45 Preface اتلُ ما أوحِيَ إِلَيكَ مِنَ الكِتابِ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ ۖ إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ تَنهىٰ عَنِ الفَحشاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ ۗ وَلَذِكرُ اللَّهِ أَكبَرُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعلَمُ ما تَصنَعونَYusuf AliRecite what is sent1 of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of God is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And God knows the (deeds) that ye do.The tilawat of the Qur-ān implies: (1) rehearsing or reciting it, and publishing it abroad to the world; (2) reading it to ourselves; (3) studying it to understand it as it should be studied and understood (2:121); (4) meditating on it so as to accord our knowledge and life and desires with it. When this is done, it merges into real Prayer, and Prayer purges us of anything (act, plan, thought, motive, words) of which we should be ashamed or which would work injustice to others. Such Prayer passes into our inmost life and being, for then we realise the Presence of God, and that is true dhikr (or remembrance), for remembrance is the bringing to mind of things as present to us which might otherwise be absent to us. And that is the greatest thing in life. It is subjective to us: it fills our consciousness with God. For God is in any case always present and knows all.