Re: Why do you not pray?
Okay, that is just a silly comment. Prayer by definition is communication between a person and a diety. According to Wikipedia: Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a diety, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication. Every prayer is a wish, but every wish is not necessarily a prayer. Remove God from the equation and the repetitive statements that you utter with great concentration are just…focused wishing. Nevertheless Allah is rabbul Alamin and since He is closer to you than your jugular vein and knows your every thought and wish even before you utter them and even when people don’t direct them toward Him, He still answers people’s wishes. Prayer or dua need not be confined to the jaan-namaaz or a masjid, it can also be done when you’re out and about or on the go, chaltay phirtay, while you’re sitting or lying down. Same thing with wishing. You can confine yourself to a spot on the floor and close your eyes and wish your heart away, you can wish on the go as well. But there’s a difference in praying and wishing; they’re not exactly the same. Most people would prefer that one pray for them rather than make a wish for them. Even when said in Urdu, if someone says “Main tumharay liye dua karti hoon k…” Or “Meri tumharay liye yehi dua hai k…” sounds better than “Meri yehi khwaish/tamannah hai k..etc.” So, even in terms of connotations or how the two words are interpreted and felt, there’s a difference.
So do I have to believe in your definition of a deity for my prayers to be acceptable?
