praying

When you pray to God resignedly, as though patiently accepting the punishment of grief at the death of a loved one, and you say: "Thy will be done O Lord. The Lord giveth, and he taketh away", you have not yet known the God of love, for God giveth only. God never takes that which has not been given. What God gives to you you regive to Him for His regiving.
You rejoice when God gives birth to life, yet you deeply grieve when you give rebirth to new life -- for that is what death is.

Prayers are designed to raise God-consciousness five times a day, throughout one’s life.  Prayers also provide regular exercise – like yoga or Tai Chi or Qigong built into the day – and serve as a calming retreat from the daily demands of life.  Muslims thus learn to balance deeni wa dunyavi  (the spiritual and the worldly).  They can’t abandon one for the other; that’s the essence of their faith.