a mindful ṣalāt and will be deliberated in the paper.