How hard do you have to pray....

[Mystic]

Yea, all I see is illness. If you use prayer to deal with it...that's awesome.

For a long time every time I started to have a(an?) hallucination, I would say "I'm right here, there's snow outside my window" and they would go away, true story. If whatever works works, then definitely go with it.

I just think that if prayer never ever works on its own for anything tangible, that probably means prayer never works at all. Prayer works in the way that sugar pills cure headaches.

I understand this perspective and I respect it. The first thing Quran emphasizes on in the 2nd chapter of Quran which is after the prayer of Suratal Fatiha regarding the trait of those who guard (al-mutaqeen), is they believe in the unseen.

The thing is the path to God is unseen, you can say for example, when you do evil, nothing happens to you but psychological guilt. Islamically however there is a real darkness that appears in your soul, and if that darkness leads to more darkness, till the darkness overcomes your soul, then your heart maybe become sealed and destined for evil, with a very slight chance of redemption and overcoming the darkness.

The thing is these things from an Islamic point of view are realities. When you do an action, it becomes part of you. Also when you pray to God for help, he assists with help, but we have to also accept and take the help. Also when we ask forgiveness, there is "awf" and "istighfar"...the latter in the word can also mean seeking protection, and combined with forgiveness type meaning, it can have a double meaning of seeking protection from the dark effects of your through God forgiving your sins or God pardoning your sins by protecting you against it's evils and wiping it clean.

There is a divine sword in the soul, and it's sincere honesty, if one is true to themselves and true to God, then God will do wonders through them through his name. Sometimes they are veiled from what is occurring in the unseen reality of their souls and the spiritual world, and sometimes they are unveiled.

Rationally you can say this all in your heads. But for people who believe actions become part of who they are, and no can get rid of the darkness of their sins or the ugly satanic fruits of sins, but God, then they will seek both his pardon and seek his help.

For people who believe it's not just psychological, but there is an unseen spiritual world which where our true nature of our existence resides, even if they are good, will seek more higher states through his blessings. And God blessing and making the soul inherit beauty and honor, and lifting the pure word towards himself through actions he inspires through his help, to me is a reality.

The nature of how God operates, that he intervenes between man and his heart, to me is a reality.

I don't go asking God for miracles or to change the way he operates in the universe for my sake. 

If I was a chosen one, or was of a high status, I might have been given power to do things through God's Name like move mountains and what not, but those type of miracles require permission from God and he doesn't entrust such abilities to those who would use it from their own whims.