Presence of Heart is the Key of Happiness

Al Imam Al Sadek says:” When you face the qibla, forget the world and all worldly affairs and [forget] people and their condition and see the greatness of God through your internal reality. Remember the day when you stand before Him”. God almighty says:” Then and there every soul will face ?the consequences of? what it had done. They all will be returned to Allah—their True Master… So stand up [for prayer] while you are in the state of fearing and hope.[1] Then, the presence of heart means to clear the heart of anything that keeps a man busy from God and his greatness.
 
It was mentioned in Jami' Al-sa'adat (The Collector of Felicities Book):” the presence of heart: It is to empty the heart of other than what it is clothed and spoken of, so that knowledge is associated with what it does and says, without the flow of thought in other than them.  No matter how far the thought departs from what is not in it, and there is a remembrance of what is in it without neglecting it, the presence of the heart has occurred.  Then the presence of the heart may be expressed by turning to prayer and turning towards it, and it may be expressed by reverence in the heart…”. [2]
 
The aim of the presence of heart while praying is to be busy and careful toward the prayer, oriented to God in behaviors, sayings and others, clearing the mind from everything except the right. [3]
  
You get from your prayer the part you perform with your heart's presence
 
The heart is the core of worship. It is the worship target to change it, affect it, reshaping it with the slavery appearance and changing it into a real worshiper. So what’s the secret in that?
 
Paying attention to the heart’s presence in worship is one of the most important heart etiquette where there is no spirit or meaning for worship without it. It is the key to perfection and happiness.
 
It was reported by the prophet Mobammad (pbuh):” Whoever performs two prostrations (rak’a) without paying attention to any worldly matter, God, the Exalted, will forgive him his sins... [4]
 
He (pbuh) also says:” A prayer, half of it may be accepted, or one-third, or a quarter, or one-fifth, or even one-tenth. Another prayer may be folded, like an old dress, and be thrown back at the face of its owner. You only get from your prayer the part which you perform with your heart's presence”. [5]
 
He (pbuh) also says:” No part of the prayer is yours except that part which you perform with an attentive heart”. [6]
 
Al Imam Al Baqir and Al Sadek (peace be upon them) say:” Nothing of your Salat is yours except that which you did with an attentive heart. So, if one performed it completely mistakenly, or neglected its discipline, it would be folded and thrown back at its owner's face”. [7]
 
Al Imam Al Sadiq (pbuh) says:” When you wear the ihr?m for the Salat (when you prepare for the Salat), pay attention to it, because God will pay attention to you in return. If you do not care for it, God will not care for you. So, sometimes, it does not ascend except one-third, one-fourth or one-sixth, according to the amount of attention the praying pays to it. God grants nothing to the negligent.”[8]
  
Without an Account, Al Maaref Islamic and Cultural Institution

[1] Attributed to Imam Al Sadiq, peace be upon him, Misbah al-Sharia, chapter thirty-nine, in the opening of the prayer, p. 87.
[2] Al Naraqi, Muhammad Mahdi bin Abi Dhar, Jami` Al-Saadat, Al-Alamy Publishing, Beirut, fourth edition, part. 3, p. 323.
[3] See Mr. Abdul-Hussein Dastgheib, Prayer of the Khashien, Dar Al Ta’rif, p. 35.
[4] Allama Al Majlisi, Bihar Al Anwar, part. 81, p. 249.
[5] M. N, p. 260.
[6] M.  N, p. 242.
[7] Sheikh Al Kulayni, Al Kafi, part.3, p. 363.
[8] Allama Al Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, part. 81, p. 266.