Each cycle of prayer contains two prostrations, each ideally drawing us nearer to Allah. In each of these prostrations, the head is lowered to the ground and then comes back up again. This is the universal prostration. There is another type of prostration, though, known as the prostration of the heart. When the heart prostrates and is awakened, the conscious connection to the Divine Source is established. This is a private, personal relationship of the individual with his or her Lord and cannot be shared with anyone else. This 'prostration of the heart' is eternal, and once established, the heart does not 'raise his head', but remains in prostration to his Lord.

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