Cutting Corners

Chapter Twenty Three

This is one of the traps of the student of knowledge. This happens when the student learns something and then performs that practice lazily. Instead of performing an action to the best of his ability he performs the basics of that action without trying. Unlike before and sometimes worse than before! What we mean is when a student learns a subject and finds out it all the details then they perform the action to its minimum. Rather than perform it to its maximum, as before.

Other people can see him performing actions and can see his errors but because he is doing just the basics; it looks as if he is not performing the action correctly. He knows himself that the action is valid but he is missing something yet he is not concerned. In this case the person who does not know what makes his action valid and invalid is better because he tries his best.

For example if the student knows that touching his knees makes his bowing/ Ruku valid and he does not have to have his hands on his knees and pause. Others, who only know the Sunna, may think that his action is invalid because he is doing something that they do not know is valid.

The student of knowledge has to be aware of this and try to perform actions as best as he can and not perform just the basics unless he is in a situation that stipulates it. For example he only has a few minutes to perform a prayer and if he tries to complete to the best of his ability then his prayer be invalid because he would’ve left the time. In this situation he can do the basics.

Just a general point, people need to find out what makes their prayers valid and invalid. This is a basic knowledge that people need to seek.