"The prayer has an immense light by which the hearts of those who pray shine, and is only obtained by those who have inner humility.

"When you go to the prayer, you should empty your heart of this world and what it contains and occupy yourself with watchfulness of our Master for whose sake you pray."

This text is widely regarded as the basic entry point to Maliki fiqh.

Its author was 'Abd ar-Rahman al-Akhdari (920/1514 - 953/1546) from Algeria.

About The Translator

Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley is one of today’s most prolific translators of classical Arabic works into English. For more than thirty-five years she has been concerned with making the contents of many classical Arabic works more accessible to English-speaking readers.

She is co-translator, with her husband Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley, of The Noble Qur’an, a New Rendering of its Meaning in English.

Other works include her translation of The Meaning of Man of Sidi Ali al-Jamal, Muhammad Messenger of Allah – ash-Shifa of Qadi ‘Iyad, Muhammad ibn Sa‘d’s Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir, and of her own authorship: Mu‘awiya – Restorer of the Muslim Faith, A Glossary of Islamic Terms, Islam: The Empowering of Women and Muslim Women, a Biographical Dictionary.