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About this quote

What does it mean?
Prayer holds the same importance to religion as the head does to the body.
In plain terms
Prayer is the head of religion.
What can you take from it?
Prioritize prayer as the guiding part of faith.

Where it applies

  • personal faith
  • community guidance

Putting it to work

  • make prayer central
  • use prayer to guide decisions

Questions to consider

  • Why is prayer likened to a head?
  • Can a religion function without a ‘head’?

Another view

Metaphor may oversimplify complex religious structures.

More from Holy Prophet Muhammad

  1. 'Whenever the time of each prayer arrives, an Angel announces to the people: (O' People!) Stand up and extinguish, with prayers, the fire which you have set al…

    Permalink to quote #73
  2. 'The example of the five (daily) prayers is like that of a clear-water river flowing in front of your houses in which a person washes himself five times a day …

    Permalink to quote #75
  3. 'For every thing there is a face and the face of your religion is prayers. So see to it that none from amongst you damages and disfigures the face of his relig…

    Permalink to quote #72

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