The Wisdom Behind Repetition in Prayer

"… And it has been prescribed for the servant to repeat these actions
and words (i.e. repeat recitation of al-Fatiha, rukoo', sujood etc, in
the prayer) as it is a source of nourishment for the heart and soul .
There is no strength in them (the heart and soul)except through this.
Its repetition is just like repeatedly eating food – mouthful after
mouthful until a person eats his fill , and drinking again and again
until his thirst is quenched . If a hungry individual only took one
mouthful of food and then pushed his food away, what will that
mouthful do for him? In fact, it may even cause him to become
hungrier!
For this reason, one of the Salaf said: 'A person who prays but does
not find tranquillity in his prayer is like a person who is hungry…
food is brought to him but he only takes one or two handfuls. What
will it then do for him?!'"
[ Asrar al-Salat , Ibn al-Qayyim]
Most of the time, a person's level of Iman, khushu' (humbleness), and
depth of spirituality increases in stages, and doesn't occur overnight
or with one act of 'Ibadah alone. For this reason, Allah legislated
that the soul undergo repetitive acts of 'Ibadah for it to attain
higher levels of Iman; so in the case of prayer, a slave offers it no
less than 5 times a day and if they feel themselves lacking
inspiritual nourishment, they should increase in nafl (supererogatory)
salah until their soul begins to feel nourished and the empty voids
are all filled. The same with other acts of worship andthe soul will
soon taste the sweetness of Iman (faith) and climb up from rank to
rank in the Sight of Allah.

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