Ṣalāh and Clock: A Literary Translation of Maulana Maududi’s Classical Lecture

Translated by Bulbul-e-Bangal

Why Have Prayers Become Ineffective?

My brothers in Islam! In today’s lecture, I feel the need to tell you why the prayer, whose numerous benefits I have continuously explained to you in several sermons, is no longer providing us those benefits? What is the matter that we offer prayers and still out life doesn’t improve? Still our morals don’t become pure? Still we don’t become a mighty divine army? Still the non-believers dominate us? Still we are devastated and miserable in the world? The brief answer to this question could be that firstly, we don’t pray at all, and even if we do pray, we don’t pray in the way that Allah (ﷻ) and His Rasool (ﷺ) have taught us. Therefore, we cannot expect those benefits that should come from the prayer that takes a believer to the heights of perfection.

I understand that such a brief answer might not fully satisfy you, so let me explain this in more detail. Imagine a clock hanging in front of you. You can see its many interconnected parts. When the clock is wound up, these parts work together, and their synchronized movement results in measuring and displaying time. Now consider this: the clock’s purpose is to show the correct time. To achieve this, every necessary component was carefully assembled and arranged to work in harmony. Each part performs its specific function and does so precisely within the limits required to display accurate time. Additionally, a rule for winding the clock was established to ensure that the mechanism doesn’t stop, allowing it to keep functioning regularly with periodic winding. 

When all the parts are properly assembled and the clock is wound as required, it fulfils its purpose. However, if the clock isn’t wound, it will fail to show the time. If it’s wound incorrectly, it may stop or run inaccurately. Removing some of its parts renders the clock ineffective, regardless of winding. If those parts are replaced with pieces from a sewing machine, the clock will neither tell time nor sew fabric. Similarly, if all the parts are present but disconnected, winding it won’t produce any movement. While it may look like a clock with all its components, it won’t fulfil its purpose because its arrangement and mutual connections—the essence of its functionality—have been disrupted. 

In each of these scenarios, though the clock and the act of winding it become meaningless, an outside observer might still see it as a clock and assume it will function as expected. Likewise, they may perceive the winding process as legitimate and expect it to produce results. Yet, these expectations remain unfulfilled because, while the clock’s external appearance remains intact, it has lost its essence—the ability to tell time. 

From these examples, you can grasp the entire concept. Think of Islam as a clock. Just as a clock’s purpose is to show the correct time, Islam’s purpose is for you to live on Earth as Allah’s (ﷻ) vicegerent, serve as witnesses over His creation, and bear the flag of truth. It calls for you to walk according to Allah’s commands, implement His laws, and ensure that all remain subject to His will. The Quran clearly outlines this purpose:

“[Believers], you are the best community singled out for people: you order what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in God. If the People of the Book had also believed, it would have been better for them. For although some of them do believe, most of them are lawbreakers-” (3:110)

“We have made you [believers] into a just community, so that you may bear witness [to the truth] before others and so that the Messenger may bear witness [to it] before you. We only made the direction the one you used to face [Prophet] in order to distinguish those who follow the Messenger from those who turn on their heels: that test was hard, except for those God has guided. God would never let your faith go to waste [believers], for God is most compassionate and most merciful towards people.” (2:143)

“God has made a promise to those among you who believe and do good deeds: He will make them successors to the land, as He did those who came before them; He will empower the religion He has chosen for them; He will grant them security to replace their fear. ‘They will worship Me and not join anything with Me.’ Those who are defiant after that will be the rebels.-” (24:55)

“[Believers], fight them until there is no more persecution, and all worship is devoted to God alone: if they desist, then God sees all that they do,” (8:39)

Islamic teachings are interconnected, much like the components of a clock. To fulfill this purpose, Islam incorporates all the elements necessary for achieving it. These include principles of belief and morality, rules for interactions and transactions, rights of Allah, rights of others, rights over oneself, and responsibilities towards everything in the world. There are guidelines for earning and spending, laws for war and peace, governance, and obedience to Islamic leadership. Like the parts of a clock, these elements are intricately arranged so that when Islam is “wound up,” every part works in harmony. Their combined movement produces the intended result: the establishment of Islam’s guidance and Allah’s law across the world. This is akin to how the coordinated movement of a clock’s parts results in the display of time on its face. 

Similarly, just as a clock requires nails and strips to hold its parts together, Islam relies on a system of congregation to maintain its unity and proper functioning. At the center of this system is a Muslim leader, one who possesses sound religious knowledge and piety. The congregation supports the leader with their collective wisdom, follows their direction, and uses their strength to implement Islamic laws and prevent their violation. This cohesive effort ensures that all the “parts” of Islam remain connected and work together seamlessly.

In this way, when all parts are joined together and their arrangement is properly established, they need winding to move and keep moving, and that winding is this prayer that is offered five times every day. Then this clock also needs cleaning, and that cleaning is these fasts that are kept for thirty days in a year, and this clock also needs oiling, so Zakat is that oil which is given to its parts once a year. This oil doesn’t come from outside but some parts of this clock make oil and make some dry parts lubricated and able to run smoothly. Then it also needs overhauling sometimes, so that overhaul is Hajj which is necessary once in a lifetime, and the more it can be done beyond that, the better.

Assembling scattered parts serves no purpose. For the winding, cleaning, oiling, or overhauling of a clock to be effective, all its parts must be present within the frame, connected precisely as the clockmaker originally arranged them. Only then, when wound up, will the parts begin their prescribed motion and produce the intended results. But now, the situation has entirely changed. The system of congregation, which once bound the clock’s parts together, no longer exists. As a result, the screws have loosened, and the parts have scattered. Each component now operates independently, with no one to oversee or unify them. Everyone does as they please—following Islamic law only when it suits them, disregarding it when it does not.  Even this disarray wasn’t enough; many of the clock’s original parts have been replaced. People have inserted pieces from entirely different machines based on their preferences. Some found sewing machine parts appealing and added those. Others favored parts from a flour mill or a motor lorry and installed them in this clock. 

Now, you call yourselves Muslims, but interest-based banking flourishes, insurance policies are commonplace, false cases are filed in non-Islamic courts, and loyal service to systems of disbelief persists. Our daughters and sisters are molded into Westernized ideals, our children receive purely materialistic education, Gandhi’s philosophies are followed, and Lenin’s ideas are sung. In short, there is hardly a non-Islamic element that hasn’t been crammed into the frame of this Islamic clock. 

Despite all this, you expect the clock to function as intended once wound, cleaned, or oiled. But if you reflect for a moment, you’ll realize that in its current state, no amount of maintenance will yield the desired results. Until you remove all the foreign parts, restore the original components, and reassemble them in the precise arrangement they once had, you cannot hope for the clock to work as it did before. 

This is precisely why your prayers, fasts, zakat, and hajj yield no meaningful outcome. To begin with, how many of you even perform these duties? With the breakdown of the congregation system, everyone has become entirely self-governed—free to choose whether to fulfil these obligations, with no accountability. 

And among those who do perform them, how are these duties carried out? Congregational prayers lack unity, and even where congregations exist, the leadership is often handed to individuals who are unfit for any other role in society. Imams—chosen to lead a prayer designed to prepare you as Allah’s vicegerents and a divine force in the world—are frequently ignorant, uninspired, and morally compromised. The state of fasting, zakat, and hajj is similarly dismal. 

Yes, it’s true that some Muslims still fulfil their religious obligations. But as I’ve explained, if you dismantle the clock, scatter its parts, and fill it with foreign components, no amount of winding, cleaning, or oiling will bring it back to life. Only by restoring its original structure and purpose can you expect it to function as it was intended.

Your clock appears to be a clock from outside. The observer says that this is Islam and you are Muslims. When you wind this clock and clean it, the outside observer thinks that you are really winding and cleaning. No one can say that this prayer is not prayer, or these fasts are not fasts, but what do the observers know what machinations have been done inside this external frame.

Brothers in Islam, I have shared with you the true reason why your religious acts yield no results today and why, despite offering prayers and keeping fasts, you have become prisoners of non-believers and punching bags for every tyrant. But if you permit me, I will share an even more regrettable truth. 

While you grieve over your condition and recognize your misfortune, the reality is that among you, the vast majority—nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand, or perhaps even more—are unwilling to embrace the correct path to change it. You resist the reorganization of this clock of Islam, whose parts have been scattered and corrupted by personal preferences. Reorganizing it would require removing all foreign elements, and that includes the parts each of you has personally introduced. It cannot work any other way. It is not feasible to remove only the parts others have added while sparing your own contributions. 

Likewise, when the clock is tightened, all its parts must be tightened. It is not possible to allow one part to remain loose while expecting the rest to be secure. And herein lies the challenge: when this tightening happens, everyone will feel its strain, and this prospect is too difficult for most to accept willingly. 

As a result, many prefer to leave this clock as nothing more than a decorative piece on the wall—a relic admired from afar. They would rather point to it and claim it holds hidden miracles than make the effort to restore it to its proper function. Those who are slightly more devoted wish to wind it enthusiastically and clean it with great care, but heaven forbid anyone suggest reassembling its parts, tightening them, or removing the foreign additions. 

I wish I could agree with this approach, but how can I speak against what I know to be true? I assure you, in your current state, even if you perform the five daily prayers and add Tahajjud, Ishraq, and Chasht, recite the Quran for five hours a day, and fast for five and a half months outside of Ramadan, it will all be in vain. 

When the clock has its original parts in place and they are properly tightened, even a little winding will set it in motion. A bit of cleaning and oiling will then yield results. But without restoring its original structure, no amount of winding or maintenance will make it work. You can wind it tirelessly for a lifetime, but the clock will neither run nor serve its purpose.

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